[78-L] Record stores (was: Cany Anyone Identify this Singer)

[Michael Biel]

There definitely were all-label record stores by the early1930s. The 
labels couldn't support exclusive franchises after all of the labels 
changed hands between 1929 and 1932.  Of course a lot of record stores 
became record "departments" in stores that sold other products such as 
radios.  Steinweiss has insisted that  "Dedicated record stores were 
rare, so records were often sole in appliance stores" before he 
magically liberated the industry with his illustrated album covers.  Of 
course that wasn't true, and the American Record Guide published a 
monthly list of  record stores around the country which it endorsed.  
Obviously there were plenty more.   When Leah has a chance, her next job 
in my research is to find the address of his boyhood home in Brooklyn in 
the 30s and list out the "dedicated" Record stores (wascord stores in 
Brooklyn at that time. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 

Steven C. Barr wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jeff Sultanof" <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
>   
>> This thread brings up a question that's been on my mind for years since I
>> started listening to music from this era.
>>
>> Clearly there were some singers who made records who were horrible 
>> singers.
>> They've been mentioned so there's no need to list them. How did many of 
>> them
>> continue to record if they were that bad? Let's remember we are not 
>> dealing
>> with the big band era, where a bad singer could sink the fortunes of a 
>> band,
>> or the rock and roll doo-wop era, where many of those groups were just 
>> plain
>> out of tune. Were the sales of records with these singers that strong to
>> warrant them continuing to record?
>>
>> Back in the twenties and thirties, weren't there listening booths or other
>> ways people could hear records before they bought them? Wouldn't someone
>> hearing a horrible singer pass up such a record. Or are we talking about a
>> style of singing that was popular in certain segments of the population 
>> that
>> just sounds terrible to us today?
>>
>>     
> This in turn brings up another question (I've asked before, but no one 
> answered?!):
>
> In the twenties (and, I assume, into thethirties)...stores who sold machines 
> and
> records were dealers for one particular brand; that is, if you visited a 
> Victor
> dealer they would have Victor (and Bluebird from 1932?) records and 
> machines.
> At that time, virtually ALL the record labels issued their version(s) of all 
> the
> currently-popular song hits.
>
> So...when was the first appearance of record stores which offered all (or 
> nearly
> all) of the available record labels? I have a c.1941-2 flyer from a record 
> store
> in Toronto which lists many (most?) record labels.
>
> Keep in mind that it was during the mid-thirties that younger record buyers 
> wanted
> not only hit tunes, but specific versions thereof...!
>
> Steven C. Barr 
>