EMI, the music group behind artists ranging from Pink Floyd to Katy Perry and country and western band Lady Antebellum, crashed £1.75bn into the red last year, according to figures released by the company on Friday 5th February.

The loss is one of the biggest black holes ever seen in a private equity-backed business and threatens to shred the ­reputation of Guy Hands, the outspoken City financier whose Terra Firma group paid out more than £4bn for EMI just before the credit crunch took hold in the summer of 2007. It could ultimately, push the famous record label into the ­control of US bankers.

EMI Group operates two divisions – recorded music and music publishing – but its financial problems are concentrated in the recorded-music operation, whose assets include Coldplay and Kylie Minogue, and an extensive and much-lauded back catalogue that encompasses albums such as David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, the Beatles hit Sgt Pepper, and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Read the full story at paidcontent.co.uk

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