[78-L] fwd: Phonographic Record Industry - Inquiry

[Kristjan Saag]

I'd recommend Louis Barfe's "Where have all the good times gone - the rise 
and fall of the record industry" (Atlantic Books, London 2004) which gives a 
very good insight in the record business, from the early years on. A lot of 
research behind it, including how the big companies cooperated to keep the 
small ones out (when they didn't fight each other); sales figures, catalogue 
figures are given here and there.
In German there is "Knaurs Weltgeschichte der Schallplatte" by Curt Reiss, 
which tells Gelatt's story from a European angle, but with many US details 
as well, including sales figures.
Kristjan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
To: "78L" <78-L at 78online.com>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 9:10 PM
Subject: [78-L] fwd: Phonographic Record Industry - Inquiry


>I received this request over the weekend. I've already suggested that he 
>get
> hold of The Fabulous Phonograph and From Tinfoil to Stereo, and told him 
> that
> there was not much of an "industry" as such in 1892..anyone here have some
> other advice?  DL
>
> livinc at rpi.edu wrote:
>> Hello,
>>    My name is Chris and I am conducting a research assignment for my
>> Professor Ken Simons @ RPI (a college in Troy, NY) on the frequency and
>> nature of technological disruption in particular industries.  There are
>> 47 industries total that my professor is studying.  One particular
>> industry that I am going to perform my thesis paper on this semester is
>> on the phonographic record industry.
>>
>> With regards to the phonographic record industry,Ken Simons is trying to
>> developa systematic way to develop the number of records or hits by
>> different phonographic record companies, to get a better estimate of
>> their market shares over time. We are looking for a listing of companies
>> that produced phonographic records by year, and how many they produced
>> each year.  Also, more specifically, I am going to try to compile market
>> share based on such findings.
>>
>> The reasoning behind such research is to determine if smaller independent
>> firms were able to enter into the recording industry because of
>> advancements in technology that made it cheaper to produce music.
>>
>> Do you know of any trade journals or lists of companies that would guide
>> us in the correct direction?  Is Billboards a good place to start my
>> research project?
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Chris Livingston
>
> Follow-up e-mail:
>
> livinc at rpi.edu wrote:
>> Hi again,
>>   Thank you very much.  Thank you for your help.  It would be much
>> appreciated if you could forward along some of my questions.
>>    In particular, I am looking for the time period after WWII during the
>> 1950s during the rock and roll era.  Also again during the 1970s when a
>> lot of the independents were being bought out and the industry was
>> consolidating.
>>
>>   Just as you have mentioned, I do want to split up my research.  So I
>> would like to start from the beginning with how the record industry
>> formed.  For instance 1877. From there, I how did the market react again
>> during 1892?
>>
>> One common theme I am trying to really focus in on for my research is did
>> technology force out the incumbent firms while new startups came along OR
>> did the incumbants still retain a good portion of market share throughout
>> all the years?  Maybe focusing in on key events of the within the
>> industry would guide me in the right direction.
>>
>>
>> Thanks for all your help.
>>
>>
>> Chris
>>
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