Parlophone

• 1. Introduction

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  Parlophone carries a logo that looks like a British pound sign, yet the mark is really a stylised blackletter L. The letter stands for Lindström, the name of the company that created the label. The resemblance to the pound sign, and to the Italian lira sign, is a coincidence. Both currency symbols descend from the letter L, short for the Ancient Roman unit of measurement called the libra. That small oddity hints at a label with an unusual pedigree. Parlophone Records Limited is a German-British record label that has changed owners, countries and corporate parents many times. How did a firm that began with gramophones end up as the home of the Beatles? Why did regulators force its sale? And who owns it today?

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• 2. Gramophones to Jazz

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  In 1896 the Carl Lindström Company in Germany launched a brand under the name Parlophon. The name first appeared on gramophones, and only later did the company begin making records of its own. On the 8th of August 1923 a British branch opened, with an extra e added to give Parlophone. Oscar Preuss, an A&R manager, set up the London operation and led it. Through the 1920s the British branch established itself as a leading jazz label. Ownership then changed quickly. On the 5th of October 1926 the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo and release library. On the 31st of March 1931 Columbia merged with the Gramophone Company, and the combined firm became Electric & Musical Industries, known as EMI. The EMI name would outlast the label's independence, and in 2012 it would become the subject of a major regulatory decision.

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• 3. Martin's Eclectic Label

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  George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, who ran the label. When Preuss retired in 1955, Martin took over as manager. The label had mainly released classical music, cast recordings and regional British music. Martin widened its reach into novelty and comedy. The Best of Sellers, a set of sketches and comic songs in which Peter Sellers played a range of comic characters, reached number three on the UK Albums Chart in 1958. The comedy music double act Flanders and Swann also recorded for the label. Martin produced pianist Mrs Mills too, and the roster included Humphrey Lyttelton and the Vipers Skiffle Group. In 1959 he signed the teen idol Adam Faith, who became a consistently successful act. Martin's most famous signing was still to come.

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• 4. The Beatles Decade

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  On the 6th of June 1962, George Martin signed the Beatles, a beat group from Liverpool, to Parlophone. Earlier that year Decca Records had rejected them. The deal turned out to be one of the cheapest Parlophone ever made. Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer, the Fourmost and the Hollies all signed during the 1960s. Ella Fitzgerald and Gerry and the Pacemakers joined as well, and Parlophone became one of the world's most famous labels. The numbers were striking. In 1964 the label placed seven singles at number 1 and held the top of the UK Albums Chart for 40 weeks. For several years it claimed both the best-selling UK single, "She Loves You", and the best-selling UK album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Both were by the Beatles. The group's UK albums up to Sgt. Pepper came out on Parlophone. The White Album, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be then appeared on the Beatles' own Apple label, manufactured and distributed by EMI. Those records still carried Parlophone catalogue numbers, and the question of who kept the Beatles' catalogue would matter again in 2012.

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• 5. Dormancy and Revival

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  In 1965 George Martin left EMI and Parlophone to form Associated Independent Recording, known as AIR Studios. Norman Smith took over as Parlophone director. EMI chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood had tried to recruit Joe Meek for the job, without success. On the 1st of July 1965 the label was merged into the Gramophone Co. On the 1st of July 1973 the Gramophone Co. was renamed EMI Records Limited. Most of EMI's heritage labels were phased out in favour of the EMI Records name. Parlophone went dormant, apart from reissues of Beatles records. The label was revived in 1980, and its first single was by the British group The Cheaters, catalogue number R6041. In the following decades it signed Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Roxette, Radiohead, Supergrass, the Chemical Brothers, Blur, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Damon Albarn and Gorillaz. Guy Berryman, Conor Maynard and Gabrielle Aplin joined the roster too. Miles Leonard was confirmed as president on the 23rd of April 2008, a few years before the label's parent group was broken up.

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• 6. Dismantling EMI

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  On the 28th of September 2012, regulators approved Universal Music Group's planned acquisition of EMI for £1.2 billion. The approval came with conditions imposed by the European Commission. Universal had to sell Parlophone itself, apart from the Beatles catalogue, which it kept and moved to its newly formed Calderstone Productions. The list of required sales was long. It included Chrysalis, except for Robbie Williams' catalogue, along with Ensign, Virgin Classics and EMI Classics. Universal also had to sell worldwide rights to Roulette Records and its sublabels. EMI's operations in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland were on the list too. Until a buyer appeared, these labels and catalogues ran independently of Universal as the Parlophone Label Group. Offers arrived from Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island, and from Simon Fuller. A Sony/BMG consortium bid, as did MacAndrews & Forbes and Warner Music Group. One of those bidders would win.

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• 7. The Warner Deal

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  On the 7th of February 2013, Warner Music Group was confirmed as the buyer of the Parlophone Label Group for US$765 million. The European Union approved the deal in May 2013. It saw no concerns, because Warner's reach was smaller than that of the merged Universal and Sony. Warner closed the purchase on the 1st of July. The group being sold was the old EMI Records, which had included both the Parlophone and the eponymous EMI labels. Universal kept the EMI trademark and used it for Virgin EMI Records. The old EMI Records became defunct and was renamed Parlophone Records Ltd. Soon afterwards Warner signed an agreement with IMPALA and the Merlin Network, two groups that had opposed the EMI and Universal deal. Under it, Warner would divest $200 million worth of catalogues to independent labels, offsetting some of the consolidation. In April 2016 the Radiohead back catalogue moved to XL Recordings. The band had sued Parlophone and EMI over a dispute about music royalties.

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• 8. Warner's Flagship

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  In the United States, most Parlophone artists are now distributed under Warner Records. Dinosaur Pile-Up, distributed through Roadrunner Records, is one exception. Coldplay and Tinie Tempah go through Atlantic Records. David Guetta is handled by Big Beat Records, Atlantic's electronic music imprint. Warner treats Parlophone as its third frontline label group, alongside Atlantic and Warner Bros. It is also the oldest of Warner's flagship labels. Parlophone's old contemporaries have fared differently. His Master's Voice leaned toward classical music and mostly stopped issuing popular recordings in 1967. Its role was later filled by EMI Classics, which Warner Classics absorbed in 2013. English Columbia was replaced by the EMI pop label. Parlophone also runs Regal, a revival of the budget and reissue label that Columbia Graphophone founded in 1914. That date is nearly a decade older than the British branch of Parlophone itself.

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