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

[Michael Biel]

We're not answering all of his questions.  Billboard is a good journal
for the second part of the history he is interested in -- the post WW II
years, but there are many others.  Cash Box and Music World were
competing journals, but Variety also covered the phonograph.  Most
important are the annual yearbooks that all of them published but few
libraries have and are rarely included in the microfilms. Also are many
specific journals such as Talking Machine World that covered the field,
as well as some company publications in the early years like Edison
Phonograph Monthly.  There also are electronic dealer magazines like
Radio Retailing.  Consumer publications such as High Fidelity, Audio
(originally Audio Engineering), Hi-Fi Stereo Review (originally Hi-Fi
Review), and several others in other countries cover the 50s thru 80s,
Gramophone goes back to the 20s, American Record Guide goes back to the
30s, Saturday Review has weekly columns from the 30s thru 50s.  

While technology is important to the development of the industry, patent
CONTROL is the important part that cannot be overlooked.  Patents and
lawsuits dominated the competition thru WW I.  The changeover to
electrical recording dominated the second half of the 20s, the gradual
changover from wax and flow-coat mastering to lacquer dominated the 30s,
tape mastering and microgroove/vinyl/speeds dominated the late 40s and
50s, stereo dominated the late 50s and 60s, tape formats dominated the
70s, and the CD and digital dominated the 80s.  Once the initial patents
were broken/expired, sharing and licensing of technology allowed for
industry-wide standards, as well as the fact that many of the
improvements could be used by simply buying the equipment or using
facilities that had the equipment.  

As for independent companies vs. the established majors, I see it as a
inhale-exhale breathing pattern.  Initial expansion contracts as the
patent cases give control to three majors until the expansion post WW I
when the patents expired.  Contraction again in the late 20s as
electrical recording quality helped the majors followed by the
depression that contracted the industry with mergers.  Decca in 34 and
Capitol in 41 started the expansion which was slowed by the war and AFM
strike, followed by the largest expansion in the latter 40s and 50s. 
But all this was sucked back in with the trend of mergers again that
gobbled up all of the independents into GIANT multi-nationals.  (I have
always felt that the name of the giant WEA told it all. 
Warners-Elektra-Atlantic.  Think about it.  Atlantic Records was the
most iconic company of the late 40s jazz, going into 50s R&B; initially
a two-man company.  Elektra  being the iconic folk music label of the
50s and 60s, a one-man company.  Warner Bros being the label of big name
MOR of the stereo era, while financed by a major film studio, was always
considered an independent.  Now part a major multi-national.

You know, come to think of it, ALL of the companies started small with
one or two men. For example,  Edison = Edison.  Berliner and Johnson =
Victor/Gramophone/HMV.   Jack Kapp = Decca.  Wallachs and Mercer =
Capitol.  Discounting Bell and Tainter as the technological background
of Columbia, that was the first major that seems to be dominated from
the beginning by lawyers and accountants, which soon became the
dominating forces at the heads of companies in recent decades.  Most of
us collectors feel more kindly towards record companies that seem to
have the definable personalities of dominating individual people who run
it.  For example, to use Columbia again, when Goddard Lieberson ran it,
it was different from the other majors which had lost their
personalities.  

Sales and market share.  Hmmmmm.  Do we ever have honest figures that
are trustworthy?  We get accurate sales figures from the auto industry,
do we ever from the record companies?  There are the annual total sales
figures from the RIAA but they are not broken down to market share by
companies, are they?  

This project sounds very similar to one that Leah is working on for one
of her professors.  I always feel so suspicious when books about the
record industry come out from people who have never interacted with the
archive/collectors/discographers community.  I'm going to be meeting
with Leah's prof for the first time tomorrow to try to get a feel of
where he is coming from.  He has been asking some of the same questions
of where do I find these things out?  In other words, Newbie Questions. 
Well, everybody here was a newbie once.  Even me.  But I was 12 at the
time.  

Mike (i paid my dues) Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com             


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [78-L] fwd: Phonographic Record Industry - Inquiry
From: "Kristjan Saag" <saag at telia.com>
Date: Mon, November 03, 2008 5:48 pm
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>

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