HMV | HMV Records | HMV Label | The HMV Record Label History HMV or 'His Master's Voice' has for long been a very important name in the music industry and used to be a large record label. The name 'His Master's Voice' originates from the label's logo which is a terrier dog listening to a gramophone recording of his master's voice. The logo is a painting of the dog Nipper and it was bought, along with the UK rights to it, by the Gramophone Company in 1899. The Gramophone Company didn't use the logo on their records until 1909. Until then, the image had only been used in the USA by the 'Victor Talking Machine Company' on their records. They continued to use it and so did their successor RCA which bought Victor in 1929 along with their shares in the Gramophone Company. EMI was created in 1931 and ultimately ended owning the Gramophone Company which was eventuallu called HMV. RCA owned shares in EMI until 1939 when it sold them but kept hold of the name 'His Master's Voice' in the USA.

EMI kept distributing RCA records until 1957 when their collaboration was interrupted. With the arrival of the CD, EMI eventually dropped the 'His Master's Voice' trademark and replaced it with 'EMI Classics', a name which could be used all around the globe. The HMV trademark is now owned by the HMV retail company in Britain which owns over 400 shops around the globe. They have no current ties to EMI having sold all the shops to the HMV group in 1998. The first HMV shop opened in London in 1921 and they still use a modified version of the Nipper painting as their logo. Classification of HMV records (English Pressings) HMV records, same as Columbia and Decca , come in mono and stereo. Mono records come in the series ALP, BLP, CLP and DLP, while stereo records come in the series ASD and SAN, also known as the Angel series. Earlier records from these series have 3 digits after their corresponding prefix and later records have 4. The earlier ones, with three digits, are the most valuable and collectible ones.

All mono records have four digits and tend to be generally less valuable, exceptions are records by artists such as De Vito. Mono LPs - ALP Series HMV released its first mono LP in 1952, much later than its rivals Decca and Columbia . Its ALP monos have a red label and present the Nipper logo in a semi-circle. Around the semi-circle we can see the words 'His Master's Voice' indicationg the name of the label. This record belongs to the HMV ALP series and can be recognized by the semi-circle Nipper logo with the words 'His Master's Voice' sorounding it. It as a red label with white and dark red lettering. This record belongs to the HMV ALP series and can be recognized by the semi-circle Nipper logo with the words 'His Master's Voice' sorounding it. It as a red label with gold lettering. Stereo LPs - ASD and SAN (Angel) series HMV records belonging to the ASD series come in 6 different labels and vary greatly in value accordingly. As said previously, generally records with 3 digits after the prefix are more valuable than ones with 4.

The first label is the most valuable and runs from ASD251 to ASD575. The second label runs from ASD576 to ASD2480. The third label runs up to ASD2800, the fourth one runs up to about ASD3850, the fifth one runs up to ASD4000. The sixth label, most recent one, was introduced in the 1980s and unfortunately is of lower sound quality than its predecessors. This record belongs to the HMV ASD first series. It can be easily recognized by its white label with gold edges and red writing. This record belongs to the HMV second series. It can be easily recognised by its semi-circle Nipper logo and red label. This record belongs to the HMV ASD third series. It can be easily recognized by its red label with dark red and white writing. It also has the colour Nipper logo in a box with white edges and the name 'His Master's Voice' at the bottom of the box. This record belongs to the HMV ASD fourth series. It can be easily recognised by its red label and black and white Nipper logo. This record belongs to the HMV ASD fifth series.

It is the first series recorded digitally. This series can be recognised by the 'Digital' logo on top of the Nipper logo box. HMV ASDsixth series. It recognisable by its semi-circle logo with the words 'His Master's Voice' written inside the semi-circle (often pressed in Germany). Stereo LPs - Angel (SAN) series The HMV Angel series contains records that came out around the same time as the ASD series. The difference is that Angel series records have an angel logo on their label. These records are sometimes collectible, especially the earlier ones. Angel series records have a serial that starts withe the prefix SAN which is followed by 3 digits. This is an example of an HMVrecord belonging to the Angel series. This is part of the first Angel series label collection and it can be recognised by its gold label with a white angel logo. Items with this label are very collectible. This HMV record belongs to the 2nd Angel series and can be recognized by its coloured Nipper logo. It also displays an EMI logo at the bottom of the label.

The Legend of Nipper, the RCA Dog | dogco.com Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 | Posted by Edman The Legend of Nipper, the RCA Dog Francis Bauraud at work on a "His Master's Voice painting". Another finished work at his feet. THE IMAGE OF THE adorable little pup sitting next to a phonograph with his head cocked to the side is etched into all of our minds. Born in Bristol, England in 1884, the inquisitive little puppy named Nipper has become an icon for the music industry. A mutt mix of Bull Terrier and Fox Terrier, Nipper was raised by Mark Barraud. Nipping on the backs of peoples’ legs, the way many puppies do, is how this dog earned his name. When Nipper’s owner died in 1887, the dog was taken to Liverpool, England to live with Mark’s younger brother, Francis, a struggling painter. Original image of 'Dog looking at and listening to a phonograph'. At his new home, Nipper discovered the cylinder phonograph with which Francis liked to record and play back speech.

Francis noticed how Nipper would sit, head cocked, and appear quite puzzled wondering where the sounds were coming from. This scene must have been committed to memory for it wasn’t until three years after Nipper’s death in September of 1895, that Francis Barraud decided to paint the classic image of Nipper next to the phonograph. Early HMV record label showing Nipper. In 1898, Francis completed the painting and called it ‘Dog looking at and listening to a Phonograph.’ Later he renamed the piece ‘His Masters’ Voice.’ After several unsuccessful attempts to publish this painting at places such as the Royal Academy and printed magazines, he then went to the next place on his list, The Edison Bell Company. This was the largest manufacturer of the cylinder phonograph that Nipper loved to listen to. Again, Francis Barraud was turned down with the recurring statement, “Dogs don’t listen to phonographs”. There were even false rumors that the original painting was Nipper sitting on the coffin of his dead master, listening to a recording of his voice. Something for a Little Nipper? RCA Victor Club member badge. Francis was determined not to give up.

In 1889, with the advice to change the color of the horn from black to gold, Francis asked a newly-formed gramophone company to borrow a brass horn to use as his model. Right after the painting was modified, the manager of The Strand Magazine, Barry Owen, asked Francis to consider re-painting the work for use by a new phonograph company, The Gramophone Company of London, in their sales campaign. Francis Barraud agreed, sold the piece to Barry Owen and in January 1900, Nipper made his first public appearance on sales literature. Later that year he appeared on some promotional items. Nipper is now selling gramophone needles with his image on the tin. Also that year Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone, bought the rights to have the copyright for his product in America. In 1910 the painting and title His Master’s Voice (HMV) was finally trademarked. This image of Nipper and the gramophone eventually became the official trademark of RCA Records.

