E.M.I. Records (South East Asia) Limited

Singaporean subsidiary record company of Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI). Established in January 1967. Renamed to E.M.I. Records (S. E. A.) Pte. Ltd. when it appears as a private Ltd. company on releases.

Also appears:
- E.M.I. Records (S.E.A.) Ltd.
- E.M.I. Records (South East Asia) Ltd.
- EMI Records (SEA) Ltd. (credit abbreviation seen on labels, please add this credit to notes)
- EMI Records (S.E.A.) Limited (mostly on generic company sleeves)

Releases by this company usually show the names of the other regional branches in Hong Kong and Malaysia which were also istered from the Singapore head office at this time. Later (1973-1976) the Bangkok office was also istered from Singapore, and releases during this period add EMI (Thailand) Ltd. to the list of branches.

NOTE that this does NOT mean that all such releases were distributed in all these markets, so the Singapore, Malaysia & Hong Kong country option is NOT appropriate.

To establish the correct country of release it is necessary to look at the EMI catalogue series as these series were allocated to releases from the different countries under the supervision of the Singapore office.

Sometimes releases from one country were pressed in one or more of the other countries. But this does not mean that all releases were distributed in all three markets. Obviously most Singapore releases were also available in Malaysia (and most Malaysian releases were also available in Singapore) but it is definitely not the case that Malay releases were available in Hong Kong or Thailand even though these branches may be listed on the cover.

Therefore, care needs to be taken when allocating the country of release and the following details are intended to provide some guidance in this area for those who are not familiar with the complex (and sometimes confusing) catalogue systems developed by EMI over many decades of world-wide activity.

Every EMI label had format specific series for each territory, as follows:

ANGEL:
AHZ-101 - AHZ-299 (1955-1969) - HONG KONG - began as a 78 rpm series but became a vinyl 45 rpm single series in 1961.
TAE-101 - TAE-215 (1958-1971) - HONG KONG - EP series
TAE-301 - TAE-307 (1971-1972) - SINGAPORE - EP series
TAE-1001 - TAE-1002 (1972-1973) - SINGAPORE - EP series - Note that this series duplicates another Angel series produced by Indian EMI starting in 1958.
3AE-101 - 3AE-141 (1957-1966) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series
3AEX-301 - 3AEX-348 (1959-1970) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series
3AEX-401 - 3AEX-414 (1971-1978) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series
3AEX-1001 - 3AEX-1013 (1977-1980) - HONG KONG - LP series (some issues on the EMI label).

COLUMBIA:
CHK-1001 - CHK-1052 (1963-1970) - HONG KONG - 45rpm single series
CHK-1050 - CHK-1077 (1965-1972) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm single series
CHK-1501 - (1971-) - HONG KONG - 45rpm single series
Note that when the Singapore series began at CHK-1050 in 1965 the Hong Kong series was intended to only run up to CHK-1049 but it seems that years later this arrangement had been forgotten and so the Hong Kong series actually duplicates the first few numbers of the Singapore series (for example, Hong Kong CHK-1052 is by The Starlights while Singapore CHK-1052 is a totally different release by Julie Sudiro). When this mistake was discovered Hong Kong began a new CHK-1500 series.
CKM-001 (1965) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm single series - There was only ever one issue.
DO-4587/DO-4613/DO-4638/DO-4661 - DO-4665/DO-4728 - DO-4735 (1965-1967) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm singles.
Note that these Singapore recordings were allocated numbers from the Australian Columbia 45rpm single series as the discs were pressed in Australia. These records were made for export to Singapore and were NOT available in Australia.
ECHK-500 - ECHK-532 (1964-1970) - HONG KONG - EP series
ECHK-550 - ECHK-668 (1965-1972) - SINGAPORE - EP series
ECHK-1001 (1972) - MALAYSIA - EP series (only one issue)
EEAC-1001 - EEAC-1041 (1968-1972) - SINGAPORE - EP series for imported recordings that were released in Singapore, but there was one local recording (by the October Cherries).
SEGE-551 - SEGE-571 (1959-1960) - SINGAPORE - Malay EP series
SEGO-70113 - SEGO-70115 (1967) - SINGAPORE - EP series
Note that these Singapore recordings were allocated numbers from the Australian Columbia EP series as the discs were pressed in Australia. These records were made for export to Singapore and were NOT available in Australia.
33EIX-5001 - 33EIX-5002 (1961) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series
33ES-301 - 33ES-309 (1958-1959) - SINGAPORE - 10" LP series
33ESX-201 - 33ESX-234 (1959-1976) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series
33ESX-301 - 33ESX-303 (1958) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series
33ESX-601 - 33ESX-622 (1965-1970) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series
33OSX-7775 (1966) - SINGAPORE - this 12" LP by The Quests was pressed in Australia and allocated a number from the Australian Columbia LP series. It was made for export to Singapore and was NOT available in Australia.
45-POPCE-1 - 45-POPCE-2 (1962-1963) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm singles - This series was pressed in India for the Singapore market.

Note: There were a couple of exceptions to the above allocation of series. For example, there are two Singapore recordings (CHK-1008 by The Sundowners & CHK-1009 by The Quests) which were released in the Hong Kong series before the separate Singapore series began in 1965.

