Led Zeppelin were the contemporary superstars though and made vast amounts of money for Atlantic until 1973 when their contract ended and they started their own label,  Swan Song Records, although Atlantic still organised their distribution.  Yes were the third big money maker of the early 1970s and stayed with Atlantic even after Led Zeppelin had left.  In fact Yes continued their success well into the 1980s and still tour and record today.

A fire in one of Atlantic Records’ warehouses in New Jersey in 1978 destroyed a huge amount of early recordings, dating from 1948 and 1969.  Up to 6000 tape reels were destroyed, including some of Atlantic’s original stereo recordings, a technology which they pioneered.  Ultimately many originals were located at various locations around the country, for example those that had been ‘borrowed’ and not returned and the archives were restocked to a a certain level.

The 1980s continued in the same successful vein as previously and featured the likes of Genesis, Foreigner, AC DC and Mike and the Mechanics.  It also preceded Warner Communications merger with Time Inc. in 1990 to become Time Warner.  Atlantic Records remained a largely independent entity although it was forced to sell off its share of the gangsta rap label Interscope Records in 1995.

Atlantic has remained a relevant and successful label to this day, surviving the split between Time Inc and Warner in 2004. The label celebrated its 60th birthday in 2007 and currently has hundreds of successful artists on its roster.  It has also been forward looking enough (for a record label at least) to embrace digital technology; in 2007 50% of its sales were from downloads.

Rhythm and Blues was a term coined by Atlantic employee Jerry Wexler in the early 1950s and Atlantic Records was the main driver behind the success of this genre at this time.  At first it was only popular amongst the black population but by 1953/4 records were crossing over to all sections of the listening audience and becoming million+ sellers.  At the time, Atlantic Records had the best R & B artists and the highest quality recording equipment, marking it out as the leader in this field.

Atlantic Records expanded into the U.K. in 1955 to take advantage of that lucrative market and took on extra premises to be able to employ extra staff.  In the early 1960s it began to use it’s considerable trading network to distribute releases from smaller regional labels.  Notable artists active during this period include Ben E. King, The Coasters and Billy Storm.

Ray Charles had left the label in 1959 along with Bobby Darin and this threatened to be a enormous financial blow for Atlantic; fortunately an association with Stax Records, the small Memphis based independent label, provided both parties with 8 years worth of lucrative partnership.  Stax got access to Atlantic’s massive distribution and marketing machine and in return Atlantic got it’s hands on Stax’ list of quality artists including Booker T. and the MGs, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding.

The 1960s was also the decade when Soul became popular when Solomon Burke and Doris Troy signed for Atlantic.  It was also the years of the British invasion. Atlantic took advantage of this by ending their distribution deal with British label, Decca (who had their own U.S. subsidiary, London  Records) and arranging a new one with Polydor Records.  Cream were one of the licensing success stories and notable for their being the first rock band signed by Atlantic.

In 1967, the constantly shifting sands of the record industry led Jerry Wexler to recommend the sale of Atlantic to a bigger company.   The Ahmet brothers (Nesuhi had returned to Atlantic by this time) eventually agreed to the sale and in October of the same year accepted $17.5 million from Warner Bros, something of an undervaluation.  Jerry Wexler left shortly afterwards, unhappy with the direction he felt Atlantic was now headed (veering towards ‘white’ rock acts) but Ertegun was allowed to run the label unhindered by Warner.  This changed when Warner Bros. became Warner Communications in 1969 and an attempt was made to bring all Warner’s music companies under one umbrella.  Ertegun fought this and won, cementing Atlantic’s autonomy and his own power within the new structure.

Part Three follows….

Atlantic Records is one of those companies with slightly more interesting origins than some.  The Ertegun family were

Atlantic Records logo

Turkish residents in the United States and following the death of their ambassador father, Munir, the remaining members of the family were faced with the choice whether to stay or head back to Turkey.

