UK music firm EMI has said it will sell its recorded music unit for £1.2bn ($1.9bn) to Universal Music.
Reports have suggested that the other half of EMI’s business – the lucrative music publishing unit – will go to a Sony-led consortium for more than $2bn.
EMI, with a history dating back to 1897, is home to artists including Coldplay, the Beatles and Pink Floyd.
Born in Brooklyn, Iovine began his career as a recording engineer in the mid-1970s, working with Raspberries, John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen. He went on to produce albums for U2 (Rattle & Hum), Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Stevie Nicks, Simple Minds, Dire Straits, Flame (featuring Marge Raymond, Jimmy Crespo, Bob Leone, and others), and Patti Smith. Iovine established Interscope Records in 1991 with the release of Gerardo's Mo' Ritmo. It went on to become Interscope-Geffen-A&M following Universal's acquisition of PolyGram when Iovine was named co-chairman; in 2001, he became chairman. He is credited with having given Eminem's demo tape to Dr. Dre, who signed him to his Aftermath label. In 2002, Iovine co-produced the hit Eminem movie 8 Mile and in 2004, he and Paul Rosenberg signed a first look deal with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films for their Interscope/Shady/Aftermath banner. Iovine co-produced the first film under the deal, Get Rich or Die Tryin', starring 50 Cent. In 2003, he was co-executive producer of Enrique Iglesias's album Seven. In January 2008, Iovine, Dr. Dre and Monster Cable released Beats by Dr. Dre high-performance headphones. Iovine is also an executive producer with LeBron James and Maverick Carter of the documentary More Than A Game, which was released in the fall of 2009. Lady Gaga has thanked him several times during her acceptance speeches, as he was the one to sign her to Streamline/Interscope shortly after her 2007 performance at Lollapalooza. Eminem also has mentioned him several times during his acceptance speeches. Bruce Springsteen's song Ain't Good Enough For You referenced Iovine: "And babe I tried to make the latest scene, Hip and cool, just like Jimmy Iovine." -Wikipedia
Citigroup seized ownership of EMI in February after previous owner Terra Firma failed a solvency test.
“I particularly welcome the fact that EMI will once again be owned by people who really do have music in their blood,” said Rolling Stones singer Sir Mick Jagger.
The manager of Coldplay also welcomed Universal.
“They have assembled the most talented group of executives in the industry today and their success speaks for itself,” Dave Holmes said.
Universal Music is a unit of Vivendi, the French media company.
Troubled history
EMI’s labels include Blue Note, Capitol, Parlophone and Virgin Records.
Labels included under the Universal umbrella are Def Jam, Motown, Decca, Island Records, Interscope Records and Polydor Records.
“For me, as an Englishman, EMI was the pre-eminent music company that I grew up with,” said Universal Music chairman and chief executive Lucian Grainge. “Its artists and their music provided the soundtrack to my teenage years.”
He added: “Universal Music Group is committed to both preserving EMI’s cultural heritage and artistic diversity and also investing in its artists and people to grow the company’s assets for the future.”
In June, EMI said it would launch a strategic review into the future of the business, which it said could result in a sale, share flotation, or a restructuring of its finances.
Private equity firm Terra Firma, led by Guy Hands, bought EMI for £4.2bn in 2007 just before the credit crunch sent the global financial markets into turmoil.
It subsequently admitted that it had overpaid for EMI, and struggled to meet payments on the £2.6bn it had borrowed from Citigroup to fund the deal.
Last year, Terra Firma took Citigroup to court in the US, accusing the bank of tricking it into paying an inflated price for EMI. It lost the case, with a jury ruling in favour of Citigroup.
II think “G Craig Lewis” said it better (Truth Behind Hip Hop DVD 3) on how
to solve the compromise/ungodly standards in Gospel Music, Every church
should record/distribute their own songs (Notice he said songs not artist!!!) and they would be no
“Gospel Music Industry” to create superstars as we know today.
“The song to the Lord” should be promoted and not the vocal-cord that sings it!!!
The issue with all theses gospel artist is not that they cannot
“set-up” their own label or record companies or have they own studios.
The issue with them (Gospel Artist) is Distribution/Marketing and being know on a wide-stage.
Its a Spirt of the World they are being seduced by, but if the truth be told as Jesus
said They enemy comes and finds nothing in me”, i guess when they world came knocking
at the door of these “Gospel Artist” they found some worldliness in them!!!
If you offered these “Babylon Gospel Music Artist” a $10 Million dollar records deal
to records true worship and it was attached to them living a godly life-style
and their would have to shun all these ungodly platform like BET, MTV etc
they still will not accept the offer because it a spirit of Lust,Possession & Pride that
they are being controlled by. So sad!!!
What i have learned from the Truth Behind Hip Hop series is that this is spiritual and
what has happened in the church today is that the “Holy Spirt”/”Spirit of God”/ has been
kicked out of too many churches and the spirit of the world has be ushered in.
Gospel Labels and record companies do not need to be aligned under Secular companies
As a proverb goes “If the fish is rotten, it starts from the head”. How can your parent
company be an ungodly record corporation and you expect not to be infected by the virus
of moral corruption. Light must always be at the top and not the bottom.
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