Industry Music Headquarters Quezon City Type of business Subsidiary | Website Official Website Founded 1977 | |
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Key people Ethel Cachapero
Jesmon Chua
Ton Ton Jose Subsidiaries Galaxy Records
PolyEast Entertainment Group Artists TJ Monterde, Kyla, Martin Nievera, Zia Quizon, Karylle Albums Kinse Kalibre, No Water - No Moon, Bless This Mess, As the Music Plays, Cariño Brutal | ||
PolyEast Records (formerly EMI Philippines) is a record label in the Philippines. It is a member of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry and from 2008 until 2013, the international licensee of EMI.
Contents
History
It was inaugurated in 1977 as Canary Records by Orly Ilacad after resigning from Vicor Music due to a major conflict with then co-owner Vic Del Rosario. It became OctoArts International in 1978. It was the first record company that introduced Minus One in the market.
The label's prior international releases were distributed by Dyna Records under the name Dyna EMI until 1995, when it began a distribution deal with EMI & became OctoArts EMI. In 2002, after a series of restructure, it became EMI Philippines.
In 1997 Octoarts was also at its top peak when it introduced its top female pioneering artist Jessa Zaragoza, for her first album entitled "Just Can't Help Feelin" her famous single rose her to popularity distributing the song "Bakit Pa" and also released a film with the same title two years later with Octoarts Films and GMA Films which also led Jessa to finish her last final albums with Octoarts "Phenomenal" (1999) and "Siya Ba Ang Dahilan" (Is She The Reason?) (2000) and also released a compilation entitled The Best Of Jessa Zaragoza before she moved to top pioneering Filipino recording company Star Records.
In 2000, Octoarts/EMI signed Kyla, the Philippines' first female R&B artist. Her hit single "Hanggang Ngayon" went on to win at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001.
The PolyEast Records label initially started as a sublabel of PolyGram Philippines (later became part of Universal Music Philippines) until it was eventually bought by EMI Philippines. It continued being an imprint of the label until 2008, after EMI withdrew from the South-East Asian market, it became simply PolyEast Records as a joint venture between EMI itself and Piper Paper Corporation.
In the period of 2012-2013, after EMI was absorbed into Universal Music (MCA Music for the Filipino market), PolyEast became independent for the second time.
Current
1Champ Lui Pio was the lead vocalist of Hale which was part of PolyEast from 2004 until its disbandment in 2010. Champ remained as a solo artist.
2Bamboo signed with PolyEast as a solo artist in 2011, but he has been in the recording company since 2003 as part of his former band Bamboo