Record Label

Electrola

Label Code: LC 0193 / LC 00193 The Electrola brand was established as a counterpart of the British "His Master's Voice" label by the Gramophone Co. Ltd. The subsidiary Electrola Gesellschaft m.b.H. was founded on May 8, 1925 (the German HMV slogan "Die Stimme des Herrn" and the Nipper logo was owned in Germany until the start of WWI by the former Gramophone Co. Ltd. subsidiary "Deutsche Grammophon AG", which was confiscated and sold to "Polyphon Musikwerke AG"). This marked the return of the Gramophone Co. Ltd. to the lucrative German market at a time when record sales were rapidly rising. The company moved from Berlin to Cologne in 1953 and merged with the second German EMI subsidiary "Carl Lindström GmbH" in 1972. For the next 30 years the new formed "EMI Electrola GmbH" was the home of the ELECTROLA brand. With the merger of "EMI Electrola GmbH" and "Virgin Schallplatten GmbH" in 2002 the label was licensed to the "Capitol Music" division of "EMI Music Germany GmbH & Co KG". On April 27, 2004 the trademark rights were reassigned from immediate registered owner EMI Records Ltd. to EMI (IP) Ltd. (an intellectual property holding company and principal subsidiary of EMI Group Plc). After Electrola and the rest of EMI's German operations were sold to Universal Music Group (UMG) on September 21, 2012, when the European Commission (EC) approved the sale, UMG relocated the former EMI Music Germany from Cologne to Berlin later in December, while Electrola was moved to Munich. As of 2017 EMI (IP) Ltd. is still the registered owner of the Electrola trademark under the direct control of EMI Group Ltd, which subsequently forms part of the Universal Music Group.