Please note, many Regal Zonophone issues also carry an EMI logo. This is not a label and EMI should not be added as a label, it instead indicates that Regal Zonophone was part of the EMI Group.
Label Code: LC 00320
In 1931 Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI) is formed through the merger of The Gramophone Co. Ltd. & Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd., the registered trademark owners of the (Regal and Zonophone) brands respectively. In 1932 these labels are brought together forming the Regal Zonophone label. (subsequently "Regal Zonophone" was never registered as an independent trademark). Also used overseas in some markets such as Australia (from 1933).
In 1967 the Regal Zonophone label was revived following a licencing deal struck between Essex Music Group & Electric & Musical Industries Ltd., that gave Straight Ahead Productions Ltd. (subsidiary of "Essex Music") the exclusive use of The Gramophone Co. Ltd. label (trademark), and was mainly used as an outlet for independent producers such as Tony Visconti, Denny Cordell. The label was home to artists such as The Move, Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex), Joe Cocker and Procol Harum.
After closing the label in 1974, EMI Records Ltd. reactivated Regal Zonophone in 1985 and again in the 1990s.
In 2013 ownership / rights to both the trademarks (labels) Regal & Zonophone (Regal Zonophone) were reassigned to EMI Records Ltd. successor Parlophone Records Ltd. following the divestment of EMI Group Plc and the formation of the Parlophone label Group, as of 2017 Parlophone Records Ltd. remains the registered trademark owner for these two independent brands.
