Parlophone Records: Difference between revisions

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Multinational label. Label Code: LC 0299 / LC 00299 Please note, many Parlophone issues also carry an EMI logo. This is not a label and EMI should not be added as a label, it instead indicates that Parlophone was part of the EMI Group.

Parlophone is an anglicization of the German Parlophon label, registered as a trademark in 1902 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of Salon Kinematograph Co. GmbH, later merged into Carl Lindström A.-G.. The first Parlophon records are pressed in 1910.

By 1923, Parlophone proper appears in London administered by English Lindström branch known as The Parlophone Co. Ltd., Parlophon records were pressed in London and sold locally. By 1926 extended operations extended to press for export in Australia (#cat A) until the australian factory Parlophone Co. Ltd. was created somewhere the next year. These companies were subsequently taken over by Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd. in 1927, following its acquisition of Carl Lindström A.-G. in 1926, thus becoming a constituent part of Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI) when that company merged with The Gramophone Co. Ltd. in 1931.

The label largely operated as a Jazz and Novelty label until manager, George Martin, signed the The Beatles in 1962. As a result of its subsequent success and profile, the label was earmarked for phasing out in 1973 in favour of EMI (the label), however the parlophone imprint continued to be used by registered trademark owner EMI Records Ltd. and affiliated companies.

In September 2012 following the acquisition of EMI Group Ltd.'s US and Asian interests by Universal Music Group, Parlophone and the former EMI Records Ltd. were merged as the Parlophone Label Group (PLG Holdco Ltd.) and spun off to be sold.

They were sold to Warner Music Group in March 2013. The Parlophone label is now owned by Parlophone Records Ltd., the re-named EMI Records Ltd., itself a subsidiary of Warner Music International.

The Beatles were not part of the Parlophone Label Group and their catalogue was acquired by Universal.

This label contains releases on multinational markets. Do NOT create imprints for different countries. Cover that information on new releases with the country field and with notes about the release (releasing company, ℗&© note, mechanical rights etc.).

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Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited (the Parlophone Co. Ltd.), which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss (who had set up the London branch of the company in 1923), the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith. In 1962, Martin signed the Beatles, a beat group from Liverpool who earlier that year had been rejected by Decca Records. During the 1960s, when Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer, the Fourmost, and the Hollies also signed, Parlophone became one of the world's most famous labels. For several years, Parlophone claimed the best-selling UK single, "She Loves You", and the best-selling UK album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, both by the Beatles. The label placed seven singles at number 1 during 1964, when it claimed top spot on the UK Albums Chart for 40 weeks. Parlophone continued as a division of EMI until it was merged into the Gramophone Co. on 1 July 1965. On 1 July 1973, the Gramophone Co. was renamed EMI Records Limited. On 28 September 2012, regulators approved Universal Music Group's (UMG) planned acquisition of EMI on condition that its EMI Records group would be divested from the combined group. EMI Records Ltd included Parlophone (except the Beatles' catalogue) and other labels to be divested and were for a short time operated in a single entity known as the Parlophone Label Group (PLG), while UMG pended their sale. Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired Parlophone and [PLG] on 7 February 2013, making Parlophone their third flagship label alongside Warner and Atlantic. PLG was renamed Parlophone Records Limited in May 2013. Parlophone is the oldest of WMG's "flagship" record labels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlophone

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-Founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company, the brand name Parlophon was initially used for gramophones before the company began making records. The ₤ trademark is a German L, for Lindström. (Coincidentally it resembles the British pound sign, £, which itself is derived from the letter L for Libra, meaning pound in Latin.) During the First World War, the Transoceanic Trading Company was set up in the Netherlands to look after its overseas assets. On August 8, 1923, the British branch of "Parlophone" (with the "e" added) was established, led by A&R manager Oscar Preuss. Parlophone established a master leasing arrangement with co-owned United States based Okeh Records, making Parlophone a leading jazz label in the UK.
-In 1927 the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired a controlling interest in the Carl Lindström Company and thereby in Parlophone. In 1931 Columbia merged with the Gramophone Company to form Electric & Musical Industries Ltd (EMI). Under EMI the Parlophone company initially maintained its status as a jazz label. In about 1929 or 1930, the "Rhythm Style Series" started: jazz records culled from the OKeh label. Besides the OKeh recordings, Parlophone also issued recordings from US Columbia, Brunswick as well as a few sessions produced at US Decca. As time went on the label also released speciality recordings of spoken-word and comedy recordings, such as the comedy recordings of The Goons and Flanders and Swann.
-In 1950, Preuss hired 24-year-old George Martin as his assistant. When Preuss retired in 1955 Martin succeeded him as label manager. Leading Parlophone artists in the 1950s included Germany's Obernkirchen Children's Choir and Scottish musician Jimmy Shand. At the dawn of the rock era, Parlophone artists such as Humphrey Lyttelton, the Vipers Skiffle Group, the pianist Mrs Mills, Jim Dale, Keith Kelly, Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, the Temperance Seven, Laurie London and Shane Fenton would sporadically reach the British Top 20 chart. Their only consistently successful act until the "Beat Boom" was that of teen idol Adam Faith: Faith was assigned to the label in 1959 by Norman Newell, an EMI A&R man "without portfolio". Treading a path similar to other British labels of the era, Parlophone released all manner of domestic and foreign licensed product, including James Brown, but had little success in comparison to EMI siblings HMV and Columbia.
-The label's fortunes began to rise in 1962, when Martin signed rising new Liverpool band The Beatles. Along with fellow NEMS stablemates Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and the Fourmost, and contemporary Mancunian band The Hollies, The Beatles turned Parlophone into one of the world's most famous and prestigious record labels.
-After Martin left to form the Associated Independent Recording (AIR) Studios in 1965, the Parlophone Company was absorbed into EMI's Gramophone Company unit (renamed EMI Records in 1973) with the Parlophone label maintaining its identity. For a long time Parlophone claimed the best selling UK single "She Loves You", and the best selling UK album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The label also achieved placement of seven singles at #1 during 1964, when it also claimed top spot in the album charts for 40 of the 52 weeks during that year.
-Parlophone is still an important pop label with artists such as Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Kylie Minogue among others. It is also EMI's oldest active label: its contemporary HMV, was always more of a classical music label and ceased issuing popular music recordings in 1967 (it is now known as EMI Classics); English Columbia has been replaced by the EMI pop label. Parlophone also operates the imprint Regal Recordings, a contemporary revival of the historic Columbia Graphophone budget/reissue label founded in 1914.