PolyEast Records
  | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Music |
| Founded |
1977 (as Canary Records) 1978 (as OctoArts International) 1995 (as Octo-Arts-EMI Philippines) 2002 (as EMI Philippines) 2009 (as PolyEast Records) |
| Headquarters | 3/F, Universal Tower, 1487 Quezon Avenue, West Triangle, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines |
Key people |
Ethel Cachapero Jesmon Chua Ton Ton Jose Chito Ilagan Richard Calderon |
| Subsidiaries |
Galaxy Records PolyEast Entertainment Group |
| Website | Official Website |
PolyEast Records (formerly EMI Philippines) is a record label in the Philippines.[1] It is a member of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry and from 2008 until 2013, the international licensee of EMI.
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 Group (MCA Music for the Filipino market), PolyEast became independent for the second time.