Music For Pleasure

Originally a British label; also appears as "MFP" only.
Label Code: LC 00464 / LC 0464
Label started in September 1965 as a joint venture between Hamlyn and EMI Records, selling low-cost reissues and also some original material. EMI provided the music and Hamlyn the publishing. The logo around this time has 'Paul Hamlyn' and 'EMI Records' circling the 'mfp' logo.

MFP had offices in various cities including Amsterdam, Brussels, Johannesburg, Köln, London, Sydney, Paris and Stockholm.

In 1970, Hamlyn's parent company, International Publishing Group (IPC) was acquired by Reed Paper Group. One year later, EMI bought out Reed and took full control over Music For Pleasure. MFP remained an independent company in Belgium. In September 1973, a parallel label called Sounds Superb, was launched.

MFP carried on throughout the '70s, but at the start of the '80s ran into trouble. This was due to changes in technology and major label rationalisations. MFP ended up as little more than a worldwide distribution network.

The new MUSIC FOR PLEASURE/EMI logo (9th image) was introduced approx. 1985. First on sleeves, later the traditional yellow vinyl labels were replaced by purple labels. Releases with this new logo and/or purple labels can't have a date prior to 1985.

From the 3rd April 2006 MFP was revived under the control of EMI Gold.

Please note, the '60s and '70s series of records for children with the Surprise Surprise logo should be entered under that label name. These records have catalogue numbers beginning with 'No', 'Number' or FP. Please note that MFP later used the FP prefix for other releases. All singles released in the '80s with an FP cat# prefix are Music For Pleasure and not Surprise Surprise.