Re: [ARSCLIST] RIP: EMI / let's clear the air

[Bob Olhsson <olh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
>From Tom Fine???: "...Also, EMI started the trend of big Euro companies
gobbling up America's pioneering independent 
record companies... 
... If EMI had imposed the European albums on the US audience, the Beatles
might never have 
been as big here. And EMI also understood they had a unique culture in the
Capitol Tower and didn't 
mess too much with success throughout the 60's..."

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that EMI is what's left of Victor
Talking Machine and Columbia Graphophone. When Victor was taken over by RCA
in the U.S., the deal included a 50 year reciprocal distribution agreement
along with the right for RCA to use the Victor, Nipper "the dog" and "His
Master's Voice" trademarks. At the time that contract expired, EMI chose to
acquire Capital and their distribution operation rather than re-sign with
RCA. Yes, it was a European company buying a US label however EMI was hardly
any European record label and Capitol was the smallest US label having its
own national distribution network.

The late Voyle Gilmore became a dear friend after he retired as vice
president of A&R at Capital. He considered the Beatles an incredibly lucky
fluke. His version of Capital and the Beatles was simply that English albums
generally included 14 songs while American albums generally included 12. SOP
was to drop the two weakest songs of any English pop album. He would
probably howl with laughter at any suggestion the Beatles represented genius
marketing by Capital.

The Beatles were much bigger in the US than they were in England. If there
was any marketing genius, it was Andrew Loog Oldham who was their first
publicist in the US. He got fired because Brian Epstein and George Martin
didn't like the scruffy image he had created however his campaign of
screaming teen-aged girls put the Beatles on the front page of virtually
every US newspaper and on the lips of almost every U.S. teen-ager. Andrew
licked his wounds, signed the Rolling Stones to a management deal and the
rest is history.
	

Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com