Episode 1: Parties and Pirates

Record label EMI is riding high on decades of success from the Beatles and Pink Floyd, to Pet Shop Boys, Blur and Coldplay, the company can seemingly do no wrong.

The company grows fat on the bottomless profits, but the arrival of the internet brings a legion of online pirates who want to download everything for free. The EMI party is over, as huge artists start to jump ship. Just as the company is about to go under, a financial hotshot rides over the hill to save the day. What could possibly go wrong? Featuring interviews with Neil Tennant, Tony Wadsworth and Caryn Tomlinson.

Host: Chris Atkins
Producer; Max Bower

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Jo Wheeler

Researcher: Zeyana Yussuf

Additional production and story development: Sonny Marr

Sound design and Mix by Daniel Kempson.

Original music by Vincent Watts

Production Managers: Cheree Houston, Charlotte Wolf, Sarah Tobin

Executive Producers: Ian Neil, Max O’Brien & Craig Strachan

Produced by Novel in Association with Cart Before Horse & BBC Studios

Thames TV 1997, KERA/PBS 1991, BBC Newsnight 1983, BBC Reel Stories, BRITS 95, BBC Newsnight 1998, ITN 2004, BBC News 2007

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