Rolling Stones Leave EMI For Universal – Follow Radiohead, McCartney Out The Door

The members of the Rolling Stones may all be in their sixties, but they are still one of the most commercially-viable bands around at the moment. Which makes their defection from EMI to Universal a big blow to the former, and a massive boost to the latter.

The Rolling Stones have become the third big British act to leave EMI in the last year, following fellow sixties artist Paul McCartney, and alternative indie rockers Radiohead out of the door. The Rolling Stones have moved to the Universal Music Group, the biggest record label in the world, and have signed a deal covering three new albums, and the worldwide rights for the band’s back catalogue from 1971 onwards.

Radiohead were first to jump ship from EMI after the company was taken over by Terra Firma. They blamed a lack of direction, and knowledge of the music industry, particularly from their new boss, Guy Hands. There was also the fact that EMI refused to meet their contract demands. The band first released In Rainbows on the Internet, before signing a deal with indie label XL Recordings to release the album physically on CD and vinyl.

Then came Paul McCartney, who left EMI after 45 years, to join Hear Music, a new record label owned by American coffee shop chain Starbucks. He accused EMI and its executives of becoming boring, and claimed that working for the record label was like being on a mind-numbing treadmill.

And now we have the Rolling Stones, possibly the biggest artist of the three, who while not making any accusations of ill treatment at EMI, did make some back-handed swipes in a statement about the prospect of moving on. According to the New York Times, they said:

“Universal are forward thinking, creative and hands-on music people. We really look forward to working with them.”

While the deal includes three new albums, the big victory is over the older material. The Rolling Stones have sold 24 million albums in the US alone since 1991 (when they joined EMI), and the vast majority of those sales has been classic, or live albums, rather than newly recorded studio material.

In its statement over the deal, Universal said that it was planning “an unprecedented, long-term campaign to reposition the Rolling Stones’ entire catalogue for the digital age.” This seems to suggest that all the classic songs and albums will be made available in all available outlets, especially on Web destinations such as iTunes.

The Rolling Stones are undoubtedly one of the most important groups in the hisory of music, a fact which surely makes this defection a bitter pill for EMI to swallow.

[Photo Source: oddsock at Flickr]