Two brothers, Nesuhi and Ahmet, decided to stay while their mother and sister returned to Turkey.  During their stay in the United States, Nesuhi and Ahmet had become jazz and blues fans, accruing thousands of 78rpm records.  It was Ahmet who conceived the idea of a records label, persuading some wealthy friends to invest in his new venture and in October 1947 Atlantic Records came into existence.

The company was originally headquartered at The Ritz Hotel in Manhattan until the rent proved prohibitive and a cheaper venue was found.  It was no one-man business right from the beginning and Ertegun, Herb Abramson and Francine Wakschal all contributed to the stability of Atlantic Records in the early days.  Wakshcal in particular gained a reputation for ruthless treatment of artists when it came to advances and the like.  She would remain with the company for the next 49 years.

Ahmet Ertegun (right)

It wasn’t until 1948 that Atlantic released it’s first recordings, two of which were Joe Morris’ ‘The Spider’ and Tiny Grimes ‘That Old Black Magic’; jazz productions that would characterise the first of Atlantic.  Atlantic’s formation also coincided with the American Federation of Musicians announcing a ban on union members undertaking recording.  Atlantic Records responded by recording and stockpiling enough vinyl to last for a year.

A. Nugetre – songwriter

Atlantic Records fist big breakthrough came in 1949 with the re-release of Stick McGhee’s ‘ Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee’ after McGhee’s original label had gone under.  At the same time however, Ergetun began writing songs under the anagrammatic pseudonym A Nugetre.  He would record them in one of the public recording booths in Times Square before handing them over to the artist or arranger to perfect.

Atlantic Records signing of Ruth Brown was another market on their road to success; the story is an interesting one – on her way from Washington to New York to audition for Ertegun and Abramson, she was injured in a car crash from which she took nine months to recover.  Faith in her ability was so great however that Atlantic Records supported her financially during this period, eventually signing her when the time was right.  She repaid them by becoming arguable the most prolific recording artist on Atlantic’s books during the 1950s, earning the label the name ‘The House That Ruth Built’.  Releases such as ‘So Long’, ‘(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean’ and Teardrops From My Eyes’.  The latter was Atlantic’s first million selling release.

In 1951, Atlantic Records began to press 45 rpm records of which the first release was ‘Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere’ by Joe Morris, one of the labels earliest signings.  1952 brought Ray Charles to the label who provided Atlantic with a string of hits; he was followed by another notable artists such as The Drifters and The Clovers.

Part Two follows…..

Parlophone Logo

A few years later, in 1923, a U.K. branch was established  to take advantage of the sophisticated and developing market there.  A base in the U.K. also meant access to the British Empire’s vast Commonwealth populations.  The U.K. label added an ‘e’ to the name to make ‘Parlophone’ and the new venture concentrated on jazz, linking with the American Okeh Records to become a major force in the British jazz genre.  Oscar Preuss was the man tasked with establishing the new company and would remain in place until 1955.

In some early consolidation activity, the Columbia Gramophone Company bought a majority stake in the Carl Lindström Company then, following the merger of the Gramophone Company and Columbia in 1931 to create EMI, Parlophone became part of that company.  At this stage Parlophone remained a label dedicated to jazz, using EMI’s various subsidiaries to licence jazz music.

The status quo was largely maintained until the early 1950s when Oscar Preuss hired George Martin as his assistant.  Martin’s influence was obvious from the beginning and Parlophone became a more diverse label as the dawn of rock and roll broke.  Not that Parlophone enjoyed any rock and roll, their roster of artists was a strange one: Jim Dale, Bernard Cribbins, the Vipers Skiffle Group and the Temperance Seven were the type of acts signed up.  James Brown material was licensed from the U.S. label but Parlophone still struggled commercially against other EMI subsidiaries such as HMV and Columbia.  Another genre added to the label’s stable was country music in 1953 when Parlophone signed a ten year leasing agreement with King Records, adding artists such as Bonnie Lou, Boyd Bennett and Ruby Wright.  This was not hugely successful and the strategy appeared to be to try everything until something worked.

