[78-L] Record Stores

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
<snip>
> Your mentioning of the need of replacement copies of worn or broken 
> records (especially from sets) leads me to another idea to research.  
> Did the record company practice of making request pressings come as a 
> way to stop the sale of second-hand records of this type?  Of course 
> HRS, IRCC, UHCA and others was a legit means to get rare records 
> repressed for sale, and this is noted as showing the companies that 
> there was a market for re-pressings, but did the sale of used records 
> also influence them?  And by the way, I found an article announcing the 
> opening of the famous "back room" at H. Royer Smith in Philadelphia 
> where they sold collectors items -- even up to the years I was in 
> college in Phila in the 60s.
> 
These "pirate" re-issues generated a lot of controversy in the forties!
Technically, of course, they were illegal in virtually all the states (this
was only partially dealt with in more recent copyright laws covering
sound recordings) I had, and THINK I still have, a complete set of
Record Changer magazines...and there wasa LOT of discussion about
such issues (and the dearth of legal reissues of great jazz performances
as well...!). The eventual result was that the record companies finally
realized they were "sitting on a gold mine" and started reissuing jazz
rarities...often in album-set form...!

Steven C. Barr