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EMI Labels Note

Table of contents 
  1. Liberty
  2. Jobete

This note supplements the broader profile on the EMI group.


It covers -

  • Liberty
  • Jobete

Liberty

Liberty Records was founded in 1955 by Simon Waronker (1915-2005). Waronker worked in the orchestra at 20th Century-Fox before becoming a contractor in 1939, organising musicians for film recording sessions. In 1955, using his furniture as collateral, he borrowed US$2,000 to form Liberty Records, keeping his day job at 20th Century-Fox and running Liberty at night.

The label initially featured Waronker's contacts among US west Coat performers and composers, including Nelson Riddle and Lionel Newman, before entering the black R&B market with Billy Ward and the Dominoes, the kitsch market with David Seville's bestselling Chipmunks and rock'n'roll with Eddie Cochran (1958) and Bobby Vee (responsible for The Night has a Thousand Eyes in 1963).

Waronker sold Liberty to electronics conglomerate Avnet for US$12 million in 1963. Avnet unsuccessfully merged it with Los Angeles label Imperial before unloading it to Al Bennett for US$8 million in 1965. It was acquired by Transamerica Corporation in 1968 and merged with United Artists, which was sold in 1978 and subsequently acquired by EMI.

Jobete

In 2004 EMI Group today announced that its EMI Music Publishing division had paid US$80 million for a further 20% of the Jobete music catalogue, with over 15,000 Motown songs that include My Girl, I Heard it Through the Grapevine and I Just Called to Say I Love You.

Jobete was developed by Berry Gordy. EMI involvement with Jobete dated from 1982, when EMI Music Publishing assumed foreign administration of the catalogue. In 1997 EMI purchased 50% of Jobete for US$132 million, paying $109 million in in 2003 to increase its stake to 80%.