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Author Topic: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road  (Read 17028 times)

masterhse

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Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
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AlexVI

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2010, 03:43:27 PM »

I'm more suprised that they've held on to it for this long!
It's worth a fortune as real estate, probably doesn't generate a decent profit, and had they sold it a couple of years ago at the height of the real estate boom, they could have capitalised on it strongly, built a new place further out of town if deemed necessary, and had a bunch of cash in the bank or to pay down debt.

AVI
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lowland

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2010, 04:14:47 PM »

We bought their A80 24 track 'B' machine around '87, and Melvyn Toms the splendid maintenance guy there found some extra bits for us so I went to pick them up. The studio was in the throes of a big internal rebuild, and as I arrived the builders had just discovered that several of the ground floor doors wouldn't open because the building had settled on them. Cue worried faces and lots of jacks...
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Nigel Palmer
Lowland Masters
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Waltz Mastering

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2010, 04:53:11 PM »

It would be a major loss... Hopefully someone like Richard Branson or someone with deep pockets can come by and save it.

William Bowden

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2010, 06:30:19 PM »

Yeah sad news indeed, I hope the mastering operation survives...

The King

Adam Dempsey

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2010, 06:56:32 PM »

Indeed. Hoping for sustainability in the long term for them. Surely it can be seen as an historical & creatively inspiring asset, even beyond being a Beatles-esque thing.

  http://www.audioprointernational.com/news/1802/Beatles-studi o-for-sale
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Adam Dempsey
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Thomas W. Bethel

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2010, 07:34:20 PM »

Sir Paul McCartney should buy it and make it into a working museum.

Imagine it as a tourist attraction and a recording studio.

Seeing what else is going on in the world today it will probably be sold for millions and turned into high end condos or apartments. That would be a real shame. Too many world class, large recording space facilities are biting the dust. It has almost reached epidemic proportions. I guess EMI must really be hurting to even think of selling this prime piece of historical importance.

FWIW and YMMV
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Thomas W. Bethel
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Jerry Tubb

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2010, 09:32:44 AM »

Another casualty of digital convenience in the information age?

Apple should be proud, iT*nes & Garage Band have... well you know

One article says 3 Billion pounds in debt?

Does the Queen grant gov't bailouts?

JT
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Terra Nova Mastering
Celebrating 20 years of Mastering!

bblackwood

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2010, 09:46:07 AM »

Jerry Tubb wrote on Fri, 19 February 2010 08:32

Another casualty of digital convenience in the information age?

I dunno, I told my former employer a decade ago that the studio for hire model was a dinosaur - not a matter of if, but when they would virtually all close up shop.

Based on convenience? In part, yes.

But what we're really seeing, imo, is more of a natural shift as budgets have dropped. It's way more complex than iTunes and Garageband - as the major label models have changed, their financial successes have dropped dramatically. Lower budgets have forced producers to build their own shops in order to continue to make what they used to or even survive (instead of paying a significant potion of the budget for studio rental).

There are tons of owner / operator type studios opening up every year now - rooms not for hire. That's the new model, Abbey Road is the old model. It sucks to see great old studios shut down, but this industry is constantly in flux...
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Brad Blackwood
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Jerry Tubb

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2010, 10:06:42 AM »

bblackwood wrote on Fri, 19 February 2010 08:46

It's way more complex than iTunes and Garageband


Well of course, just citing Apple as one facet of digital democracy, it's way bigger than the music biz as well, look how at Photoshop and digital cameras have affected professional photographers, online news is obsoleting print news, etc, etc, etc.

Hopefully the trends won't destroy brick and mortar independent mastering facilities like yours and mine : -)

Another reason to embrace and innovate digital convenience I suppose.

Perhaps the law of gravity wil remain steady, and cream will always rise to the top, regardless of paradigm shifts

JT
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Terra Nova Mastering
Celebrating 20 years of Mastering!

compasspnt

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2010, 10:10:50 AM »

Jerry Tubb wrote on Fri, 19 February 2010 09:32

One article says 3 Billion pounds in debt?



Not Abbey Road itself in debt, but rather Terra Firma, the group that WAY overpaid for EMI, without having any idea of what the music business involves.

AR is a casualty of their arrogant, ignorant greed.
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Jerry Tubb

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2010, 10:25:52 AM »

Perhaps Terra Firma has gone into Terra Incognito.

Oh yes there's the National Trust movement afoot to save AR.

JT
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Terra Nova Mastering
Celebrating 20 years of Mastering!

Jerry Tubb

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2010, 10:04:52 PM »

A new twist from Andrew Lloyd Webber:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9893324

JT
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Terra Nova Mastering
Celebrating 20 years of Mastering!

Bob Olhsson

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2010, 07:48:45 PM »

bblackwood wrote on Fri, 19 February 2010 08:46

There are tons of owner / operator type studios opening up every year now - rooms not for hire. That's the new model, Abbey Road is the old model...
What's sad is that the owner/operator model is locked into the DAW version of the '80s production methodology. It's a pretty safe bet that "the next big thing" probably won't be related to that and once again require studios that can accommodate recording ensembles all at once.

bblackwood

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Re: EMI Puts 'For Sale' Sign On Abbey Road
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2010, 08:28:03 PM »

Bob Olhsson wrote on Sat, 20 February 2010 18:48

bblackwood wrote on Fri, 19 February 2010 08:46

There are tons of owner / operator type studios opening up every year now - rooms not for hire. That's the new model, Abbey Road is the old model...
What's sad is that the owner/operator model is locked into the DAW version of the '80s production methodology. It's a pretty safe bet that "the next big thing" probably won't be related to that and once again require studios that can accommodate recording ensembles all at once.

Hi Bob - can you explain what you mean by "locked into the DAW version of the '80s production methodology"? Not sure I follow you there...
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Brad Blackwood
euphonic masters
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