EMI Italiana was a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, it was an Italian offshoot of British Electric and Musical Industries, based in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. It was founded in 1931 as VCM and, in 1967 it was renamed EMI Italiana followed by EMI Music Italy in 1997 and, finally, EMI Records Italy Srl in 2013, when it was acquired by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

History

VCM's birth

Since 1904, La voce del padrone records were published and distributed by ''SAIF'' (''Società Anonima Italiana di Fonotipia''), based in

. The British record company was actually called ''Grammofono'', but due to the famous painting by Francis Barraud "La voce del padrone" which portrays the little dog Nipper listening to a gramophone, used a trademark on the label, it soon took on this unofficial name. Meanwhile, in 1912, Alfredo Bossi (one of the first Italian record companies) had founded the ''SNG'' (''Società Nazionale del Grammofono'') also based in Milan, which in the 1920s had signed an agreement with the British record label Columbia Graphophone Company for the production and distribution of records in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Since in 1931 Columbia (not to be confused with the American label of the same name) and

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

merged giving life to EMI, the same operation took place in Italy also between ''SAIF'' and ''SNG'' with the involvement of a third partner, Marconiphone, a company specialized in the production of radio sets (the English EMI also intended to expand into this market) which was already distributing the records of the French label Pathé in Italy. The company name was VCM ( Voce del Padrone - Columbia - Marconiphone), and this denomination remained until 1967, when it was translated in EMI Italiana; the headquarters was established in

, in via Domenichino 14 (later it was moved to piazza Cavour 2), and the director was Aldo Mario De Luigi. In the 1930s, Dennis Passadoro (who died in the war in 1942) was director of VCM. Until the end of the 1950s, he also maintained some offices in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, in via Pietro Micca 1.

Success

Despite being a unique company, however, it maintained the diversity of labels in various publications, unifying the catalog only at the end of 1969. With the outbreak of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the company, like many others of English property, was placed under seizure, and resumed its activity in Italy in 1946; while giving priority to the distribution of foreign artists in the peninsula, it also dealt with the launch of Italian singers such as Beniamino Gigli, Carlo Buti or Renato Carosone (who recorded for the sub-label ''Pathé'') and, in the 1960s, the Nomadi, Al Bano, Francesco Guccini and

Adamo Adamo is both a masculine given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Adamo Abate (c. 990 – 1060–1070), Italian medieval Benedictine abbot and saint, a promoter of the unification of the Southern populatio ...

. In 1972 the main office was moved from Milan to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and then moved in the early 1980s to via Bergamo in Caronno Pertusella (in the province of

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

but a few steps from Milan), while maintaining some branch offices in Rome and Milan. Over the years it has entered into agreements for the distribution in Italy of brands such as the American Capitol (since 1957), the British

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

, the German

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

(published also in Italy under the name "Parlophon") and the French Odeon (the latter two, until 1967, distributed by Carisch) and many record companies. Mostly from the post-war period onwards, the directors of the company were British such as the famous Stephen Gottieb who directed ''EMI Italiana'' throughout the 1960s; the first Italian was Alexis Rotelli in 1981, followed in 1986 by Roberto Citterio. In 1997 it changed the company name to EMI Music Italy S.p.A. and in 1999 it moved to Milan, selling the Caronno Pertusella facilities which became IMS dedicated to CD printing. In 2013 became EMI Records Italy Srl, following the acquisition by

Bibliography

* Mario de Luigi, ''L'industria discografica in Italia'', published by Lato Side, Rome, 1982 * Mario de Luigi, ''Storia dell'industria fonografica in Italia'', published by Musica e Dischi, Milan, 2008 * Magazine '' Musica e dischi'' (Years 1945 – 1968), ''Il Musichiere'' (Years 1959 – 1961), '' TV Sorrisi e Canzoni'' (Years 1952 – 1968) and others (''Ciao amici'', ''Giovani'', ''Big'', etc…etc…) {{Portal bar, companies, music, Italy Italian record labels Record labels established in 1931 Record labels disestablished in 2013 EMI Universal Music Group Music in Milan