EMI Suffers Major Losses, $1.2 Billion

Major label EMI has reported a loss of $1.2 billion during the last fiscal year (which ended March 31), more notably since Guy Hands and Terra Firma took over the struggling company. This is more than double the loss experienced the prior year, which topped out at $455 million. Rounding out the bad news for the label, revenue dropped from $2.8 billion to $2.3 according to a report by Maltby Capital.

Major label EMI has reported a loss of $1.2 billion during the last fiscal year (which ended March 31), more notably since Guy Hands and Terra Firma took over the struggling company. This is more than double the loss experienced the prior year, which topped out at $455 million. Rounding out the bad news for the label, revenue dropped from $2.8 billion to $2.3 according to a report by Maltby Capital.

This poor performance may be surprising to those aware of EMI’s artist roster, which includes rock giants Coldplay and successful pop newcomer Katy Perry. Analysts say the problem is not in the music, but in how EMI handles their business.

“EMI Music had a history of signing great artists, but had not adapted sufficiently to the changing consumer market for music,” the Maltby report states. Other problems that industry insiders are speculating to have played a role in the label’s pitfall include excessive executive spending and a lack of thorough data collection. As such, EMI has experienced both drastic decreases in physical album sales and poor performance in the digital market.

Executives at the label are already hard at work in hopes of turning EMI around, and expected early changes will be job cuts and better bookkeeping.