Universal Music is planning to sell European rights to EMI repertoire including the Pink Floyd catalogue and dance star David Guettta's work in order to satisfy Brussels competition regulators and push through its £1.2bn takeover of the company.
EMI chief executive Roger Faxon has written an internal email to his staff outlining which parts of the music business Universal has proposed to sell off, including Mute, Chrysalis (excluding the Robbie Williams catalogue) and Ensign labels.
Included in that disposal would be the Pink Floyd catalogue and the recently concluded new deal with Guetta, along with his catalogue.
Pink Floyd's EMI catalogue includes Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall – albums that still sell extensively and are believed to bring in millions of pounds a year.
Faxon said the divestments only relate to the exploitation of EMI's repertoire in Europe.
It emerged last week that the remedy package submitted to the European Commission also includes selling off Parlophone, but excluding the Beatles, both as a group and individually.
Other Parlaphone catalogues included in UMG's remedy package are Queen (whose Greatest Hits album remains the bestselling album of all time in the UK), Pet Shop Boys, Blur, Kylie Minogue and Radiohead.
Other EMI labels that would be up for sale are EMI Classics, Virgin Classics and the local operating offices EMI France, EMI Belgium, EMI Czech Republic, EMI Poland, EMI Portugal, EMI Sweden and EMI Norway.
Universal Music has also proposed selling off some of its own businesses, including Sanctuary, its marketing and distribution arm Co-Op, UMG Greece, and several European jazz labels.
Universal would also commit to terminate or not to bid for a number of high-profile European licenses for major Anglo-American and domestic repertoire, namely Disney Records, Hollywood Records, Ministry of Sound and Restos du Coeur in France.
"I can only imagine the questions that are going through your mind as you read this," writes Faxon, addressing the company's staff and artists, who have experienced much turmoil in the past few years as EMI has passed through the hands of both Guy Hands' Terra Firma and Citigroup.
Privately, many artists have expressed concern for what will happen to them if they end up on another label. Brian Message, one of Radiohead's managers, and the Featured Artist Coalition recently proposed to Universal Music that artists should have the option to buy back the rights to their catalogues at market value before they are put up for sale to other record labels.
The Universal Music remedy proposal will however have to go through market testing before a final decision on the merger is taken by regulators. "With a wind behind our backs we could close the sale and EMI could pass to [Universal Music Group] as early as the end of September," Faxon told staff.
In a separate email, UMG boss Lucian Grainge told EMI staff that his plan for EMI is simple: "To keep a number of EMI's key creative centres running parallel to UMG". "This is not an asset-stripping exercise," he added.
During the market-testing period the European Commission will assess input from third parties to determine if the package fully addresses their concerns.
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