Poko Rekords is a medium sized Finnish label from the EMI Group releasing music of several different styles, including electronic.

Short history:

Poko Rekords was founded in 1977 as a part of Unitor Oy and Epe's Music Store by Epe Helenius. The first release was a single "Dancing Shoes" by Teddy & The Tigers, released in December 1977. Poko Rekords was releasing mainly Finnish music, and in 1980 Helenius launched Poko International to release music from international artists.

In 1987 Helenius' friend and the manager of Oy Sonet Suomi Ab, Gugi Kokljuschkin offered Helenius a distribution deal, and Helenius offered a 40% share of Unitor Oy. Kokljuschkin agreed and in January 1988 Sonet acquired 40% of Unitor Oy. But, when in 1991 PolyGram bought Sonet, Helenius didn't feel comfortable doing business with PolyGram and bought the 40% back by the end of 1992. But the times were hard and Unitor Oy went bankrupt in 1993.

In 1992 Helenius had set up a company called Shoeling Oy to buy the PolyGram's share of Unitor Oy, and after the bankruptcy it was used to buy the old master catalog from Unitor Oy. In 1993 Shoeling changed its name to Poko Rekords Oy. The publishing company in the early days was Jee-Jee Music Oy, but in 1992 Helenius founded Poplandia Music Oy. After the bankruptcy he acquired the shares of Jee-Jee Music to Poplandia Music Oy.

In 2001 EMI announced its acquisition of Poko. However, Poko still maintained a large amount of independence and it was not merged into EMI's local operations. Only some of the back office operations and distribution are handled by EMI.

By the end of 2009, Poko Rekords Oy will be merged into EMI's local operations, to Oy EMI Finland Ab. Former CEO Epe Helenius will continue as a consultant. The release policies will change, Poko will continue mainly releasing music from the old back catalog and from the Finnish rock artists already signed to the label. No new artists will be signed to the label, and A&R will be taken care by EMI.

Helenius has started a new record company, Sound of Finland, and has signed several artists that have been disbanded by Poko during the EMI era.

Distributors:
Ab Discophon Oy 1987-1981
CBS Records Oy 1981-1992
BMG Ariola Oy / BMG Finland Oy 1992-2001
Oy EMI Finland Ab 2001-