[78-L] Subject: Wing Records

David Lennick dlennick at sympatico.ca
Mon Mar 5 15:49:49 PST 2012


Wing was also a subsidiary 78 label in the mid 50s. Only ones I've seen have 
been jazz releases. I guess when $1.98 labels took off they decided to make a 
label they already had into a budget line since it probably didn't do squat as 
a full price imprint.

dl

On 3/5/2012 6:43 PM, Kristjan Saag wrote:
> Wing Records was launched in 1955, when regular LP prices in the US were
> $3.98, $4.98 and $5.98. RCA-Victor and Columbia had made price
> reductions in January that year:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=zxkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=billboard+lp+%243.98+rca-victor+1955&hl=en&sa=X&ei=00tVT8PMM6n14QSo2pHXDQ&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=billboard%20lp%20%243.98%20rca-victor%201955&f=false
>
> ...and Mercury followed suit, but changed its price policy one month later:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=QxkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27&dq=billboard+lp+$3.98+mercury+1955&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6UpVT6H0OOn74QS9963yDQ&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=billboard%20lp%20%243.98%20mercury%201955&f=false
>
> So Mercury's regular price for popular 12'' records (20 000 series) at
> the time when Wing Records was launched was $3.98.
> And Wing was not a budget label; it followed the price profile of the
> main label. See:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=BRwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=wing+records+mercury&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=wing%20records%20mercury&f=false.
>
> Kristjan
>
>
> On 2012-03-05 21:51, Cary Ginell wrote:
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Cary
>>
>> On Mar 5, 2012, at 12:30 PM, "Al Haug"<westbankal at gmail.com>   wrote:
>>
>>> The "suggested list price" was indeed $1.98, according to the
>>> *Billboard*price list from October 1959..
>>> http://books.google.com/books?id=SwoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46&dq=wing+1.98&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dyBVT7WMOqaqsQLh8envBQ&ved=0CFgQ6AEwCTgy#v=onepage&q=wing%201.98&f=false
>>>
>>> Message: 1
>>> Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2012 11:59:55 -0800
>>> From: Cary Ginell<soundthink at live.com>
>>> Subject: [78-L] Wing Records
>>> To: 78-L Mail List<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>>> Message-ID:<BLU0-
>>> SMTP1408573D99972ACAF2DB3BFB0530 at phx.gbl>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>>
>>> Does anyone know what the original retail selling price was for LPs on the
>>> Mercury Wing label in the 1950s? I'm guessing $1.98.
>>>
>>> Cary Ginell


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