MUMBAI: After 20 years of association with EMI Records, international rock band the Rolling Stones, have switched loyalties to Vivendi SA's Universal Music. This is regarded as the second high profile act after Guy Hands had acquired the label last year.
On Friday, Universal confirmed that both the band's future projects will be with the label. The label would also include their back catalogue including albums as "Sticky Fingers" and "Black and Blue" and songs "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up."
EMI's other major artistes like Robbie Williams and Coldplay have also expressed unhappiness with the label due to the changes in the company's buyout, says a Bloomberg report.
Talking about their move, the Stones said, "Universal are forward-thinking, creative and hands-on music people. We really look forward to working with them."
The new album of the artistes would be released under the Polydor label, the Universal subsidiary. The label will reposition the band for the digital age with unprecedented, long term campaign.
"EMI obviously wanted to keep them,'' said JupiterResearch LLC in London Mark Mulligan. "But the way EMI is being run right now is very much focused on the right return on the investment and the right risk level. They obviously didn't think that the investment required to keep them was worth it.'' JupiterResearch is a research company which analyses and advice companies on consumer technologies on their business.
The British band had already worked with the label in "Shine A Light," the soundtrack album from director Martin Scorsese's film of the Stones 2006 performance at the Beacon Theater in New York.
In a terse response to the latest news, a spokesman for EMI said "EMI Music Group wishes the Rolling Stones well in their new venture and looks forward to a continuing relationship with the band through our long-term publishing agreement. EMI Music will only ever conclude mutually beneficial agreements with its artists."
The band has topped the Forbes magazine's list of wealthy music acts last year earning 88 million dollars between June 2006 and June 2007.