Troubled label EMI is reportedly considering selling one of music history’s most cherished landmarks – London’s Abbey Road Studios.
Yes, that Abbey Road, the studios where The Beatles recorded. The photo of the lads walking single-file across the street outside the building adorned the cover of the group’s album named after the studio and quickly became one of music’s most recognizable images.
Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, Duran Duran and Oasis were just some of the bands that recorded at the famed studios.
Citing five people “familiar with the matter,” Financial Times reports EMI is shopping the studio to potential buyers.
It hasn’t been the best of times for EMI. The label was acquired in a 2007 leverage buyout by private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners, whose CEO quickly made more enemies than friends in the music biz when he attempted to cut costs as well as monies paid to the company’s recording artists.
But Terra Firma needs money. The company is trying to avoid defaulting on a £950 million ($1.49 billion) loan backed by the label and needs more than £100 million ($156.7 million) from investors, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, even if EMI sold Abbey Road today, the sale wouldn’t bring in enough cash to make a sizeable dent in the label’s mounting debt.
Is there a place for Abbey Road in today’s musical economy? In a world where artists record on laptops, costly recording sessions may soon be only a memory of good times past.
“What you have is a very, very expensive piece of heritage,” said a media lawyer, according to Financial Times. “If an artist goes to a label and asks to record at Abbey Road they will be met with maniacal laughter.”
Click here to read the Financial Times account.
Click here to read the Wall Street Journal article (subscription may be required).