Queen manager applauds Universal/EMI swoop

Queen manager Jim Beach is looking forward to Universal’s potential acquisition of EMI Music, anticipating a time when the record label will “again be owned by a music company”.
In a letter to The Times – published on Saturday, May 5 – Beach remembered EMI Records under private equity and how he felt it was to the detriment of the bands housed there at the time.

“Today’s music business is very different to that of 40 years ago, when the band I represent, Queen, began its career with EMI Records,” he said. “Then the company was a hugely influential creative force in the UK and overseas. It gave us extraordinary music across virtually every genre, and its artists shaped the tastes of more than one generation.

“But the latter-day EMI Records under private equity proved to be a very different place,” he added. “Investment was slashed to the detriment of the artists, Queen among them, and we were not alone in jumping ship.

“I look forward to when EMI Records will again be owned by a music company as there are still great artists and executives there who need more creative people at the top,” Beach concluded.

Contrastingly, legendary producer Sir George Martin labelled the proposed break-up of EMI as ‘the worst thing music has ever faced’ at the end of last month.

Source: Music Week