EMI - 'The Electrical and Music Industries'

As part of my major and independent record label research, I investigated and created a case study which covers the various aspects of EMI, such as it's methods of production and distribution.

Timeline of EMI :

Formed in 1931 in London as 'The Electrical and Music Industries'
Introduced the first vinyl in 1948
Released music by Elvis in the USA & UK in 1956
Signed Cliff Richard in 1958 - the start of a 50+ year career!
Signed the Beatles to a subsidary label (Parlophone) in 1962 - sold approx. 600million albums!
Vertically integrated Tamla Motown - was a global success! - music from Jackson 5 & Diana Ross
Also signed artists from other genres, such as Queen and The Rolling Stones
BUT.....
Music sales slowed in the 1980's
This forced EMI to change their direction twice, from music like Iron Maiden to Duran Duran
They started to catch up with new technology in 1986 - started manafacturing CD's
Bought undisputed rights to soundtracks from 'Wizard of Oz', 'Singing in the Rain' and more

EMI were also responsible for the first internet video single in 2001.
They were also the first label to release singles at the same time as radio (in 2002.)
In 2005 they made a deal with Disney to sell their soundtracks through EMI.
In 2007, they were taken over by Terra Firma in a £4.2 billion deal.
Yet this move caused controversy, as Radiohead left the label and released their album 'Rainbows' online, but users could pay what they liked and it had no copyright rules.
They also angered Pink Floyd in 2010, and were succesfully sued by them over the sales of their singles.
However, in 2010 they finally reached a deal with iTunes which saw the Beatles disocgraphy on the iTunes store for the first time, which produced huge interest and sales.

EMI has embraced new media technology, as they now scout sites such as MySpace, YouTube and Facebook to find up and coming artists from around the world.
However, their profits are contsantly limited by P2P sharing, which is now estimated to cost the music industry as a whole $10billion a year, as 7 million people in the UK alone file-share online.

Football 365

Football365.com, or simply F365, is a website which is operated by 365 Media Group: a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSkyB from its bases in both Leeds and Cape Town.
The website primarily covers the Premier League, as well as other European leagues and cups.
It takes an informal and humorous approach to dealing with the latest football news.
Their mailbox feature regularly publishes e-mails that have views on football.
The site was founded in 1997 by journalist Danny Kelly, along with Dan Thompson and Simon Morris, a former Marketing Director of BSkyB.
In 1999, the height of the dot-com bubble, the sites' parent company 365 Corporation floated on the London Stock Exchange, peaking at a value of £500 million shortly after launch.


I enjoy using this website as it gains its information from sources all over the world, formal and informal. In particular, it as a daily article called 'mediawatch', where it publishes all of the news from Television and newspaper reports, some informal. It is also one of the first news outlets to publish breaking stories such as England's World Cup squad in 2010. It also allows me to keep up to date with my favourite football team, and gives links to other types of media concerning football, such as the magasine FourFourTwo and it's page on Facebook. It also links in advertisements that relate to football. For example, as of March 2011, an advert with a Premiership footballer is at the top, designed by Umbro. Along the side and lower down the home page are forums, e-mail sections and links to betting sites.

The Football Ramble (Podcast)

The Football Ramble is a podcast about football, produced in London by The Football Ramble Ltd. Originally provided fortnightly, this was increased to a weekly show at the beginning of the 09/10 football season, mainly due to repeated listener requests.
It is presented by Marcus Speller, who is joined by Luke Moore, Xfm DJ Pete Donaldson , and James "OrJim" Campbell. On the podcast, emphasis is placed upon European, South American and World Football, providing an irreverent viewpoint on the sporting issues of the day.

The reason I enjoy this podcast is because of its informal nature along with its informative approach to football.

Jack Johnson - At Or With Me (Music Video)

At Or With Me is a song taken from Jack Johnson's album To The Sea. The reason I like the video is because of its originality and creativity. It features acting from members of the comedy band, The Lonely Island.

This shot above is very good, as it plays off the stereotypes of dated fighting/action films. The character in the middle has just removed his sunglasses in slow motion, whilst tense music plays in the background. The two characters flanking him are dressed smartly, and their composition at either side makes it seem as if they are guarding the middle character.

I also liked the editing inbetween this shot and the shot pictured below. The camera zooms out whilst tracking in to create a distorted feel.

This shot is very similar to the shot previously discussed. The extreme close-up is another technique which is normally used to show emotions, yet this is used to mock this idea.

This is another shot I enjoyed, as the composition shows the characters to not be paying attention, instead on their mobile phones. This adds to the storyline of the video as they are arrogant and rude characters.



The Godfather Part II

The Godfather Part II -The continuing saga of the Corleone crime family tells the story of a young Vito Corleone growing up in Sicily and in 1910s New York; and follows Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

One particular thing I have noticed about this movie, and the other Godfather films, is the use of costume. I especially like this as the era and style of the time and location have been carefully researched, for example, most of the men in the movie wear hats whilst wearing suits. This would have been common in that time period but unusual now.

This shot (coupled with the opening titles) is one of my favourite throughout the movie. Even though it is very simple as a shot, it is very effective if the viewer understands the storyline of the short part of the movie so far, and also the first Godfather film. This chair is shown to be empty, with the sign that someone has recently sat in it. I interpreted this to be the late Vito (or Don Corleone throughout much of the first movie) Corleone's old chair. As Michael ( Vito Corleone's son) is in the room, slow music accompanies the introduction of this chair, which is particularly significant as this shows how Michael is missing his fathers prescence and influence.

This is another shot I found to be effective. Moments before, a mourner at the funeral procession has been shot and presumably killed by a gunshot from an unseen gunman. I particularly liked this shot as it captures the typical reaction of confusion and panic, as the characters run in all directions, some still carrying their large, heavy instruments.