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05.10.12 Music Week 15
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PRICE HELLO GOODBYE
Universal has sacrificed plenty impact of these divestments
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Artists and assets to be sold off by Universal behind 44% of EMI’s UK album sales in 18 months up to end of June 2012 EMI sold 20.4 million albums in UK between January 2011 and June 2012 with to-be-divested Parlophone label behind more than 3 million of them
EMI’s biggest 10 albums in UK in analysis period include six by acts Universal must let go – Coldplay, Tine Tempah, Eliza Doolittle, David Guetta (two albums) and Kate Bush
Acts responsible for six of EMI’s 10 biggest singles in same period on divestment list with its top UK sellers led by David Guetta featuring Sia’s Titanium and Coldplay’s Paradise EMI’s to-be-divested share of the Now! franchise equated to more than 2.4 million UK album sales in 18 months in question
STAYING Beach Boys Beastie Boys The Beatles (as group/individually) Chemical Brothers Genesis Norah Jones Lady Antebellum Laura Marling Katy Perry Professor Green Emeli Sande Frank Sinatra Spice Girls The Verve Robbie Williams
GOING Lily Allen Blondie Blur David Bowie Kate Bush Coldplay Depeche Mode Duran Duran David Guetta Kraftwerk Kylie Minogue Pet Shop Boys Pink Floyd Radiohead Cliff Richard Tinie Tempah Tina Turner
DEPARTING SOON FROM WRIGHTS LANE... EMI STAR ACTS THAT MUST GO
WHILE THE BEATLES AS A GROUP and solo and Robbie Williams are individually named as staying with Universal, a number of other banner EMI acts and their catalogues will not be part of the company in the future. In pure sales terms the biggest
losses for Universal will be the divestments of David Guetta and Pink Floyd. Guetta shifted 670,000 albums
and a colossal 3.3 million one- track downloads in the UK in the given period with half of EMI’s 10 top singles sellers by the French DJ/artist/producer, according to the Official Charts Company. These include Titanium whose 843,295 sales up to the end of June this year made it the major’s top singles seller in the UK, while Where Them Girls At, Without You and Turn Me On all sold more than 400,000 copies. With these kinds of numbers it
was little wonder why EMI was so excited to announce it had extended its deal with him at the start of July – just weeks before a memo from now-departed EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon revealed Universal was offering to sacrifice the new agreement to appease EC regulators. After a series of legal disputes
were settled, EMI also announced a new deal with Pink Floyd as
are consistent healthy sellers and this particular album’s 40th anniversary next year will not do matters any harm. Floyd’s own history with EMI
dates back to their first release in 1967, but even that is topped by Cliff Richard whose first hit Move It was released in 1958. He is highlighted by the EC as one of the artists to be divested “with steady revenues”, reflected by him having sold approaching 100,000 albums in the period. The divestment programme
recently as the beginning of 2011 with Faxon at the time hailing them as “one of the most important and influential bands of all time”. That declaration was followed by a remastered roll-out of their catalogue, which helped to lift the band’s UK sales in the analysis period to around 460,000 units. Such high sales figures are
unlikely in the near future because campaigns like this cannot happen every year, but the likes of Dark Side Of The Moon
takes in four other acts that have been among EMI’s most successful over the last 35 years plus David Bowie who, having enjoyed the peak years of his career with RCA, has entrusted his catalogue with the major since the Nineties. Regularly revised and repackaged, the catalogue shifted nearly 300,000 albums over the 18 months and more than 200,000 one-track downloads. Bowie’s name on the departure
list is joined by those of Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Kraftwerk and Tina Turner. All continue to sell respectably with Bush enjoying the best of it in our analysis period with 320,000 albums sold in the UK, including nearly 140,000 copies of the 2011 release 50 Words For Snow.
UNIVERSAL’S EMI PURCHASE lands it the biggest-selling UK album so far this year with Emeli Sandé’s Our Version Of Events. The Brit School graduate’s
debut album had sold 718,332 copies domestically up to last week, according to the Official Charts, giving it a 6.5% lead over nearest rival 21 by XL’s Adele. It is also the current star attraction from Virgin Records, which has stood alongside Parlophone/ Capitol in recent years as the main vehicle for frontline successes. In the 18-month period from
the start of 2011 to the end of June 2012 Virgin Records and all its associated labels sold around 6.5 million albums in the UK and 14.3 million singles with Sande joined among the top sellers by the likes of Professor Green, Robbie Williams and Swedish House Mafia. However, those totals include sales by David Guetta whose recently-inked new contract with EMI will have to be terminated as a divestment condition. Virgin was the ninth most successful albums company in the period in question with a 4.3% share, compared to 3.8% for Parlophone in 11th position. The record company is also
EMI UK ALBUM SALES BREAKDOWN Q1 2011-Q2 2012
the UK outlet for Katy Perry – signed to Capitol Records in the States – who sold around 590,000 albums and more than 2.3 million singles in the given 18 months. Five of EMI’s 20 top- selling albums between January 2011 and June 2012 were by Perry, led by ET featuring Kanye West with nearly 450,000 sales. Virgin’s back catalogue is
particularly lush with successful UK music from the past 30-plus years, running from Eighties iconic acts such as Culture Club, Heaven 17 and Human League to the likes of The Verve and Spice Girls. A number of past Virgin hits continue to sell very healthily as one-track downloads with The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony, Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight and The Kooks’ She Moves In Her Own Way all having accumulated 40,000 sales in our analysis period. Besides Perry, on the Capitol
side of the business the most successful act in the UK in recent times has been Lady Antebellum whose second album Own The Night sold around 115,000 copies over the 18 months and about 275,000 overall, while the 2011 follow-up Own The Night is nearing 130,000 UK sales.
EMI UK SINGLES SALES BREAKDOWN Q1 2011-Q2 2012
KEY EMI ACTS & CATALOGUES DO THEY STAY OR DO THEY GO?
IN THE BAGWHAT UNIVERSAL GETS TO KEEP
PARLOPHONE 15% MUTE 2% PINK FLOYD 2% DAVID GUETTA 3% CHRYSALIS 3% EMI CLASSICS 3% NOW! 12% OTHER KEY ARTISTS BEING DIVESTED
(KATE BUSH, DAVID BOWIE, DURAN DURAN, KRAFTWERK, PINK FLOYD, TINA TURNER) 4% REMAINING WITH UNIVERSAL 56%
Source: Music Week research/Official Charts Company data
PARLOPHONE 13% MUTE 2%
CHRYSALIS 3% DAVID GUETTA 11% OTHER KEY ARTISTS BEING DIVESTED
(KATE BUSH, DAVID BOWIE, DURAN DURAN, KRAFTWERK, PINK FLOYD, TINA TURNER) 2% EMI CLASSICS 0.5%
REMAINING WITH UNIVERSAL 68.5%
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