The rise of rack servicing
By the beginning of the 1970s, Australian retailers had begun to embrace the concept of “rack servicing”, more commonly known internationally as rack-jobbing. Under this system, a record company or specialist distributor supplied a retailer with a display rack and assumed responsibility for selecting, delivering and regularly replenishing the records it contained. Sales representatives visited each outlet according to a regular call cycle, removing slow-selling stock and replacing it with titles considered more likely to attract customers.
The arrangement offered clear benefits to both parties. Record companies gained exposure in a much wider range of locations without depending entirely upon specialist record retailers. Participating businesses required little knowledge of the music industry: they provided the floor space, processed the sales and allowed the supplier to manage the stock.
EMI (Australia) had commenced its own rack-servicing operation in 1969. Known locally as “Vendor Refill”, it had developed into a smooth and highly successful marketing operation by the time Axis was proposed.
Rack servicing was particularly well suited to budget-priced albums. These records were generally compilations or reissues drawn from existing catalogues and could be purchased relatively cheaply, often on impulse. Their colourful sleeves, familiar artists and prominent display racks were designed to attract shoppers who had not necessarily entered the store intending to buy a record.
The growth of the budget market was also creating two increasingly distinct types of record buyer: the customer making a considered purchase of a full-priced album and the more spontaneous buyer attracted by a familiar artist at a considerably lower price.
Music for Pleasure and the budget market
Paul Hamlyn’s Music for Pleasure label commenced Australian operations in October 1968 and soon became one of the country’s best-known suppliers of budget-priced records. Its albums combined low retail prices with repertoire licensed from major record companies, including EMI (Australia).
The Australian budget-record industry was consolidated further in 1971 when Paul Hamlyn’s Music for Pleasure operation acquired Summit Records, another important supplier of inexpensive albums to non-traditional retail outlets. Music for Pleasure was also preparing to broaden its Australian activities through the classical Classics for Pleasure range and repertoire obtained from EMI (Australia) and other companies.
For Geoffrey (Geoff) Weule (pronounced "Wylie"), then EMI (Australia)'s Advertising Manager, this presented an obvious commercial problem. EMI possessed a large and valuable catalogue and had already built a successful rack-servicing operation of its own. Supplying attractive repertoire to an outside budget business risked creating direct competition for EMI’s existing racks.
Geoff believed that EMI (Australia) should retain the business by establishing its own budget operation.
The proposal for an EMI budget division
Geoff’s proposal was initially his alone. His immediate colleagues did not share his enthusiasm, so he sent a memorandum directly to EMI (Australia)’s Managing Director, Ken East, questioning why the company should provide some of its strongest catalogue material to Music for Pleasure and Classics for Pleasure when the resulting albums could compete with EMI’s own rack business.
Ken was cautious but receptive. He recognised that the proposal would require a persuasive commercial case and undertook to discuss it with Cec Barlow, then EMI (Australia)’s General Manager, Record Division.
Although initially displeased that Geoff had gone directly to the Managing Director, Cec agreed with the underlying idea. He instructed Geoff to prepare a strategic plan outlining how an EMI-controlled budget label could be established in Australia.
As the plan developed, Geoff concluded that the venture should be more than another EMI label. It should operate as a separate division within the company, with its own sales force, staff, distribution arrangements and financial objectives.
The business case rested upon three principal benefits. The new division would have to increase EMI’s turnover and profitability, contribute towards the company’s financial guarantees to Australian and international licensors, and increase the workload passing through EMI’s manufacturing facilities.
Geoff completed the strategic plan in late November 1971. He and Cec refined its financial projections before Cec presented the proposal to Ken East and Deputy Managing Director Norval Scott. The plan was approved with minor amendments and subsequently received the endorsement of the EMI (Australia) Board.
Despite the approval, the project continued to encounter considerable internal resistance. Some EMI (Australia) executives believed Geoff had bypassed them and were openly hostile when the new division was announced. Axis was therefore not an inevitable extension of existing company policy; it was a contested proposal that succeeded because Geoff, Cec and Ken were prepared to support it.
Geoff was appointed General Manager of the proposed division. Les Smith joined EMI (Australia) from printing company F.H. Booth & Son on 13 December 1971 as Pre-Production Controller, taking over Geoff’s former responsibilities while he concentrated upon establishing the new operation.
Choosing the Axis name
Once the project had been approved, Geoff approached Les Ahlburg of the Sydney design company Naughton Ahlburg and Associates to develop a name and visual identity.
Les and his team proposed “Axis”. The name was short, memorable and sufficiently broad to encompass everything from classical music to contemporary pop. It was also considered unlikely to date and offered strong possibilities for logos, merchandising and promotional material.
The promotional concept was neatly expressed in the slogan:
“The world of sound revolves around the Axis.”
The proposed name was far from universally popular. Several people within EMI (Australia) disliked it, while EMI UK was concerned that “Axis” would evoke the Axis powers of the Second World War. London was nevertheless prepared to approve and register the name if the Australian company remained committed to it.
Geoff himself was won over by the black-and-white and colour logo treatments prepared by Naughton Ahlburg and Associates. With his support, the Axis name was adopted.
Preparing the first release
Axis was scheduled to launch on 1 May 1972 and made its Australian debut during that month.
Assembling the opening catalogue was a substantial undertaking. Thirty albums had to be individually cleared and negotiated, with Geoff regarding the selection and balance of repertoire as critical to the credibility of the new venture.
The final release comprised 24 popular-music albums and six classical titles. The popular releases were assigned catalogue numbers in the AXIS 6000 series and retailed for $2.50, placing them well below the price of a standard full-priced LP.
Importantly, Axis was not intended merely as a dumping ground for ageing or unwanted recordings. Geoff wanted the first release to demonstrate that the label was a serious record operation capable of presenting recently recorded Australian material alongside established catalogue titles.
He consequently insisted upon including Johnny Farnham Sings the Shows as AXIS 6000, despite opposition from some of his colleagues. Ken East supported the decision and encouraged him to add a Slim Dusty album for the same reason. Slim Dusty Live at Wagga Wagga therefore appeared as AXIS 6017.
The presence of Farnham and Dusty gave the inaugural release a contemporary Australian component and helped distinguish Axis from budget labels devoted almost entirely to repackaging older overseas recordings.
The records were pressed with distinctive black-and-white Axis labels. Although comparatively simple in appearance, the design clearly identified the releases as belonging to EMI (Australia)’s new budget range.