In 1916 Nipper became a part of American Architectural history when four 15-foot tall stained glass circular windows featuring a likeness of Nipper were installed into the RCA building in Camden, New Jersey. For the rest of his life, Francis Barraud spent his time painting 24 replicas of his original as commissioned by The Gramophone Company. Barraud died in 1924, leaving other artists producing the replicated pieces until the end of the decade. Pass the salt? RCA Victor 'His Master's Voice' salt and pepper shaker. Although both the dog and master were gone, Nipper and Francis’ work would live on forever. ‘His Master’s Voice’ trademark is still instantly recognized today and is in the top 10 of ‘Famous Brands of the 20th Century’. Nipper is a constant reminder of inquisitiveness and innocence. Nowadays you can find all sorts of Nipper memorabilia such as ceramic statues of Nipper and his gramophone, cast iron banks and record player holders, salt and pepper shakers, mugs and postcards. There are even price guides for all of the Nipper and RCA memorabilia out there.

Without a doubt Nipper has not only become the famous symbol of RCA, but also an enduring symbol to the world, of the beginnings of sound recording and music. Not bad work for a mutt! There is loads of genuine Nipper memorabilia for fans and collectors here . No related posts. Posted by Edman on Sep 14 2010. Filed under Featured Dogs , Iconic Dogs . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry Centenary of Indian Gramophone Records Indian Gramophone Records The first 100 years The first voice of an Indian person was recorded by the Gramophone Company in 1899 in London. In 1902, first gramophone disc was cut at Calcutta. [Kinnear, 1994] While celebrating centenary of these historical events from 1999-2002, it will be interesting as well as instructive to review the achievements. During this long period, many record manufacturing companies have recorded Indian music.

Although HMV - His Master�s Voice - continues to enjoy their monopoly in this field, about half million gramophone records have been manufactured and marketed in India under variety of banners and labels. Large number of artists have recorded various musical forms and styles from different regions of Indian subcontinent. Of course, a major portion of these recordings belong to Indian film songs. However other forms like classical, light classical, folk, religious music etc. have been recorded extensively. Due to the advancement in science, new technologies have emerged in the last hundred years. This has led to variety of formats of sound recording and reproduction ranging from cylinders to compact discs and from talking machines to laser disc players. Of these formats, gramophone records have stayed for almost eighty years and have played a significant role in preserving the musical heritage of India. Although Indian musical culture is inscribed in the microgrooves of these records, very little attention is paid in preserving it for posterity. This paper attempts to present an overview of gramophone records in India with special emphasis on 78 rpm and EP/LP records. Some aspects of collection, promotion, preservation and research of gramophone records are discussed. Efforts towards documentation and archiving have been noted.

Cylinders and sound recording/reproduction November 29, 1877 - �The Invention Factory�, located at Menlo Park, some 25 miles away from New York City. John Kruesi, an expert technician was busy making a novel machine as per the drawing given by his master, Thomas Alva Edison. The cost of the machine was mentioned around - $18 with the remark - �This should talk�. Many colleagues laughed while watching John working on this machine made up of brass and iron cylinders, diamond stylii and arrangements made for rotating these cylinders. Most funny thing was a metal cone (like a horn) with tiny needle at the narrow end. Soon the machine was ready and Edison entered the laboratory for its inspection. He was very pleased with the workmanship of his technician. He wrapped a tin-foil around the curved surface of the cylinder tightly, placed the diamond stylus gently at one end of the foil. Using the handle on right, he began to rotate the cylinder gently but at somewhat uniform speed.

Ensuring that the needle is cutting uniform groove in the tinfoil, he then shouted in the horn - reciting the famous nursery rhyme: "Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go" Everyone was watching breathlessly. Edison was pleased to see that his shouting has produced zig-zag grooves in the tin foil of one foot long cylinder. He then brought the horn and the needle in the original starting position, changed the stylus, placed the needle in the newly formed grooves and began to rotate the cylinder as before. Initially, lot of noise came out of the horn. As the needle began to pass through the zigzag groove, feeble voice of Edison came out distinctly reciting back the same nursery rhyme that he had shouted (due to his partial deafness since childhood) in the horn a minute ago. All the persons present in the laboratory were stunned. Edison himself could not believe, since it was a rare occasion that the experiment was successful in the very first attempt. With great enthusiasm and vigor, they worked very hard, made improved versions of the machine and repeated the experiment number of times for confirming its reproducibility.

On 6th December 1877 he rushed to the Patent ofiice in New York with his machine and filed claim for the patent. On December 22, 1877 he demonstrated this machine in the office of Scientific American and this journal reported this discovery to the rest of the world. Once again, Edison had proved himself to be what some journalist used to call him - �The Wizard of Menlo Park�. On January 19, 1878 he received the patent for the invention of his cylinder phonograph. Edison wrote in his diary �The machine does not have much value�. The invention was shelved for over ten years and in June 1888, he worked for seventy-two hours without sleep working on his improved model of phonograph which had a battery operated motor for attaining the uniform speed. [see the picture]. Later until 1911, he improved upon the models, founded Edison Phonograph Company but never liked his invention used for the entertainment purposes. Around the same time, Hester Bell and Charles Tainter did some improvements in Edison�s tin-foil phonograph. These were the evolutionary changes to make machine more suitable for storing messages, letters etc.

Nobody including Edison realised the hidden commercial and entertainment potential in this invention at that time. When did the first cylinder phonograph came to India ? There are several stories and a detailed account has been given by Amitabha Ghosh in The Record News - TRN - 1999. pp.73-97. As per this article, the first demonstration of the cylinder phonograph was around December 1878 (within a year of its invention) at Calcutta. The oldest dealer of HMV in Delhi, Maharaj Lal & Co was founded in 1895. At that time they were selling cylinder records. These looked like a stack of bangles worn by women, and hence common man named them as �Bangles� and the music from the records as �sound from bangles�. Professor H Bose, the renowned businessman of Calcutta, entered into this new business of cylinder records under the banner of �H Bose Records� and later �Pathe-H Bose Records�. His catalogue of 1906, lists number of cylinder recordings of Rabindranath Tagore. Most of these have been lost to history except the Bande Mataram sung by Rabindranath Tagore.

Cylinder records were in market until 1906-10, even at the same time as the single and double side flat discs of the Gramophone and Nicole companies. Although there is no systematic catalogue found so far, it is believed that several hundreds of cylinders were recorded both privately and commercially. Unfortunately, no working cylinder machine or cylinder is found with any collector in India so far. Some of the museums and archives have stored broken, worn out machines and cylinders in the showcases as antique pieces. Sound from flat discs Several young people were fascinated with the Edison�s tinfoil phonograph of 1877 that had practically reached everywhere in next ten years. One such person was in Washigton city - an emigrant twenty years old young man, Emile Berliner from Hanover, Germany. He made his living as a draper�s clerk but devoted his spare time to solve the electrical problems connected with telephones and phonographs. For his patent on telephone transmitter, he received $75,000 in cash from the Bell Telephone Company and this helped him in experimenting with the phonographs. He had an idea of using flat disc in place of a cylinder.

F W Gaisberg has written an interesting story about this invention in his book Music on Record: It was Bill Golden who asked me one day in 1891, if I would go with him to see a German who had started experimenting with a flat-disc talking machine record and make some trials. We found Emile Berliner in his laboratory, moving up and down in his small studio buzzing on a diaphragm, "Hello, hello!" and in his guttural, broken English, "Tvinkle, tvinkle little star, how I vonder vot you are". I was introduced to the inventor and invited to witness the making of the first gramophone record. Berliner placed a muzzle over Golden�s mouth and connected this up by a rubber hose to a diaphragm. I was at piano, the sounding box of which was also boxed up and connected to the diaphragm by a hose resembling an elephant�s trunk. He asked, "Are you ready?" and upon our answering yes, he began to crank like a barrel organ, and said, "Go." The song finished and Berliner stopped cranking. He took from the machine a bright zinc disc and plunged it into an acid bath for few minutes.