Not until the signing of Adam Faith in 1959 did Parlophone begin to experience any rock and roll success and it was still a struggle for the label until 1962 when George Martin signed The Beatles.  Other artists followed and these included such historic names as The Hollies and Billy J. Kramer.  The early 1960s were the beginning of Parlophone’s rise to commercial success in the United Kingdom and indeed globally and even when George Martin left to form his own company (Associated Independent Recording Studios) in 1965.

Martin’s departure was possibly the trigger for EMI to absorb the Parlophone label into it’s Gramophone Company, which became EMI Records in 1973.  The name remained however and Parlophone remains a force to this day, although it’s parent company EMI are struggling financially.

The music publishing side of EMI Ltd was remarkably successful from the 1960s onwards; artists such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and Cliff Richard ensured continuing profitability for the company during this period.  EMI owned and ran a number of subsidiary labels which are themselves a roll call of famous name – Parlophone, HMV, Columbia and Capitol to name a few.  In 1967 HMV was made into an exclusively classical label and to accommodate progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd, a new label, Harvest Records, was created.

A period of amalgamation and renaming began to occur in the early 1970s, beginning in 1971 with the alteration of Electrical & Musical Industries to EMI Ltd.  In 1972, Columbia became EMI Records and in 1974 The Gramophone Company also took that name.  In 1979, United Artists Records and their subsidiaries, Liberty Records and Imperial Records, were scooped up by EMI Ltd. The really big merger came towards the end of 1979 when EMI Ltd joined with THORN Electrical Industries to become Thorn EMI.

Thorn EMI

Thorn EMI was an enormous company, big enough to have a presence on the FTSE 100 and listed on the London Stock

Thorn EMI Logo

Exchange.  The company’s various arms were prolific in several industries – television and video broadcasting, computer software, consumer electronics – but it’s main focus remained on the music industry and (from THORN) the defence industry, in which it was one of the biggest players.  Communications, radar and electronic warfare  were it’s specialities.

On the music front, the company continued to expand, adding Chrysalis Records in two stages between 1989 and 1991 and in 1992 it purchased Richard Branson’s Virgin Records for an estimated $1 billion – a huge purchase at the time.

In 1996, aware of the diversification of various parts of the business, the decision was made by Thorn EMI shareholders to demerge.  What resulted on the music and entertainment side was EMI Group PLC, still an extremely large music label which, with the acquisition of Virgin, had maintained it’s position at the pinnacle of the music industry.  It is now one of the ‘big four’ record labels, the others being Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, and Universal Music Group.

Robbie Williams

Like most record labels, EMI Group was a little slow recognising the importance of the online music revolution but in 2000 it signed a deal with Streamwaves, a relatively new digital streaming service, to licence it’s catalogue onto a digital format.  Not long after this, EMI Group also signed the biggest ever record deal in the U.K. with Robbie Williams and the second in the world after Michael Jackson’s record deal.  It was worth an incredible $160 million.

Robbie Williams - massive EMI deal

Events since 2007 have hit EMI Group’s fortunes sharply and a drop in profits led to a £4 billion takeover by venture capitalists Terra Firma Capital Partners.  It was forced to cut back in various markets, particularly Asia, and various high profile artists began to leave the label.  Citigroup acquired EMI from Terra Firma early in 2011 and it has recently been reported that Warner Music Group are a possible buyer, a purchase which would reduce the ‘big four’ to the ‘big three’.

That’s a good place to start then and if you’ve read our Columbia Records history, you’ll know that the story of Columbia Records largely ends when that of EMI begins.  In March 1931, the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company merged, forming a company called Electrical and Musical Industries Ltd that contained Columbia’s knowledge of recording technology and roster of artists and the Gramophone Company’s experience with recording equipment.  This was an acquisition made in London and the headquarters of the new company was based there.

