Parlophone Records

Parlophone Records Limited traces its roots to a label name first used in Germany in 1896, when the Carl Lindström Company founded Parlophon. In Britain, the label’s branch was established on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited. It quickly became associated with jazz in the 1920s, building a reputation in that period as a jazz record label.

Parlophone’s corporate ownership changed significantly in the interwar years. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone’s business, name, logo, and release library. Columbia Graphophone later merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to form Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI), placing Parlophone within the EMI group.

A key figure in the label’s mid-century history was producer George Martin. He joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to the label manager Oscar Preuss and became manager in 1955. Under Martin’s direction, Parlophone issued a varied slate that included recordings by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith, reflecting a catalogue that could encompass comedy and popular entertainment alongside more conventional pop releases.

In more recent corporate terms, Parlophone Records Limited has operated under that name since 30 May 2013, having previously been known as EMI Records Ltd. The company has been described as the immediate registered owner of a group of imprint trademarks including Parlophone, Regal, Stateside, Food, Zonophone, Compulsion, Cooltempo, and Ensign. Following the wider sale of EMI’s recorded music division and subsequent divestments required by regulators, the Parlophone Label Group was created and later sold to Warner Music Group, with the transaction completed on 1 July 2013. As of that date, Parlophone Records Ltd. became an indirect subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Artists associated with Parlophone in available metadata include Brian Eno, David Bowie, and Chrissie Hynde, names that point to the label’s long-standing connection to prominent British and international popular music. The label’s identity, as indicated by its early jazz reputation and later breadth under George Martin, has encompassed multiple strands of recorded entertainment rather than a single narrow genre.