Then taking it out of the acid, he washed and cleaned the disc. Placing this disc on a reproducing machine, also operated by hand like a coffee grinder, he played back the resulting record from the etched groove. To our astonished ears came Billy Golden�s voice. He explained to us how this method was superior to the phonograph. I was spellbound by the beautiful round tone of the flat gramophone disc. Before leaving, I exacted a promise from Berliner that he would let me work for him when his machine was ready for development. Soon Berliner invited Gaisberg and their association lasted for several years. They did everything possible to promote, popularise and market this new invention. Improved machines with clockwork motors and springs were made. They found financers, recording artists and, most importantly, a simple method of stamping endless copies from the master disc. In order to cash in on his European rights before rival inventors could steal his market, Emile Berliner sent his agent W B Owen to London and subsequently Gaiseberg went to London in 1898 for taking the recordings. Berliner sent his nephew Joe Sanders to Hanover to build the record pressing plant.

This was followed by series of recording expeditions in Europe, Russia and Asia - including India. Michael Kinnear has given detailed history in his book The Gramophone Company�s First Indian Recordings [1899-1908], Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, [1994]. The first ever Indian voice was recorded in London in 1899. These were 7" diameter records with recording on one side only. These 44 records were by Captain Bholanath, Dr Harnaamdas and Ahmed who sang or recited in various languages. None of these records have been found by the collectors but these were listed in gramophone company�s �foreign� lists upto 1904. In 1901, J W Hawd came to Calcutta and soon a branch office was opened. F W Gaiseberg arrived in 1902 for his first recording expedition and recorded about five hundred songs. These were then sent to Joseph Berliner�s pressing factory at Hanover in Germany. In order to have recorded documentation, for making paper labels, the artists were asked to announce their names in English at the end of singing.

This helped the technicians in Germany in making the final records ready for sale. Hence, several records of that period have words �Made in Germany/Hanover� printed on label and the announcement at the end. Initial recordings were taken from �Nautch Girls� (dancing girls) and �Baiji�s� or �Kothewalis�. Later on celebrities like �Gauhar Jan of Calcutta�, �Jankibai of Allahabad�, �Peara Sahib� recorded prolifically for the company. This continued for two more recording expeditions and about 3000 wax records were made, pressed in Germany and brought back to India for marketing. F W Gaisberg writes: �All the female singers were of course from the caste of the public women, and in those days it was practically impossible to record the voice of a respectable woman. The songs and dances were passed by word of mouth from mother to daughter. They began public appearances at the age of ten to twelve years. The clever ones went up to the top and sometimes travelled all over the country in great demand at the wedding feasts of the wealthy.

As they began to make names for themselves many of them insisted that the word �amateur� should be printed on record label. Fees as a rule, were very reasonable in comparison to those paid in Europe, but recording expenses were heavy, since most of the artists had to be trained over long periods before they developed into acceptable gramophone singers. By this time, the recording medium changed from zinc to wax and the record copies were pressed in lac. Lac, Lacca, Lakh or Laksha is a hardened resin secreted by the tiny lac insects that settle closely on the twigs, suck up the plant sap and grow to form an encrustation. These are then scraped from the twigs of host plants. This raw lac called �sticklac� is crushed to small grains, sieved, winnowed, washed and dried. This semi-refined product is the �seed-lac� which is further processed by hot melting system, filtered and stretched into thin sheets called shellac. This shellac is non-toxic and is used in many different applications including base for the gramophone records. Annual �stick lac� production of India is about 15,700 metric tons which is about 75% of world lac production.

Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal are the major centers for the lac production. During the first world war (1914-1919), the gramophone record industry depended largely on India for the supply of shellac. Due to high demand from gramophone record companies, India faced an extensive export orders and was the single largest supplier for about 75 years. Availability of plenty of lac/shellac was one of the reasons for setting up a record pressing plant at Sealdah, Calcutta in 1908. As the complete factory was built there was no need to send the wax masters to Germany and as a result announcements at the end of the song also disappeared. Common workers employed in this factory called it "Bajakhana", as if it was a gymkhana of sound. In this factory, baja (harmonium) was the main instrument used in accompanying the singers and the product was the pressed record. This name sounds like �Davakhana� (medical dispensary), �Chhapkhana� (printing press), �Darukhana� (ammunition store).

Incidently, Michael Kinnear�s web page address on internet contains this word �Bajakhana� as - and it gives a detailed history of sound recording in India in last one hundred years. Considering the enormous market in India, several rival gramophone companies from Germany, France and England entered the market [like the present multinational companies]. Until 1916, about 75 different record labels/brands were seen in Indian market, the important ones being - Nicole, Universal, Neophone, Elephone, H Bose, Beka, Kamla, Binapani, Royal, Ram-a-Phone (Ramagraph), James Opera, Singer, Sun, Odeon, and Pathe. With time, all these companies either disappeared or got merged with Gramophone Company. The name His Master�s Voice (HMV) and the label first appeared in 1916 and soon established their monopoly in the market. Sound on vinyl discs Sound recording and reproduction technology was constantly changing. Initially everything was mechanical and was termed as �Acoustic� era. Around 1925, �Electrical� technique using a carbon microphone was introduced. Around the second world war came the magnetic heads and tape recorders.

In 1931, Gramophone Co and Columbia Graphophone Companies were merged to form Electrical and Musical Industries Ltd (EMI). In 1952, EMI launched its first 33 1/3 rpm microgroove Long Playing record, along with 7" diameter 45 rpm microgroove singles of both classical and pop music. In 1954, first 7", 45 rpm extended play (EP) record was launched. Soon, these vinyl records appeared in India too. The first microgroove record from Gramophone Co was introduced in 1958. These were 45 rpm 7" extended play (EP) records. Of the early releases, one by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan�s (no.7EPE 1201) sarod recital record became very popular. In 1959, an LP record plant was established at the Dum Dum factory of Gramophone Company and it was inagurated by Pt Ravishankar in May. The first LP record was released in June. In the first year about 125 LP records were issued.

In the LP/EP era, HMV released lot of records concerned with social issues. A set of lectures by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, was issued on ECLP 2302. It�s mother shell was presented to President of India for preserving it as a national heritage. A Battle Not For Seeking (ECLP 2315) had lectures by Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Hussain and Lal Bahadur Shastri. Around 1965, the first stereo LP was issued in India and EMI released its first pre-recorded cassette in 1966. Unbreakable, long lasting and long playing records became very popular and slowly superceded the shellac 78s. Ultimately, the production of 78s was discontinued in late �70s. Thus, a long era of 3.5 minutes music on a gramophone record came to an end. Audio and Video music cassettes took over LPs and EPs for about twenty years until the Compact Disc was produced in EMI factory in 1986. The �disc� and �the groove� returned with new optical technology that employed Semiconductor Lasers.

