Minos EMI

Minos EMI is a record company based in Athens, Greece. The company serves as the Greek record label and offices of the multinational Universal Music Group.

EMI is credited for founding the record business in Greece in the 1930s, by producing the first records and building the country's first recording studio.

Founding of recorded music in Greece

In 1930, British Columbia Graphophone Company and Gramophone Company, which a year later merged to form EMI Group, formed a partnership along with Greek investor Lambropoulos Brothers Limited to produce records in Greece. By 1931, company operations were in full swing and the first disc produced in Greece had been pressed under the company name EMIAL. After five years of using the halls of large hotels to record songs, EMIAL built Greece's first recording studio and became the front runner in the Greek music industry for many years. The company continued to be incorporated as EMIAL, although it predominantly used the trade name EMI Greece. EMI's domestic Greek releases during this period generally came out bearing the company's British legacy labels, including Columbia, His Master's Voice

Minos EMI in the 21st century

Since 2001, Minos EMI was the sole EMI label operation in Greece, following the closure of Virgin Records Greece. "EMI Music Greece" was the moniker used to refer to Minos EMI in an international context, following the EMI Group naming convention for national EMI offices around the world.

Between 2002 and 2004, Minos EMI handled the distribution of BMG in Greece, having acquired the rights after the closure of BMG Greece. Following the global joint venture (between BMG and Sony Music Entertainment) forming Sony BMG, Sony Music Greece saw its offices being converted to Sony BMG Greece. As a result of a (jointly-owned) BMG company being re-introduced into the Greek market (via Sony BMG Greece), the pre-existing distribution agreement with Minos EMI terminated under a clause allowing BMG to take back distribution should the company re-establish in Greece.

As of mid-2008, music channel MAD TV discontinued its practice of marking music videos by imprint, instead opting to solely label all releases as EMI. As of late 2010, the discontinuation of the Minos label also began on the CD covers of Minos artists, also leaving all domestic releases marked only with the EMI label.

In October 2010, Minos EMI entered into a 4-year agreement with the recently launched Greek edition of video sharing service Dailymotion, securing exclusive rights for Dailymotion to premiere all new music videos.[2] The deal also called for the addition of over 1,000 new, old, and rare music videos, accessible to website's users worldwide.[2]

Acquisition by Universal Music Group

Following the completion of the acquisition of EMI Group by Universal Music Group in September 2012, several European EMI operations were placed for sale to comply with European competition laws, and were subsequently acquired by Warner Music Group. In the Greek market hitherto, Universal Music Group had its label operation, Universal Music Greece, which was chosen over Minos EMI to be included in the sale of European assets. As a result, Greece was the only European country where a Universal Music office was chosen for divestiture, instead of an EMI office.[3] Universal Music Greece was acquired by Greek investors and relaunched as an independent label named Cobalt Music(which was subsequently acquired by Sony Music in December 2024[4]).

Upon the restructuring and integration of its operations, Universal Music Group chose to discontinue EMI worldwide as a standalone label.

type	Subsidiary
foundation	1931
location city	Athens
location country	Greece
industry	Music
parent	Universal Music Group
homepage	http://www.minosemi.gr

Founding of recorded music in Greece

Merger with Minos Matsas & Son

Heritage of the Minos EMI back catalogue

Minos EMI in the 21st century

Acquisition by Universal Music Group

Artists

Past

Current

See also

External links

References