EMI is doing very well on the charts, but having nothing but trouble as a corporation:
- There should be a party atmosphere at the headquarters of Britain’s biggest music company this Sunday as the weekly album and singles charts are released.
In a rare double for the industry, the number one bands in both are likely to be signed to the same company, EMI.
Coldplay is expected to top the album chart, with Atomic Kitten having the top single, at the end of a week during which EMI held an unrivalled 35.6% share of the total UK album chart.
No dancing in the streets, though:
- On Wednesday, for the first time since being demerged from Thorn in 1996, EMI is expected to be ejected from the FTSE 100 index of blue chip stocks.
The company’s market value has more than halved since the start of the year – losing more than £1bn – but relegation from the FTSE is the clearest sign yet that investors’ patience with the company is wearing dangerously thin.
The music industry is undergoing one of the most fundamental shifts in its history – and EMI, the biggest and best-known of Britain’s record groups, is suffering badly.
A dire global market for record sales, growing piracy and the thorny issue of internet distribution has got the five “majors” – Universal, Warner Records, Sony, EMI and BMG – in a spin.
Latest figures from Nielsen Soundscan suggest that album sales in the US, the world’s biggest music market, fell 9.8% by volume in the first six months of the year. Japan, the second most lucrative market, is down 8%….