A new era has begun at the turn of the century and the millennium which will probably lead to a �World library of sound and pictures� which could be accessible to anyone through internet in the cyberspace. Preservation Documentation, Archives and Research During last one hundred years, over half million records were issued, spanning all musical styles in all Indian languages. Although the recording activity began with the cylinder recordings, the major portion of the records was issued on breakable shellac 78rpm format. Towards the end of this century, we find that not a single recorded cylinder is available in India. Same is the fate of early shellac records and soon LP/EP and cassettes will disappear. Thanks to several individuals and few institutions who have preserved some of these records. An attempt is made here to collect the information of such efforts. Section four lists some of the known collectors of Indian gramophone records. The largest collection of about 35,000 records rests with Mr V A K Rangarao, at Chennai (Madras). There are at least 100 collectors in India who possess records form few hundreds to few thousands. These individual collections reflect the taste and the liking of the collector.

Majority (almost 95%) of these collectors have records of film music. The major source of collection is a junk or flea markets located in various townships and big cities. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kanpur, Madras have large numbers of music shops and stores who trade and sell old records. Besides, old records from the family friends and relatives also enrich the collector�s mini-archive. Of course, with time, this number is becoming small. Since 1980, large number of young music lovers have also begun to collect audio and video cassettes. Similar collections of CDs will also commence soon. Unfortunately these collectors are not organised. Ten years ago, some of the collectors in Mumbai came together to form a group of record enthusiasts. With the help, support and guidance of Mr Michael Kinnear (discographer and researcher of Indian records) from Australia, the Society of Indian Record Collectors was founded in Mumbai. Monthly listening sessions are held and a magazine titled The Record News is published. The Society has over 150 life members from all over India and abroad, and its units at Nanded, Solapur, Tuljapur and Baroda are functioning very well with the aim of preserving this treasury for posterity.

This is probably a unique organisation in India. These small efforts may not be sufficient and archival tasks involving large number of individuals and institutions will have to be taken up. Of course, the gramophone company should be the prime mover. However in an interview (Songs From Records, Shibashis Bandopadhyaya, "Desh", Bengali weekly C.1994 ?) the then Chairman of HMV, Mr Pradeep Chandra, said, "For reissuing our own records we have to approach private collectors. Yes, we ought to have collected and saved our properties properly. Our archive, though not very old, have some old records, may not be all. Firstly, we have to look into the state of business. The condition is very bad! Due to the government�s apathy, the business of fake/pirated cassettes is increasing at alarming rate and we are facing grimmer situation. In these financial circumstances, it is impossible for the company to build the archive from the scratch." While this is true for the manufacturers who still hold the copyright of their products, it is interesting to note such archival efforts in Europe and in America.

In addition to individual collections and depositories, France (Phonotheque), England (British Library, National Sound Archive and EMI Archive) and Germany have their own archives. The Internet lists over 2000 such sites giving details about the archives of gramophone records in various countries in world, from whole continents like Africa to small Scandanavian nations like Norway. As Indians, where do we stand ? Well, as yet a National Sound Archive is a distant dream like a mirage. There are several institutions, music departments of various universities, All India Radio stations, Sangeet Natak Academy, American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi, Sangeet Mahabharati and National Center of Performing Arts, Mumbai (NCPA) have large collections of gramophone records with adequate listening facilities. These are accessible to music lovers and researchers. Unfortunately, these institutions prefer to work in isolation and there is a lack of communication between them. In last 20/30 years, a sizeable number of books and periodicals related to gramophone records have been published. Section five lists some of these.

So, with the help of written, audible and visual matter available in the country, it might be possible for a researcher of 21st century to take the initiative in writing history of sound recording in India. Historical events in sound recording 1877 - Thomas Alva Edison�s discovery of sound recording and reproduction. Early recordings were taken on wax coated cylinders. [cylinder records] 1888 - Emilie Berliner, (a German emigrant in America) invented flat disc format for sound recording. The first trial disc was 5" diameter made of rubber. Later, 7" diameter zinc and lac records were commercially released and were known as E Berliner Records. 1898 - Foundation of Gramophone and Typewriter Co (G & T) in London. The Gramophone Company officially registered by William Barry Owen with provisional arrangements made to manufacture gramophones, records and assembly of machines in Germany. The famous �Recording Angel� trademark, devised by Theodore Birnbaum, first appears on the company�s record label. 1899 - Recording of first Indian artists in London - Dr Harnamdas and Mr Ahemad - songs from Ramayan and Aayats from Kooran.

In the same year, Francis Barraud�s famous painting of a dog listening to the horn - His Master�s Voice - was purchased by the Gramophone Company and first used in the Record Supplement of January 1900. 1900 - Manufacture of Lambert typewriters also taken up. Hence the name of the company changed to �The Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd�. This name also appeared on record labels. [Later, in 1907, as the typewriter line was discontinued the word �typewriter� was dropped both from the name of the company and the record label.] 1902 - First recording expedition of F W Gaisberg at Calcutta. 1902 - 1908 - Three recording expeditions in India taking about 5000 recordings. 1908 - Establishment of record pressing plant at Calcutta - announcements at the end of the songs stopped. In the same year, the Hayes factory in England also became operational. Around 75 different record companies were operating in India until about 1910. 1910 - A gramophone and records were sent with Captain Scott on his Antarctic Expedition.

The gramophone was brought back to Britain and is now part of the EMI archives which houses about 5 million items. 1915/16 - Nipper, the Gramophone Dog, makes first appearance on Indian record label. [In Britain it appeared in 1909] 1925 - �Electrical� recording replaced �Acoustic� recording. Electrical recording introduced in Britain using the Western Electrical System. 1931 - The Gramophone Company Ltd and the Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd merge and register a holding company - Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI). Stereo recording and reproduction patented. 1930/31 - Bombay radio became operational. sound entered into Indian films. 1952 - EMI launches first LP & EP/SP microgroove vinyl records. 1958 - EMI launches first stereo LP. 1960 - The last 78rpm record on EMI labels is issued in Britain - Rule Brittania / Royal Event by Russ Conway. 1966 - EMI releases its first pre-recorded cassettes. 1971 - EMI changed to EMI Ltd.

1973 - The Gramophone Company changes its name to EMI Records Ltd. 1970-80 - Production of 78 rpm records reduced and ultimately stopped. Indian Television entered the entertainment scence. 1986 - EMI opens its first-ever CD factory in England. 1980-90 - Market flooded with hi-fi equipment, audio/video cassette recorders / players. [Two in ones, VCRs and VCPs]. 1997 - EMI celebrates its first centenary. 1990-2000 - Records began to slowly diminish turning into decoratives pieces and antique items or �collector�s items�. Compact audio/video discs and related reproducing equipment flooded the market. CVD and DVD along with computer floopy discs took over all kinds of reel tapes - both in audio and video world. Satellite television with multiple cable networks changed the whole concept of personal recorded music and its collection. 21st Century - World library of music - sound and pictures - accessible to anone through a Personal or a lap-top computer or through Cable network.

Records and Recordings Material used - wax, zinc, tinfoil, cardboard, plastic (vinyl), aluminium, brass, copper metal plates and thin films. Lac was used for 78 rpm records for almost 80 years. India was the major source for the raw material of lac. Regions around Calcutta and Bihar had large number of deposits of lac and this might be one of the reasons for the establishment of the first record pressing plant at Sealdah in 1908. Thickness of the flat discs of these materials varied from a few millimeters to now few micrometers [in Compact Discs]. Sizes ,speeds and play times - flat disc records were made in sizes varying from from 5" to 16" diameter with thickness of about 3-5 mm. Large size records were made for the transcription and studio recordings of All India Radio. The speeds at which these records play are - 16 2/3, 33 1/3, 45, 78, 80 and 100 r.p.m. The play time varied from few seconds to about one hour depending on the size and the speed of the record.