EMI & Music

The new company continued Columbia’s track record of innovative music creation and the British Empire’s vast territory provided an enormous market for the releases.  All the larger Commonwealth countries such as Canada, Australia and India were targeted and subsidiary record labels were established in these areas to promote EMI there.  The legendary Abbey Road Studios in London were opened by EMI in 1931, playing host to classical recording artists in the early years and in the 1940s recruiting George Martin, the future Beatles manager, to work there.

EMI enjoyed four decades of almost complete dominance in these markets and it wasn’t until the 1960s that local labels began to provide some competition.  From the 1930s to the 1950s, EMI featured some of the most famous names in the history of popular music on it’s various subsidiaries, as you would expect from a company with such market dominance.  A few example are Elvis Presley (HMV), Gene Vincent (Capitol), The Goons (Parlophone) and Frank Sinatra (Capitol).

The 1960s were no different although this was a period in which EMI was beginning to face competition from other labels;  The Beatles (Parlophone/EMI/Capitol/Apple), Gerry & The Pacemakers (Columbia Graphophone) and Pink Floyd (Tower/Harvest/EMI/Capitol/Columbia).  Post-1960s, the artists number in the many hundreds but suffice to say the roster still includes many of the world’s biggest recording artists; other music genres were not neglected and classical music in particular has always been championed by EMI.

EMI & Technology

The two companies which formed the original merger brought with them a wealth of technology which enabled them to remain in the forefront of recording and playback research.  Alan Blumlein, one of the pioneers of stereo recording, was unfortunately killed in the British war effort when working on experimental radar technology.  EMI continued to produce radar and guided missile technology until well after the end of the Second World War.

EMIDEC 1100 Computer

EMI’s laboratory in Hayes continued to branch of into interesting directions in the subsequent decades under the leadership of Godfrey Hounfield, developing a colour camera (EMI 2001) for the BBC and ITV, Britain’s first transistorised computer in 1958 (the EMIDEC 1100) and  the first CAT scanner for medical imaging.

Part Two follows….

This coincided with Western Electric’s patented electric recording process and Columbia purchased a license to use the system.

Viva-tonal label

The sound quality and clarity of the new ‘Viva-tonal’ 78 rpm records was unparalleled and it helped revive Columbia’s fortunes to the extent that it felt confident in acquiring Okeh Records in 1926.  This brought into Columbia’s stable, jazz and blues artists such as Louis Armstrong and Mamie Smith.

During the remainder of the 1920s, Columbia expanded into the early country music market (known as hillbilly at the time) and interestingly continued to produce non Viva-tonal records for what they regarded as the budget market.  These were still records using the prior acoustic method.  It had three subsidiary labels, Harmony, Velvet Tone and Diva for this purpose.  In 1929, Edison Records finally went bankrupt, meaning Columbia was now the oldest record label.

More acquisitions were in the pipeline as the world moved into the 1930s;  the British Graphophone Company merged with the Gramaphone Company and consequently became Electrical & Musical Industries Ltd, better known now as EMI.  By this time, the British Graphophone Company had bought its former parent company American Columbia in 1929.  American Columbia was split off once more as part of U.S. anti-trust law but was short lived as the company that acquired it, the Grigsby-Grunow Company, had themselves closed down within a couple of years.

Columbia’s relatively brief but eventful early history means that recordings from the era are now sought after items.  In particular, following the formation of EMI, the company’s Royal Blue Record – a laminated blue production – which was produced from 1932 – 1935 is a very desirable product.  Check out casino spielen for another desirable product.

Please see our EMI history for the continuation of the Columbia story.

Easton originally distributed Edison Phonographs in the local areas and also produced a number of cylinder recordings of its

Columbia Phonograph

own. The manufacturer of the phonographs supplied to Columbia, the North American Phonograph Company, collapsed in 1894 and subsequently Columbia began to manufacture and sell its own product.  This included phonographs and records and Columbia began to sell ‘brown wax’ and then the harder ‘black wax’ which was introduced at around the turn of the century.

