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EMI and Virgin Classics to be absorbed into Warner labels
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 25 July 2013
The UK-based classical labels of what was EMI are to be merged into Warner Music’s classical units.
EMI and Virgin Classics were acquired by Warner when it bought the Parlophone Label Group, the European EMI assets Universal was forced to sell by regulators when it took over the wider EMI record company last year.
In an announcement posted to the EMI Classics Twitter account (and spotted by BBC Music Magazine), Warner has announced that EMI Classics artists, including trumpeter Alison Balsom, conductor Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, will be absorbed by Warner Classics.
Meanwhile the Virgin Classics roster, including mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and the conductor Emmanuelle Haïm, will form the basis of a revived Erato label, utilising the brand of the French label originally launched in the 1950s and acquired by Warner in 1992.
The Twitter message notes: “This move marks the next exciting chapter and new momentum for these renowned artists and legendary catalogues within Warner Music Group, where there is – and will continue to be – a deep focus on classical repertoire”.