Usually one side of a standard 78 rpm record played for 3.5 minutes, 45 for 3-4 minutes, EP [Extended Play] for 6-7 minutes and the LP [Long Play] for 20-30 minutes. More than 98% of the 78 rpm records were in the 10 inch diameter size. A few, mostly classical, were in the 12 inch format. The early discs were one sided. They had only the matrix number-the number given at the time of recording. After about 1910, double sided records were issued. These records had different matrix number on either side and a common catalogue number printed on the label on both sides. This catalogue number was refered by manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and customers. Recordings / Reproductions Recordings of Indian music in various languages - Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujrathi, Gurumukhi, Marathi, Marwari, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Canarese (Kanadi), Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Sanskrit etc.

Method was used for the recording also changed - Acoustic/mechanical (1877-1925), electrical (c.1926), magnetic (c.1940) and optical (c.1960/70). Various types of machines Edison Home Phonographs were used for playing cylinders, whereas 78 rpm records were played on hand-crancked machines with huge metal horn. Around 1920, these were replaced by the box type gramophones with spring wound motors. Later on, compact size electrically driven motors were used for uniform and reliable speeds. These players and the record changers, large sized phonograms with radio and the juke boxes were very popular both at public places and in the individual houses. In old machines, steel or brass needles were used and these were available in needle tins. The gramophones used diaphragm type heavy sound boxes fitted to the machines and the needle would become blunt after playing the record for few times. Later, lightweight small size pick ups with diamond / sapphire needles (styli) became very popular and replaced the old heavy sound boxes.

The new needles had very little wear and tear and hence could be used for playing the record almost any number of times. Types of the recordings The earliest record of Indian music was recorded in 1899 in London whereas the first records were cut at Calcutta in 1902. [Kinner Michael, 1994]. �Gauhar Jan of Calcutta�, �Jankibai of Allahabad� were some of the professional entertainers who recorded prolifically for the gramophone company. These wax masters were then sent to Germany/Britain for making singlesided records and exported back for the Indian market. These records invariably contain an announcement at the end in English - like "My Name is Gauharjan". While this may sound amusing now, it was a very useful announcement for the engineer who would design the paper label for pasting on the pressed record.

Some of the styles of recordings - film songs (Hindi and regional), classical music (vocal and instrumental in both Hindustani and Carnatic style), folk and religious music, imitations, educational, mimicry, popular, speeches, announcements and advertisements, anthems, descriptions, bird/animal sounds, sound effects, readings and recitations, self-hypnosis, laughing, professional weeping, drama sets. The oldest and longest drama set is K M Mitter and party�s Jaydev in Bengali, recorded around 1910, in 30 parts and duration is almost two hours. Although majority of 78 rpm records were made using lac and EP/LPs using vinyl, there are some special records. These were in translucent plastic (Film-o-Phone), bendable and non-bendable card-board (Durium, Nicole), in various colours - brown (Young India), yellow and red (Bulbul). There are records that play from inside to out (Pathe). These have grooves cut differently and recorded at 100 rpm. So they need a special turntable that rotates at 100 rpm and special needles for playing.

These records have etched labels as against paper labels used by the records of other companies. The �puzzle� records were introduced around 1910 and continued till fifties. Each side had three different songs (of about one minute duration) not one after the other but in three separate, concentric grooves. With a slight variation of the start point, a different song would come out each time, astonishing (or, as the name suggests, puzzling) the listeners. These were produced in small numbers. Early puzzle records were on Zonophone labels and featured voices of Jankibai, Mohd Hussain and instrumental music by Talim Hussein (Shahanai). Puzzle records of films Awara (Hindi), Amar Bhoopali (Marathi), were produced and are found listed in HMV catalogues but it is extremely difficult to find the copies of these records now. A standard 10 inch diameter 78 rpm record, which plays for about three and a half minutes will have a groove length of about 1.5 Km. Its speed will be 26 Km per hour and it will revolve 273 times.

Estimated number of songs / records � The total number of films produced in the last 100 years is about 35,000. The ratio of Hindi to Regional films is 1:2-3. Average of 8/10 songs per film gives about 320,000 / 350,000 film songs, out of which 100,000 Hindi film songs and rest from the regional language films. Besides film songs, about 200,000 songs of non-film music have been recorded. Old 78 rpm records had two songs per record. Hence about 250,000 titles produced. This is a rough estimate and a good starting point for the researchers in 21st century. Record manufacturing companies in India Company, Period, Size, Special features etc. Approx output HMV Logo Origin Story: A Painter, a Dog, a Dead Guy and a Record Player - Core77 Core77 1 Comment 24571 Views Up above is what we Americans think of as the RCA logo, having grown up seeing it everywhere.

But the logo first belonged to British entertainment company HMV, which is in fact named after the original painting on which the logo is based, called "His Master's Voice." Francis Barraud was a Liverpudlian painter who had a brother named Mark. In the late 1800s, after Mark died, Francis inherited a bunch of his stuff: An early cylinder phonograph player, cylinder recordings of Mark's voice, and Mark's dog, a fox terrier named Nipper. Francis observed that when he played the records of his dead brother's voice, the dog would run over to the phonograph and listen intently. Francis painted the scene, calling it "His Master's Voice" and tried to sell the painting. Initially no one was interested. But in 1899 The Gramophone Company purchased it, and by 1900 it was their corporate logo. Roughly eight years later they changed their name to HMV, after the painting, in an early instance of "branding." The Victor Talking Machine Company saw the logo a year or two later and acquired the U.S. rights for themselves.

Being an American company, they used the logo a helluva lot more aggressively than their British counterparts, and when RCA acquired Victor in the 1920s it became their logo. Which is why we Yanks grew up seeing it. Interestingly enough, Barraud's original title for the painting was "Dog looking at and listening to a Phonograph." In a parallel universe this sign says DLAALTAP In a parallel universe this sign says DLAALTAP The latest design news, jobs & events. Straight to you every other week. Join over 300,000 designers who stay up-to-date with the Core77 newsletter...

Subscribe SHAKIN' ALL OVER - GREAT BRITISH RECORD LABELS - HMV GREAT BRITISH RECORD LABELS - HMV Disc One JOHNNY KIDD & THE PIRATES Shakin’ All Over GERRY TEMPLE No More Tomorrows JOHN LEYTON Oh Lover OZZIE WARLOCK & THE WIZARDS Juke Box Fury PATSY ANN NOBLE A Good Looking Boy MIKE BERRY WITH THE OUTLAWS Don’t You Think It’s Time THE KREW KATS Trambone RUSS SAINTY with THE NU-NOTES Keep Your Love Locked (Deep In Your Heart) MICHAEL COX Stand Up BOBBY ANGELO Don’t Stop ANDY CAVELL Hey There Cruel Heart CAROL DEENE It Happened Last Night (At The Movies With You) BERT WEEDON Red Guitar ADAM FAITH High School Confidential LES HOBEAUX Two Ships BEVERLEY JONES The Boy I Saw With You (I Know Him Well) CHARLES BLACKWELL ORCHESTRA Midnight In Luxembourg DANNY HUNTER Who’s Gonna Walk Ya Home?