At this point, Coumbia was one of the top three manufacturers of phonographs and records, rivalled only by Edison’s Phonograph Company and the Victor Talking Machine Company.  From around the beginning of the 20th century, Columbia began to contract well-known singers of the day (in fact Opera stars), to produce a range of recordings.  It was relatively successful but Columbia’s rivals were still ahead in terms of quality.  It was also shortly after this period that Columbia did devise and introduce a revolutionary idea – the record with the B-side, or as it was known at the time, Double-Faced disks.

Prior to this, recordings had been made on vertical wax cylinders and this practise continued at Columbia until 1908 when the company finally ceased their production.  They did however continue to use celluloid cylinder records after entering into an agreement with the Indestructible Record Company of Albany, New York.  The cylinders used were known as ‘Columbia Indestructible Records’.  Columbia finally stopped manufacturing vertical cylinders in 1912.

Part Two follows…..

Pixar was still travelling a rocky financial road though, and in 1990 the hardware division was sold off to Vicom Systems, splitting the medical imaging side from the animation side.  The animation branch, still under the control and ownership of Steve Jobs, did retain their relationship with Walt Disney and it was this partnership which saved it in the end.  Still losing money despite contract work, it wasn’t until Disney undertook to distribute Pixar’s Toy Story at Christmas 1995 that Jobs decided to stick with Pixar rather than sell it.  The enormous box-office success of Toy Story ensured that Pixar had turned the corner.

The relationship with Disney has not always been a happy one and Pixar appears to have felt that the relationship was a little one-sided.  Throughout the production of Toy Story 2, and The Incredibles, among others, the two companies continually tried to come to contractual agreements suitable to both parties but repeatedly failed, although they seem to have managed to release films on a movie by movie basis.

Ultimately, in 2006, Disney bought Pixar for an incredible $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal.  This meant that Jobs, a 50.1% shareholder in Pixar, suddenly became Disney’s largest individual shareholder.  The terms of the takeover ensured that Pixar retained its name and staff and became a separate entity within the Disney corporation.

Pixar’s future is therefore assured and the quality of it’s animation ensures it is something of a money-making machine.  Awards have been numerous, including 26 Oscars, 7 Golden Globes and 3 Grammies.  All of Pixar’s films are among the fifty highest grossing animated films of all time and Toy Story 3 alone has raked in more than $1 billion worldwide.

Pixar Animation Studios is one of the most successful of all film production companies over the last thirty years.  In that period it has won an incredible 26 Oscars, 7 Golden Globes and 3 Grammies.  These accomplishments seem even more impressive when you realise that in the early years, Pixar was not a film production company but essentially a computer graphics arm of George Lucas’ Lucasfilm company.

Pixar Logo

In 1979 it was known as the Graphics Group, headed by  Dr. Ed Catmull from the New York Institute of Technology.  NYIT had worked on experimental computer graphics and Dr. Catmull brought much of this knowledge to the Graphics Group, concentrating in particular on software which made it easier for non-experts to create computer animation.  Two early notable film appearances occurred in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985).

Steve Jobs had left Apple Computers in 198 and decided to invest some of his vast wealth in film production, purchasing the Graphics Group from george Lucas for $5 million and investing another $5 million.  Jobs himself headed the new company, which retained the services of Dr. Catmull.

It was still many years before Pixar would begin to produce the animated films for which they are now best known. Pixar’s main product during this period was still the Pixar Image Computer, sold mainly to medical companies and government agencies and used for more sophisticated CAT scan technology.  It never sold particularly well but was used in the early years by Disney in an effort to automate aspects of the hand-drawn animation process.

This lack of revenue led to the efforts of John Lasseter, an employee working in animation, to demonstrate the device as a tool for animation.  It was well received at SIGGRAPH, the huge computer graphics convention and Pixar was just abot to turn the corner into a fully-fledged animation company.