Parlophone had originally been part of Hollands ‘Transoceanic Trading Company’, set up during WW1 to look after German interests overseas. Apparently it became ‘The Carl Lindstroem Company’. The Columbia Gramophone Company bought ‘The Carl Lindstroem Company’ in Germany in 1926 and acquired two labels ODEON and PARLOPHONE. When EMI took over Parlophone it was intended to mainly use it for novelty and comedy records. The first records were made in UK in late 1923. Parlophone became a subsidiary of The Columbia International Ltd in October 1925. Parlophone recorded a large number of British Dance Band tracks over many years. In Australia records were imported from 1923 until they began to be made by The Columbia Gramophone Company’s new factory at Homebush, in late 1926. Parlophone used an "A-" catalogue prefix in Australia, starting at A2000 for the popular series, and which finished at A-3993 in October 1934. From December 1934 the popular A-6000 series started going through to A-7988 released early 1958, from which the 45 rpm issues continued. Many records were recorded in Australia over the years, [ 900 masters from 1927 to 1957 ]. It was always one of the dearer labels [4 shillings when some other EMI labels were 2/7]. Parlophone also issued a cheaper label (3/-) called Kismet between 1928 and 1929. Probably Parlophone issued about 12000 items.

In the UK, The Gramophone Company and The Columbia Gramophone Company merged in 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries. The global merger brought the Columbia, Electrola, HMV, Regal, Zonophone, Odeon, Pathe, and Parlophone labels, together with smaller logos, under one umbrella operation based at Hayes in Middlesex. It was a bold move, designed to eliminate competition in a shrinking depression-ridden market, and ultimately it worked. In 1931 EMI did the first experiments in long-playing records. In 1933 they made the first experimental stereo discs. In 1938 EMI Australia maintained a catalogue of about 30,000 titles using about 1600 artists including many overseas labels. They then were pressing about 80,000 records each month. Soon after WW2 this had risen to nearly 400,000 (plus 250,000 imported from UK) per month. In 1995 EMI commenced building their new 37,000 square foot complex in Hayes. It is the biggest and most valuable archive in the world which has brought together all the different elements of the Company's 100 year history. It houses the museum, record and paper archive, master tape and video tape libraries and the Company's extensive photograph collection. A copy of almost every disc issued exists [nearly 500,000]. It has been reported that in October 1964 English EMI destroyed their 78 masters. In January 2000 EMI announced merger talks with Warner Music Group to create the world's largest record company and make EMI a subsidiary of Time Warner. Warner and EMI were the 4th and 5th largest music businesses in the world. The new labels include Virgin, Atlantic, and WEA. These merger discussions were still going on in November 2000. Also in November 2000 EMI and BMG were in talks about a merger. If this happened it would form the worlds' largest music company.