Hard-up EMI seeks buyer for Abbey Road studios

[onehandle]

Source: AP

LONDON (AP) -- The long and winding road of Beatles history has taken a new twist. Cash-strapped music company EMI Group Ltd. is seeking a buyer for Abbey Road, the London studio where the Fab Four recorded some of their most famous songs, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

snip...

Analysts said the sale price would be far short of the $165 million EMI needs to survive, and would mean giving up one of its most high-profile assets -- not just a recording studio, but a tourist attraction and shrine for Beatles fans. "It's like throwing sandbags off the crippled balloon," said Adrian Drury, an analyst at Ovum Securities. "It is not going to help its cash situation that much. But EMI management are trying to desperately raise cash wherever they can, so the normal rules don't apply."

snip...

The crosswalk in front of the studio was immortalized on the cover of 1969's "Abbey Road," the final studio album The Beatles recorded. "Let it Be" was the band's final release, in 1970, but it was recorded before "Abbey Road." Paul McCartney still lives nearby.

"The thought of a property speculator coming in, knocking it down and building flats doesn't bear thinking about," said Pete Nash, chairman of the British Beatles Fan Club. "If I had the money, I'd buy the place."

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Hardup-EMI-seeks-buyer-for-apf-2395765258.html

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Sir Paul. Buy the studios and preserve them.

[aquart]

1. Dare I ask how this happened?

[CreekDog]

2. Where is all the money they made selling Beatles songs on Itunes

they what? :wtf:

:banghead: :eyes:

[onehandle]

3. Another snippet:

The lack of buyers so far for Abbey Road may reflect tough times for recording studios. Technological advances that let musicians make sophisticated recordings on a laptop computer have put pressure on facilities like Abbey Road.

"Modern recordings can be done these days in somebody's bedroom," Nash said. "I think the glory days of Abbey Road are long gone. it might be more valuable as a museum."

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Bad management, a private equity buyout at the top of the market

which left it with too much debt:

EMI is now the smallest of the four major record labels, and has launched a turn-around plan to try to cut costs and boosting internet sales to compete against the likes of Universal and Warner.

It has also cut about 2,000 jobs but lost some of its acts, including Radiohead, in the row that followed.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the results showed "one of the biggest ever losses on a private equity investment".

EMI was sold at the height of the private equity buyout bubble in 2007. The business has been battered by its high debt levels and a weak performance as record companies struggle to make cash .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8499483.stm

[musiclawyer]

4. Sad but true

Old recording studios with a history are dinosaurs. The CD that we are making this year will cost nothing but our time. Tracking, mixing , mastering. All done in the spare bedrooom, with the only cost being about 7k in semi-pro gear and a modest DAW purchased over time. For 7K I could probably get a local studio, desparate for work, to track most of the 12 songs. But that's it. Paul should buy the studio, and allow new young talent to work there a modest price to assure upkeep.

[AlbertCat]

5. will cost nothing but our time.

I don't know about you, but I get paid for my time.

[pepperbear]

6. a fair number of soundtracks, including star wars if I am not mistaken,

were recorded there also. this should be a candidate for their national registry of historic buildings.

[Captain Hilts]

8. I would think it would be an historic site. I mean, what else has Britain exported since 1960? nt