The group, which was acquired by private equity company Terra Firma Capital Partners last year for £3.2bn, has agreed to make a raft of stringent cost cuts in order to reshape the business and save it around £200m a year.
However, the cutbacks have already provoked a backlash from the group's artist catalogue, including Robbie Williams, who has an £80m five-album deal and has threatened to strike over the measures.
Meanwhile, recently reformed rock band The Verve, have also said they will withhold their forthcoming album in protest. The band join Coldplay and Sir Paul McCartney who have already said they would consider withholding new material until they receive assurances over royalty payments and distribution.
It is expected EMI's marketing department will be one of the hardest hit areas of the business under the new measures, while broadly, around one in three staff face losing their jobs by the summer, after the results of the three month consultation period were revealed today.
EMI said the restructuring would result in a "headcount reduction" of between 1,500 and 2,000 staff, while the group has also unveiled a series of changes it said would help re-establish itself as a worldwide music company.
These include: greater transparency in relationships between artists and management "based on trust"; repositioning of EMI's subsidiary labels to make them entirely A&R focused; consolidating the group's sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution into one division; and eliminating duplication of work within the company.
Jazz Summers, manager of EMI signed bands The Verve and Snow Patrol and chair of the UK Music Manager's Forum, has heavily criticised EMI Group's decision, stating artists needed assurances it could continue to represent them.
He said: "Why would we deliver a record when EMI is cutting back on the marketing and is in financial difficulty? I am going to tell Guy Hands [chief executive officer of Terra Firma] I want assurances.
Hands said of today's announcement: "We have spent a long time looking intensely at EMI and the problems faced by its recorded music division, which, like the rest of the music industry, has been struggling to respond to the challenges posed by a digital environment.
"We believe we have a devised a new revolutionary structure for the group that will improve every area of the business. In short, it will make EMI's music more valuable for the company and its artists alike."