[78-L] Sharing sequence numbers between labels

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Bihun" <csintala79 at yahoo.com>
> This was in the thread: "American Novelty Orchestra ..?"
> Steven C. Barr wrote:
>>> Ty already lists OK 4490 as a 1921 issue.
>>>
>> There were TWO distinct "Okeh 4490" records! The first was in the 
>> original
>> Okeh
>> 4xxx series (1920-1923?)...and the second resulted when CBS replaced
>> Vocalion
>> with Okeh (6/40) and used old Vocalion numbers on continued records!
>>
>> So...Okeh 4490 (2nd one) = Vocalion 4490...!
>
> This may explain something I ran across. I have just gotten around to 
> inventorying a bunch of records purchased over the past few years. One is 
> The Carter Family on Perfect 6-01-59, "Gathering Flowers From the 
> Hillside" (A-17491) and "Don't Forget me Little Darling" (B-17479).
> Not having a large collection, I can't justify buying reference documents 
> and, living in a small town, no local library can help, so I depend on the 
> web. Going to 78discography.com, I could find nothing under perfect to 
> match the label number; there is nothing under perfect that is close to 
> what is on the label (the number being June 1, 1959 didn't make sense).
> In trying to track this down I found that these cuts were released on 
> Columbia 37636 and 20235. As the matrix numbers match, I assumed they came 
> from the same master. I could find no link to a Perfect pressing, but I 
> got a surprise when I came across these cuts on Melotone 60159. That 
> number is actually 6-01-59, using the Melotone 1936 "date issue" 
> sequencing; the same number found on the Perfect release!
>
> The commonality between all the labels the songs were released on is that 
> they were under the ARC umbrella at one time, as were the labels in 
> question for the "American Novelty Orchestra" thread. It looks like they 
> were using sequencing numbers across labels for some time, considering my 
> record is from "35 and the other (thge Vocalion) is from "40.
> Was this a common practice? It is a database manager's nightmare.
>
No...not actually! In mid-1935, ARC had the brilliant (or so they thought,
anyway) of using a YY-MM-serial (later changed to Y-MM-serial)
catalog number system for all their "cheap" labels! This means, as you
note (and as Ty DOESN'T make clear...?!) the actual record number
was 6-(1936)01(January)-59 (the 9th country/race issue--these were
numbered from *51* up while ordinary pop tunes started at "01").

This numbering system, and most of the labels involved, sort of
"dwindled to death" in the first part of 1937! I have seen Orioles
with VERY low 1937 numbers; both Perfect and Melotone lasted
into 1937 (none of the others did, though!).

I suspect record companies specifically avoided putting date data
on record labels...if only because they feared customers would no
longer want "out of date" records (records generally "stayed in
the catalog" for a year...maybe two?!).

teven C. Barr