When one considers the recording labels most responsible for promoting American music and presenting it to the public, New World certainly ranks among the foremost.
Some explanation is order.
The original purpose was to put together a 100-disc recorded anthology of American music, whose purpose was to tell the history of America through its music. The 100-disc anthology was then to be given away to a select group of institutions, libraries and music schools around the world. 2000 sets were given away for free, and then an additional 5000 sets were sold at cost to the next group of institutions and libraries. And the original intention was not to have the discs available in any retail stores or to the general public. Nothing succeeds like success, however, and the recordings in the anthology were so well received, the critical response so phenomenal and the demand so high that New World Records was compelled to enter the marketplace.