Peter Jamieson

The man who rebuilt EMI (Australia)
Peter Jamieson became Managing Director of EMI (Australia) in February 1980 after previously heading the company’s New Zealand operation. During his three years in Australia he helped transform EMI from an underperforming major into one of the country’s leading record companies, encouraging greater support for Australian artists, closer relationships with independent labels and a stronger emphasis on singles and imaginative marketing. His tenure also coincided with a particularly active period for the Beatles catalogue, including the continuing success of The Beatles Collection, the huge-selling The Beatles Ballads and the 1982 Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection. Peter left Australia in early 1983 to become Managing Director of EMI Records UK and Eire.
English-born Peter had already accumulated considerable international experience by the time he arrived in Australia. He joined EMI in the late 1960s and subsequently worked in a number of overseas roles before becoming head of EMI’s Greek operation.

Peter spent five years running EMI in Greece, an experience that strongly influenced his approach to the record business. It was there, he later recalled, that he learned to “love and nurture local talent wherever you can find it”.

He subsequently spent two years heading EMI UK’s International Division before moving to New Zealand. In late 1977 Peter was appointed Managing Director of EMI (New Zealand), taking up the position around the beginning of 1978.

After two years in New Zealand, Peter transferred to Australia in February 1980, replacing Stephen Shrimpton as Managing Director of EMI’s Australian recorded-music operation.

At 36, Peter was already a highly experienced international record-company executive, but Australia made an immediate impression on him. He was particularly struck by the level of support given to Australian music by radio and the media, which contrasted strongly with his experience in New Zealand.

Peter saw considerable potential in EMI’s local operation and wanted the company to become more open to Australian artists, managers, producers and independent record labels. He described EMI as an “open forum” for local talent and encouraged the company to use its recording, manufacturing and distribution resources more widely across the Australian industry.

He also arrived with a particularly strong belief in the importance of singles.

“Hit singles are the lifeblood of the industry,” Peter commented at the time, arguing that record companies sometimes underestimated the role singles played in establishing new artists.

Under his leadership EMI (Australia) placed renewed emphasis on the singles market while also strengthening its relationships with independent labels and production companies. Peter personally sought out new partnerships and encouraged EMI (Australia) to work with outside companies rather than relying solely on artists signed directly to its own labels.

It was part of a broader philosophy that EMI’s considerable resources should be used as fully as possible. Peter inherited an organisation with Studios 301 in Sydney, the Homebush manufacturing plant, national sales and distribution operations and an enormous catalogue of local and international recordings. His aim was to make those resources work harder for both EMI and the wider Australian music industry.

Peter was also outspoken on broader industry issues. He opposed further increases in record prices, believing consumers were increasingly sensitive to cost and could easily turn instead to radio or home taping. He was equally critical of Australia’s sales-tax arrangements and argued that commercial radio should contribute more financially to the recording industry whose music it relied upon.

These views reflected an executive prepared to challenge established industry practices rather than simply follow them.

The commercial results during Peter’s tenure were substantial.

When he arrived, EMI (Australia) was performing relatively weakly against its major competitors and held only a modest share of the Australian record market. Over the following three years its position improved dramatically, with contemporary industry reports crediting Peter’s leadership, stronger relationships with local artists and independent labels, and more effective marketing as important factors in the turnaround.

By 1982 EMI had become one of the dominant companies in the Australian record industry.

In an interview with this site's webmaster, Peter recalled being told by EMI management in London that the Australian operation had, for a period, become the most profitable EMI company in the world.

He was careful, however, not to claim that success as his alone. Looking back on the period, Peter remembered people including Alex Coroneos, Les Smith and Brian Harris among the wider team responsible for EMI (Australia)’s performance.

“We had a lovely team,” he recalled.

Peter’s Australian tenure also coincided with an unusually successful period for EMI’s Beatles catalogue.

When he arrived, EMI (Australia) was already enjoying extraordinary success with the 13-LP The Beatles Collection. The Australian edition had originally appeared before his appointment, but its sales continued to build during his time in charge.

In 1980 Peter represented EMI (Australia) when ATV Northern Songs presented the company with a special Gold Box recognising what was reported as the highest worldwide sales of The Beatles Collection. More than 25,000 complete sets had reportedly been sold in Australia, representing more than 325,000 individual albums.

Although Peter had not initiated the original release, the presentation provides one of the clearest direct links between him and the Australian Beatles catalogue.

The death of John Lennon in December 1980 then created an extraordinary resurgence in demand for Beatles and Lennon recordings, placing considerable pressure on EMI’s Australian manufacturing operation.

One of the biggest Beatles successes of Peter’s tenure was The Beatles Ballads. Locally manufactured from April 1981 and supported by a major television campaign, the album spent seven weeks at number one and became one of the strongest-selling Beatles releases of the period in Australia. Its success reflected the strong catalogue marketing that characterised EMI (Australia) at the time.

In 1982 EMI Australia also released the ambitious 34-disc Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection. The project was principally conceived and developed by Phil Israel, with Bruce Hamlin also playing an important role, rather than by Peter personally. Nevertheless, it was created and released while Peter was Managing Director.

Peter’s importance to EMI (Australia) therefore lay less in personally creating individual releases than in the direction he gave the company. He encouraged local talent, supported closer relationships with independent labels and promoted a more flexible and commercially adventurous approach to the use of EMI’s catalogue and infrastructure.

His time in Australia came to an end in early 1983 when he returned to Britain to become Managing Director of EMI Records UK and Eire. Nick Hampton succeeded him as Managing Director in Australia.

Peter’s international career continued well beyond EMI (Australia). He subsequently held senior positions with RCA/BMG, later becoming responsible for BMG’s Asia-Pacific operations, and served as President of MTV Asia. He eventually returned to Britain, where from 2002 to 2007 he was Executive Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.

Despite those later positions, Peter’s relatively brief period in Australia remains one of the defining chapters of his career. In three years he helped take an underperforming EMI operation and restore it to a leading position in the Australian record industry, before being called back to Britain to head one of EMI’s most important companies.