Electric and Musical Industries Limited, also known as EMI, was formed in 1931 from the merger of the Gramophone Company and the Columbia Graphophone Company. It was a record and music business that also developed and manufactured electrical/electronic consumer goods. In 1934, the part of the company concerned with television transmission was merged with the part of Marconi also concerned with television transmission to form Marconi-EMI Television Co. known for its television cameras that were used by the BBC as well as other commercial television companies, like ITV.

During the Second World War, the company focused on manufacturing special types of thermionic valves as well as radar equipment and guided missiles

The company enjoyed much success over the following decades, expanding their business, creating subsidiaries and forming mergers with other companies. In 1968, they received the Queen's Award to Industry for Technological Innovation. However, in the early 1970s, despite success brought about by an EMI scientist, Godfrey Hounsfield, for the development of the first CT scanner, the company began declining. Their activities began to be sold off to other companies. In 1973, they were renamed EMI Limited, and in 1979, they merged with Thorn Electrical Industries Ltd to form Thorn EMI.