THE OUTLAWS Indian Brave ROSE BRENNAN Tra La La JOHN LEYTON Lonely City ALMA COGAN The Story Of My Life MIKE SAGAR & THE CRESTERS You Know DEAN SHANNON Blinded With Love JILL DAY I Hear You Knocking KENNY LYNCH Strolling Blues JOAN REGAN May You Always DON SPENCER Fireball KEN MACKINTOSH & HIS ORCHESTRA No Hiding Place DON LANG & HIS FRANTIC FIVE Reveille Rock JOHNNY KIDD & THE PIRATES Magic Of Love SCREAMING LORD SUTCH & THE SAVAGES ’Til The Following Night Disc Two MIKE BERRY WITH THE OUTLAWS Tribute To Buddy Holly JOHN LEYTON Lone Rider JOHNNY KIDD & THE PIRATES Feelin’ THE OUTLAWS The Outlaws RONNIE HILTON The Wonder Of You DANNY WILLIAMS Moon River ALMA COGAN Stairway Of Love RUSS SAINTY Send Me The Pillow (That You Dream On) MICHAEL COX Honey, ’Cause I Love You ADAM FAITH (Got A) Heartsick Feeling BERT WEEDON South Of The

 Border KENNY LYNCH Mountain Of Love MIKE BERRY WITH THE OUTLAWS Loneliness BARRY BARNETT Susie Darlin’ RICKY JAMES Knee Deep In The Blues GERRY TEMPLE Seventeen Come Sunday DANNY RIVERS & THE RIVERMEN Movin’ In GEOFF GODDARD Girl Bride NELSON KEENE Keep Lovin’ Me THE THREE KAYES Ivory Tower EDDIE MANNION Quiet Girl YANA Climb Up The Wall BOBBY ANGELO I Gotta Have You STEVE PERRY Step By Step JACK PARNELL Kansas City KEN MACKINTOSH & HIS ORCHESTRA The Swivel CAROL DEENE Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) PAT PHOENIX Coronation Street Monologue MICHAEL MEDWIN / BERNARD BRESSLAW / ALFIE BASS & LESLIE FYSON The Army Game BERNARD BRESSLAW Mad, Passionate Love BARBARA WINDSOR Ten Gallon Hat DON LANG & HIS FRANTIC FIVE 6-5 Special SHAKIN’ ALL OVER • GREAT BRITISH RECORD LABELS: HMV His Masters Voice - more regularly known as plain HMV

 - is one of the oldest names in recorded sound, while its ‘Nipper’ logo remains, unquestionably, the most iconic image in the history of the record industry.

The label is, of course indelibly linked to Electrical & Music Industries Ltd (aka EMI), of which it was a founder member in 1931. However HMV’s own roots go back considerably further, to 1897, and The Gramophone Company. One of the first recording companies to operate in the UK, it was founded by William Barry Owen and Trevor Williams as the UK wing of the United States Gramophone Company, which had itself been inaugurated in Washington in 1892, by German-born US citizen Emile Berliner. In 1898, Berliner also formed Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft in his native Hanover, although DGG would abruptly sever links with both its US and UK counterparts at the outset of WW1. The name ‘His Master’s Voice’ of course came from the celebrated portrait of Nipper, a mixed-breed/part-Jack Russell Terrier which was painted in 1898, three years after the dog’s death, by his owner, Francis Barraud (he had inherited Nipper - so named because he would ‘nip’ the backs of peoples’ legs - from his brother, Mark, who’d died in 1887).

The original painting featured Nipper listening to a recording of his late master’s voice on an Edison-Bell wind-up cylinder phonograph, and Barraud initially offered it to the Edison-Bell company, who declined. W.B. Owen subsequently suggested to the artist that he replace the phonograph with a Berliner disc gramophone, following which The Gramophone Company bought the amended painting for £100 - £50 for the “His Master’s Voice” copyright, £50 for the painting itself. The image was first used on the cover of the company’s UK catalogue in 1899, and the following year it was registered as a trademark in the United States. In 1901 the U.S. Gramophone Company was taken over by Eldridge Johnson and evolved into the Victor Talking Machine Company, who began to use the Nipper trademark extensively. Victor expanded rapidly to become the world’s largest manufacturer of phonograph machines - notably, the Victrola - and phonograph/gramophone records.

In 1926, Johnson sold out to a banking firm, Seligman & Spyer, who in turn sold Victor on to the Radio Corporation Of America in 1929, thus creating the company which would ultimately become known as RCA-Victor. Meanwhile, in 1900 The Gramophone Company had briefly become The Gramophone & Typewriter Company, following its acquisition of the Lambert Typewriter Company, although by the end of that decade they’d reverted to their original name and trading style. In 1909 they’d belatedly started using the Nipper trademark in the UK, after which the label was generally referred to as either ‘His Masters Voice’ or ‘HMV’. The company grew from strength to strength - they opened the first HMV record shop in London, in 1921 - and their success very much mirrored that of their US parent company. In 1931, The Gramophone Company was merged with Electrola and the Columbia Graphophone Company to form the giant Electrical & Musical Industries Ltd. In the UK, EMI successfully retained the Columbia, HMV and Parlophone imprints as label names, leading to great rivalry, strong competition and continued success.

In 1935 RCA sold its stake in EMI, although it retained Victor and its rights to the ‘His Masters Voice’ trademark in America (by now the trademark was owned by differing companies in different countries). Like many British record labels, HMV enjoyed considerable success during the post-WW2 economic boom, albeit predominantly with American, RCA-Victor repertoire - e.g. Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, Vaughn Monroe, Glenn Miller, Fats Waller, Mario Lanza, etc. But their roster also boasted a healthy selection of home-based artists, notably Joe Loss, Arthur Askey, Ivy Benson, Max Miller, The Skyrockets, and as the 40s morphed into the 50s, they added Donald Peers, Max Miller, The Tanner Sisters, David Hughes, Malcom Vaughan and, rather more notably, artists like Alma Cogan, Max Bygraves, Frankie Vaughan and Ronnie Hilton, whose careers would all endure. The UK’s early forays into R&R were dismal, oft-risible affairs, and HMV’s weren’t greatly different.

Nonetheless, most aficionados would agree that Jill Day’s unlikely cover of the Gale Storm/Smiley Lewis US hit ‘I Hear You Knocking’ in January 1956 was one of the UK’s first credible stabs at R&R, a performance very nearly mirrored a year hence by Rose Brennan’s reading of the Georgia Gibbs/Lavern Baker US chartrider ‘Tra La La’. Of course, HMV initially had the biggest ace in the R&R pack in the shape of Elvis Presley, but when RCA-Victor terminated their licensing agreement in 1957, it (a) knocked a huge hole in their release schedules and (b) forced them to concentrate more on home-grown acts. They attempted a few half-hearted stabs at Skiffle with Don Lang and Les Hobeaux, whilst R&R singers like Ricky James and Barry Barnett fared little better. HMV even issued a couple of Adam Faith 45s in 1958, including a creditable cover of Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘High School Confidential’; but it would be another year - and on a different label - before Adam hit his stride.