HARVEST:
HAR-8001 - HAR-8006 (1971-1973) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm single series

HIS MASTER'S VOICE:
EDLP-301 - EDLP-322 (1958-1959) - SINGAPORE - Malay 10" LP series
EDLP-1001 - EDLP-1011 (late 1950s) - SINGAPORE - Chinese opera 10" LP series
7ECA-1001 - 7ECA-1005 (1958) - HONG KONG - Chinese 45rpm EP series
7EGE-551 - 7EGE-563 (1959-1960) - SINGAPORE - Malay 45rpm EP series

ODEON:
EPOH-101 - EPOH-105 (1965-1966) - HONG KONG - EP series
MOCE-301 - MOCE-323 (1963-1965) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series
MODE-101 - MODE-111 (1963-1966) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series

ORANGE:
ORANGE-1 - ORANGE-2 (1971) - SINGAPORE - 45rpm extended single series

PARLOPHONE:
DPE-8001 - DPE-8224 (1956-1971) - SINGAPORE - Malay series: began as a 78rpm series but became a 45rpm single series in 1959 with the addition of a "45" prefix (the "45" prefix was dropped after DPE-8197).
EGEP-551 - EGEP-807 (1959-1976) - SINGAPORE - Malay EP series
EGEP-1001 - EGEP-1033 (1972-1977) - MALAYSIA - Malay EP series
PMDE-300 - PMDE-316 (1958-1964) - SINGAPORE - Malay 10" LP series

PATHÉ:
A-100 - A-178 (1956-1964) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series
AX-301 - AX-391 (1959-1976) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series
EPH-3001 - EPH-3074 (1965-1970) - HONG KONG - Cantonese EP series
LPHX-501 - LPHX-515 (1965-1970) - HONG KONG - Cantonese 12" LP series
MPA-1 - MPA-8 (1958-1959) - SINGAPORE - Malay 10" LP series
PHK-1001 - PHK-1048 (1964-1969) - HONG KONG - Cantonese 45rpm single series
7EPA-101 - 7EPA-241 (1956-1971) - HONG KONG - EP series
7EPA-551 - 7EPA-552 (1959) - SINGAPORE - Malay EP series
45-36239 - 45-36415 (1959-1969) - HONG KONG - 45rpm series which was a continuation of a long-running 78rpm series which began in the early 1930s.

PHOENIX:
CFRC-101 - CFRC-114 (1960s) - SINGAPORE - Chinese opera 10" LP series
EOHK-1001 - EOHK-1008 (1965-1966) - HONG KONG - EP series - Some issues have a Phoenix Odeon (or Odeon "Phoenix Series") label.
LOHK-101 - LOHK-110 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series
LOHKX-301 - LOHKX-302 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series (reissues from Angel).
PX-1001 - PX-1004 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 12" LP Series (reissues from Angel).

REGAL:
ERH-600 - ERH-627 (1964-1968) - HONG KONG - EP series
ERH-701 - ERH-704 (1969) - SINGAPORE - EP series
LPHX-501 - LPHX-514 (1965-1968) - HONG KONG - Chinese opera 12" LP series
LRH-701 - LRH-702 (1960s) - HONG KONG - 10" LP series
LRHX-801 - LRHX-899 (1966-1973) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series
LRHX-901 - LRHX-965 (1973-1982) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series (later issues are on the EMI label).
LRHX-1001 - LRHX-1042 (1973-1983) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series (later issues are on the EMI label).
LRHX-2001 - LRHX-2038 (1976-1983) - HONG KONG 12" LP series (most issues are on the EMI label).
RHK-501 - RHK-504 (1966-1967) - HONG KONG - 45rpm singles series
SREG-9501 - SREG-9559 (1962-1970's) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series
SREG-9601 - SREG-9626 (1969-1976) - HONG KONG - 12" LP series
SREG-9801 - SREG-9853 (1973-1978) - SINGAPORE - 12" LP series
SREG-10001 - SREG-10019 (1974-1982) - MALAYSIA - 12" LP series

In 1975 EMI began reorganising the long-standing stable of labels listed above, and all were eventually discontinued or phased-out. Instead a generic EMI label was introduced for all LPs, and during 1976/1977 the few remaining EP series were also discontinued. However the same policy of allocating various alpha-numeric series to different countries continued, as follows:

EMI (all LPs):
EMCS-8001 - EMCS-8002 (1979-1981) - SINGAPORE
EMES-3501 (1976) - MALAYSIA
EMGS-5001 - EMGS-5090 (1975-1984) - SINGAPORE
EMGS-5501 - EMGS-5663 (1976-1986) - MALAYSIA
EMGS-6001 - EMGS-6146 (1976-1986) - HONG KONG
EMGS-7001 - (1976-) - THAILAND

A few previous releases on some labels (Angel, Regal, etc.) which remained in the catalogue were repressed on the EMI label.

The final regional EMI series was:

FH-30001 - FH-30108 (1986-1992) - MALAYSIA - this was actually a cassette series but all issues had limited pressings as vinyl LPs for radio use only.

The above listing details the main series used by EMI for marketing local recordings in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It does not include many other series and labels which were used purely for local releases of imported Western recordings. It also does not include series used in other Asian markets such as India.