Matt Monro Forum

Dear all,
It is with great pleasure that I write to you today to announce that Warner Music Group has entered into a legally binding agreement to purchase Parlophone Label Group, I have attached their press release announcing the deal.
In order for the European Commission to approve UMG’s purchase of EMI Music in October 2012, Universal agreed to divest a substantial part of EMI’s business in Europe which became Parlophone Label Group. We entered into a sale process throughout which a number of high profile bidders came forward and the negotiations were fierce.
As many of you know, this is a long awaited marriage between 2 great music companies that has nearly happened on several occasions in the past. Warner’s successful acquisition of PLG is truly a momentous day for them and a very exciting new beginning for us.

While we wait for full regulatory approval and anti –trust clearance in Europe and Brazil the Parlophone Label Group will continue to work independently under current management.

I believe that Warner and PLG are two extremely complementary businesses in both the UK and Europe and with a stable owner willing to invest in our future I am confident that PLG’s legacy is in safe hands. With the combined power of exceptional artists and extraordinarily talented teams, we will be a force to be reckoned with.

As we understand more about the next phase of this process and the communication with Warner begins in earnest we will continue to update you regularly on any developments. In the meantime, rest assured the teams will remain focussed on delivering for their artists.

Best wishes

EMI Music UK & Ireland

This sounds like welcome news Michele, and welcome home to you too.

We are not sure yet Marian what it means.

It depends what Warner do with the company. If it keeps it as an arm of the company then hopefully all the people we know and work with will be safe in their jobs. If Warner just absorb the catalogue into their own archives then who knows what will happen.

We've already lost contacts for Matt's Capitol years as these now belong to Universal which means any future projects that span Matt's whole career would have to licence tracks from each other - Not Good! We have asked Universal for a contact, but so far there doesn't seem to be one!

If we lose our fabulous contacts at what was EMI Gold, then the Rarer Monro may well have been the very last Matt Monro project Michele and I work on.

Finger's crossed that all our friends at Parlophone Label Group (ex EMI) come through this process unscathed - I wish them all the best in what must be quite a worrying time for them.

Richard

I find all this very distrurbing, all these mergers and closures when they have a wealth of fantastic recordings in their vaults. As Richard said having to licence tracks from each other is not good as there are always problems with copyright etc:

So EMI Gold is no more? That was a great label, it was probably the latter day MFP!

I long for the days when we had decent record shops to browse in, I hate all this download lark and have nothing to do with it. It has killed music as we knew it.

We don't quite know what's happening at EMI Gold - Simply put they are not EMI any more - This trademark belongs to Universal. Currently they are the Parlophone Label Group - So I suppose you could say it might well be called - PLG Gold at the moment.

We'll have to see what happens

Richard

We are keeping our fingers crossed that there will be some good news in due course.

Let's also hope that some of the contacts remain especially those like Steve Woof who has given great support to Michele and Richard over the years.

All sounds like a bit of a curate's egg. Let's hope the outcome is good for all Matt Monro fans.