Elsewhere, the redoubtable Alma Cogan’s dabblings with teen Pop and R&R material enjoyed mixed commercial successes, although the discs she cut were invariably delightful. But at this stage of the game, HMV were still rather more comfortable with established Variety-styled singers like The Three Kayes, Yana, Joan Regan and Ronnie Hilton, or Novelty material like ‘The Army Game’ and its Bernard Bresslaw spinoffs - they were still at it a few years later, with releases from Barbara Windsor and Patricia Phoenix. Instrumentals were often viewed as Novelty records around this time, although the advent of The Shadows in 1960 would soon put a stop to all that! HMV were well served for Instros, with artists like saxman Ken Mackintosh and trombonist Don Lang, while Ozzie Warlock & The Wizards’ (in reality, writer/arranger Tony Osbourne’s) driving ‘Juke Box Fury’ was the original theme tune to BBC TV’s Juke Box Jury. Once ‘Twang’ had arrived, so did groups like The Planets, The Krew Kats (i.e.

Marty Wilde’s former Wild Cats, with Big Jim Sullivan on lead guitar) and even old stager Bert Weedon, whilst guitar virtuoso Richard Harding sprang from The Cresters to cut a one-off killer 45. When HMV finally got to grips with R&R they did so in spectacular style, with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, whose riveting ‘Shakin’ All Over’ of course topped the UK charts in the Summer of 1960 and seemed to fuel a mini-boom of bequiffed young teen oriented crooners. Names like Kenny Lynch, Danny Williams, Steve Perry, Danny Hunter, Eddie Mannion, Nelson Keene, Mike Sagar & The Cresters, Dean Shannon, Bobby Angelo, Russ Sainty & The Nu-Notes and Don Spencer sprang up from seemingly nowhere, but only Lynch and Williams enjoyed any real success, although old-timer Jack Parnell weighed in with a surprisingly tough cover of Wilbert Harrison’s ‘Kansas City’. Following Helen Shapiro’s breakthrough in the Spring of 1961, UK record companies were quick to try and cash in and for the next eighteen months or so, you could hardly move for unknown teenaged girl singers.

HMV tried with Carol Deene, Suzy Cope, Patsy Ann Noble and Beverley Jones, but only Carol enjoyed much luck on the charts, debuting with her cover of Sue Thompson’s ‘Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)’. Finally, cult indie producer Joe Meek saw an enormous number of his revered RGM productions released on HMV, by a plethora of artists including Gerry Temple, The Outlaws, Mike Berry, Geoff Goddard, John Leyton, Screaming Lord Sutch, Michael Cox, The Charles Blackwell Orchestra, Danny Rivers and Andy Cavell. Featured herein are several big sellers and a handful a genuine collectors’ rarities, most notably songwriter Geoff Goddard’s falsetto-laden ‘Girl Bride’. Roger Dopson Big Thanks to Paul Pelletier, John Spencely, John Fisher, Bernie Keith, Tony Gowing, Trev Faull, Mark Willerton, Sam Szczepanski and the late Tony Wilkinson. Essential reading:- Gramophone Co - Graces Guide Grace's Guide British Industrial History Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain.

This web publication contains 121,950 pages of information and 183,434 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them. Gramophone Co c1910. Senior Monarch. Exhibit at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. September 1953. March 1960. HMV Domestic Appliances. of Hayes, Middlesex 1897 The UK Gramophone Co was founded by William Barry Owen and his partner/investor Edmund Trevor Lloyd Williams , as the UK partner of Emile Berliner's United States based United States Gramophone Company, which had been founded in 1892. 1890s An icon of the company was to become very well known - the picture of a dog listening to an early gramophone painted in England by Francis Barraud. The painting "His Master's Voice" was made in the 1890's with the dog listening to an Edison cylinder Phonograph, which was capable of recording as well as playing, but Thomas Edison did not buy the painting.

1899 Owen bought the painting from the artist, and asked him to paint over the Edison machine with a Gramophone, which he did. Technically, since Gramophones did not record, the new version of the painting makes no sense, as the dog would not have been able to listen to his master's voice (the master being Barraud, and his own Nipper the dog). 1900 In December, Owen gained the manufacturing rights from the Lambert Typewriter Co of the USA. For a few years the Gramophone Co was renamed as the Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd. The United States branch of Gramophone lost a patent infringement suit, brought on by Columbia Records and Zonophone, and was no longer permitted to produce records in the USA. The Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd was registered on 10 December. [1] Gramophone's talking machine manufacturer, Eldridge R. Johnson, was left with a large factory, thousands of talking machines and no records to play on them. He filed suit in 1900 to be permitted to make records himself. He won, in spite of the negative verdict against Berliner.

This victory by Johnson, used to name the new record company the Victor Talking Machine Company he would found in 1901, may have been partly due to a patent-pooling handshake agreement with Columbia that allowed the latter to begin producing flat records themselves, which they began doing in 1901, (all Columbia records had previously been cylinders). Contrary to some sources, the Victor Talking Machine Company was never a branch or subsidiary of Gramophone, as Johnson's manufactory, which had been making talking machines for Berliner, was his own company with many mechanical patents that he owned, which patents were valuable in the patent pool agreement with Columbia. Thus, Victor and Columbia began making flat records in America, with UK Gramophone and others continuing to do so outside America, leaving Edison as the only major player in the making of cylinders (Columbia still made a limited number for a few years), and Emile Berliner, the inventor of flat records, out of the business. All he was left with were the master recordings of his earlier records, which he took to Canada and reformed his Berliner label in Montreal, Nipper logo and all. Edison would soon join the flat record market with his diamond discs and their players.

1902 Eldridge Johnson of Victor Talking Machine Company acquired US rights to use the dog and gramophone as the Victor trademark, which began appearing on Victor records that year. UK rights to the logo were reserved by Gramophone. Nipper lived from 1884 to 1895 and is buried in England with a celebrated grave marker. 1908 In February, the company introduced new labels featuring the famous trademark known as "His Master's Voice," generally referred to as HMV , to distinguish them from earlier labels which featured an outline of the Recording Angel trademark. The latter had been designed by Theodore Birnbaum, an executive of the Gramophone Company pressing plant in Hanover, Germany. The Gramophone Co was never known as the HMV or His Master's Voice company. 1910 By the time the company's now familiar trademarks were registered, they had opened built and opened a recording studio in Hayes, Middlesex. 1913 Company made private. 1914 Listed as manufacturers of gramophones and records, His Master's Voice machines and records. Employees 350. [2] 1921 A new shop was opened by the company in Oxford Street, London.

1929 Acquired Marconiphone Co as well as Marconi's share in M-O Valve . [3] . Started manufacture and sale of His Master's Voice domestic radio sets. 1931 In March, the Gramophone Co merged with Columbia Graphophone Co to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd ( EMI ). The Gramophone Company, Ltd name, however, continued to be used for many decades, especially for copyright notices on records. The Abbey Road Studios in London were opened. 1937 Wireless manufacturers. [4] 1945 With Smiths Motor Accessories Ltd formed joint company Radiomobile Ltd to market car radios developed and manufactured by the Gramophone Co. [3] 1946 As result of reorganisation of EMI , the Gramophone Co's research, design and production activities were distributed between 3 of EMI 's subsidiaries. [3] 1953 Manufacturer of TV sets [5] 1950s Thorn Electrical Industries took over the manufacture of the HMV and Marconiphone range of consumer products from EMI . 1961 Manufacturers of television and radio apparatus, gramophone records and household appliances.

