After nearly a week of public outcry over reports that Abbey Road Studios in London was up for sale, its owner, the financially troubled British record label EMI, has finally spoken.
In a statement issued Sunday, EMI denied that the studio was being put on the market but confirmed that it was seeking financial help to save it.
In the statement, which raises nearly as many questions as it answers, EMI said it had received an offer for Abbey Road in excess of 30 million (about $45 million) in mid-2009 but turned it down. We believe that Abbey Road should remain in EMI's ownership, the company said.
EMI, which has been struggling under a large debt load since its $8 billion purchase in 2007 by the private equity firm Terra Firma, said that Abbey Road had been losing money for years. In November, the statement said, EMI began holding talks with an unspecified number of outside parties to provide a substantial injection of new capital to finance plans to revitalize Abbey Road.
The company did not explain those plans but implied that Abbey Road could be maintained as a recording facility while also opened to the public. An EMI spokeswoman declined to comment further on the company's plans. In its statement, EMI welcomed the reported interest of English Heritage, a government preservation agency, to protect the property with listed status. The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyricist Tim Rice also separately expressed interest in buying the studio.
Abbey Road, an extensive complex with room to record entire orchestras, has been used as a studio since 1931, but in recent years, as record companies have slashed budgets, it has become prohibitively expensive for many artists and labels to record there.
In a statement issued Sunday, EMI denied that the studio was being put on the market but confirmed that it was seeking financial help to save it.
In the statement, which raises nearly as many questions as it answers, EMI said it had received an offer for Abbey Road in excess of 30 million (about $45 million) in mid-2009 but turned it down. We believe that Abbey Road should remain in EMI's ownership, the company said.
EMI, which has been struggling under a large debt load since its $8 billion purchase in 2007 by the private equity firm Terra Firma, said that Abbey Road had been losing money for years. In November, the statement said, EMI began holding talks with an unspecified number of outside parties to provide a substantial injection of new capital to finance plans to revitalize Abbey Road.
The company did not explain those plans but implied that Abbey Road could be maintained as a recording facility while also opened to the public. An EMI spokeswoman declined to comment further on the company's plans. In its statement, EMI welcomed the reported interest of English Heritage, a government preservation agency, to protect the property with listed status. The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyricist Tim Rice also separately expressed interest in buying the studio.
Abbey Road, an extensive complex with room to record entire orchestras, has been used as a studio since 1931, but in recent years, as record companies have slashed budgets, it has become prohibitively expensive for many artists and labels to record there.