[6] 1996 EMI demerged from Thorn EMI . 2008 The His Master's Voice and Nipper trademarks are still used today by HMV in Britain. See Also Learn and talk about Gramophone Company, British record labels, EMI, Jazz record labels, Phonograph manufacturers For the HMV Records label, see His Master's Voice . The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies , and was the parent organisation for the famous "His Master's Voice" ( HMV ) label. Although the company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931 to form Electric and Musical Industries Limited ( EMI ), its name "The Gramophone Company Limited" continued in the UK into the 1970s, appearing on sleeves and labels of records (such as The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd , vinyl copies of which bear the copyright notice "©1973 The Gramophone Company, Ltd.").[ citation needed ] Contents First recordings[ edit ] The Gramophone Company was founded in 1898 by William Barry Owen and Trevor Williams in London, England.

Owen was acting as agent for Emile Berliner , inventor of the gramaphone record , whilst Williams provided the finances. Most of the company's early discs were made in Hanover, Germany at a plant operated by members of Berliner's family, though it had operations around the world. [1] In 1898, Fred Gaisberg moved from the U.S. to London to set up the first disc recording studio in Europe; it was situated in Maiden Lane. Among early artists he recorded was the Syria Lamont , an Australian soprano whose single "Coming through the Rye" was one of the first ever issued. In December 1900, Owen gained the manufacturing rights for the Lambert Typewriter Company , and the Gramophone Company was for a few years renamed the Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. Lawsuit impact[ edit ] In 1900, the U.S. branch of Gramophone lost a patent infringement suit brought on by Columbia Records and Zonophone , and was no longer permitted to produce records in the U.S. Gramophone's talking machine manufacturer, Eldridge R.

Johnson , left with a large factory and thousands of talking machines with no records to play on them, filed suit that year to be permitted to make records himself, and won, in spite of the negative verdict against Berliner. This victory by Johnson, which would be used in naming the new record company the Victor Talking Machine Company he would found the following year, may have been[ citation needed ] in part due to a patent-pooling handshake agreement with Columbia. The agreement allowed Columbia to produce flat records themselves, which they began doing in 1901; Columbia's records had previously been cylinders . Contrary to some sources,[ citation needed ] the Victor Talking Machine Company was never a branch or subsidiary of Gramophone, as Johnson's manufactory, which had been making talking machines for Berliner, was his own company with many mechanical patents that he owned, which patents were valuable in the agreement with Columbia. Thus, Victor and Columbia began making flat records in the U.S., with UK Gramophone and others continuing to do so outside the U.S. This left Edison the only major player in the making of cylinders; Columbia still made a limited number for a few years. Emile Berliner went out of the business.

All he had left were the masters of his earlier records. These he took to Canada and reformed his Berliner label in Montreal , where he used the "His Master's Voice" trademark. Edison would soon join the flat record market with his diamond discs and their players. Hidden discs[ edit ] A public relations triumph of 1907 involved Alfred Clark, a New York representative of the company. Clark encouraged the Paris Opera to seal and lock 24 records in two iron and lead containers in a basement storage room. These were to be opened in 100 years. Twenty-four more records were added in two additional containers in 1912, with a hand-crank gramophone with spare stylus needles to insure the records could be played when unsealed. In 1989, it was discovered that one of the 1912 containers had been opened and emptied and the gramophone stolen. The three remaining containers were moved to the French National Library . When opened in December 2007, some of the records were broken, but copies of the missing and broken records were located in the French National Library.

EMI digitized the collection and released it on three compact discs in February 2009 as Les Urnes de l'Opera. Early Gramophone label with HMV trademark Logo change[ edit ] In February 1909, the company introduced new labels featuring the famous trademark known as "His Master's Voice", generally referred to as HMV, to distinguish them from earlier labels which featured an outline of the Recording Angel trademark. The latter had been designed by Theodore Birnbaum , an executive of the Gramophone Company pressing plant in Hanover, Germany. The Gramophone Company was never known as the HMV or His Master's Voice company. An icon of the company was to become very well known: the picture of a dog listening to an early gramophone painted in England by Francis Barraud . The painting "His Master's Voice" was made in the 1890s with the dog Nipper listening to an Edison cylinder phonograph , which was capable of recording as well as playing, but Thomas Edison did not buy the painting. In 1899, Owen bought the painting from the artist, and asked him to paint over the Edison machine with a Gramophone, which he did.

In 1902, Eldridge Johnson of Victor Talking Machine Company acquired U.S. rights to use it as the Victor trademark, which began appearing on Victor records that year. UK rights to the logo were reserved by Gramophone. Nipper the dog lived from 1884 to 1895 and is buried in England with a celebrated grave marker. Formation of EMI[ edit ] In March 1931 Gramophone merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd (EMI). The "Gramophone Company, Ltd." name, however, continued to be used for many decades, especially for copyright notices on records. Gramophone Company of India was formed in 1946. The Gramophone Company Ltd legal entity was renamed EMI Records Ltd in 1973. References[ edit ] ^ Rye, Howard (2002). Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 80. ISBN 1-56159-284-6 . John R.

Bennett: A catalogue of vocal recordings from the English catalogues of the Gramophone Company 1898–1899, the Gramophone Company Limited 1899 - 1900, the Gramophone & Typewriter Company Limited 1901–1907 and the Gramophone Company Limited 1907 – 1925. England,Oakwood Press, 1956. Available at archive.org .(reprint: Westport, Conn.,USA, Greenwood Press, 1978. ISBN 0-313-20237-0 ) Alan Kelly: His master's voice – La voce del padrone|the Italian catalogue; a complete numerical catalogue of Italian gramophone recordings made from 1898 to 1929 in Italy and elsewhere by the Gramophone Company Ltd.. New York; NY [et al.], Greenwood Press, 1988.

ISBN 0-313-26498-8 Alan Kelly: His master's voice, the French catalogue; a complete numerical catalogue of French gramophone recordings made from 1898 to 1929 in France and elsewhere by the Gramophone Company Ltd. New York; NY [et al.], Greenwood Press, 1990. ISBN 0-313-27333-2 Alan Kelly: His master's voice, the German catalogue; a complete numerical catalogue of German gramophone recordings made from 1898 to 1929 in Germany, Austria, and elsewhere by The Gramophone Company Ltd. New York; NY [et al.], Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-29220-5 Alan Kelly; Jacques Klöters: His master's voice, the Dutch catalogue; a complete numerical catalogue of Dutch and Belgian gramophone recordings made from 1900 to 1929 in Holland, Belgium, and elsewhere by the Gramophone Company Ltd. Westport, Conn. [et al.], Greenwood Press, 1997.

ISBN 0-313-29883-1 The voice, the magazine of the Gramophone Co., Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex, 1.1917 - 35.1954 Original courtesy of Wikipedia: — Please support Wikipedia. This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia . A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. We're sorry, but there's no news about "Gramophone Company" right now. Limit to books that you can completely read online Include partial books (book previews) Oops, we seem to be having trouble contacting Twitter Support Wikipedia A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. Please add your support for Wikipedia! Searchlight Group Digplanet also receives support from Searchlight Group. Visit Searchlight Copyright © 2009-2016 Digparty. All rights reserved.

Question: What was the name of the dog on the HMV record labels?
Answer: Nipper