Organization
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It i…
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Investigate this subjectRCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's flagship labels, alongside RCA's former longtime rival Columbia Records.
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's flagship labels, alongside RCA's former longtime rival Columbia Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, classical, rock, hip hop, afrobeat, electronic, R&B, blues, jazz, and country. The label's name is derived from its defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).
After the RCA Corporation was purchased by General Electric in 1986, GE sold its remaining interest in RCA Records to Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG); following the merger of BMG and Sony in 2004, RCA Records became a label of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. In 2008, after the dissolution of Sony BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music, RCA Records became fully owned by Sony.
RCA Records is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine Company.
In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs (including the famous "Victrola") and phonograph records. The company then became the RCA Victor Division of RCA. In absorbing Victor, RCA acquired the New World rights to the famous Nipper/"His Master's Voice" trademark.
In 1931, RCA Victor's British affiliate, the Gramophone Company, merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board.
In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 331⁄3 rpm records sold to the public, calling them "Program Transcription" records. These used a shallower and more closely spaced implementation of the large "standard groove" found on contemporary 78 rpm records, rather than the "microgroove" used for post-World War II 331⁄3 rpm "LP" (long play) records. The format was a commercial failure, partly because the new Victrolas with two-speed turntables designed to play these records were exorbitantly priced, the least expensive model retailing for $395.00 in the depths of the Great Depression. By 1933, the format was abandoned and two-speed turntables were no longer offered, but some Program Transcriptions lingered in the Victor record catalog until the end of the 1930s.
During the early days of the Depression, RCA Victor made a number of attempts to create a successful low-priced label to compete with "dime store labels" such as Perfect, Oriole, Banner, and Melotone. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931, sold exclusively by Montgomery Ward. Bluebird Records was created in 1932 as a sub-label of Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a dark blue label, alongside the 8-inch Electradisk label (sold by F.W. Woolworth). Neither label was a success. In 1933, RCA Victor reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label (Bluebird's label was redesigned, and it became known as the 'buff' label). Another discount label, Sunrise, was produced (although it is not known for whom it was produced, as Sunrise records are exceptionally rare today). The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and the Bluebird label is still in existence today, nine decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued.
During this time, RCA Victor also produced electrical transcriptions of music under the RCA Thesaurus label at its RCA Recorded Program Services studio in New York City. These recordings were not offered for sale to the general public and were intended solely for use in broadcasts carried over leading radio networks. By 1936, RCA's extensive musical library of recordings was eventually consolidated with NBC's own transcription division. During the 1950s, it included popular music by noted musicians, such as Sammy Kaye, Freddie Martin, Lawrence Welk and John Serry Sr.
Besides manufacturing its own records, RCA's Custom Record Division was the leading record manufacturer for independent labels. RCA Victor's immense Midwestern manufacturing complex in Indianapolis, included a record pressing plant located at 501 North LaSalle Street. The Custom Division notably pressed many record compilations for The Reader's Digest Association.
RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1938, but EMI (acquired by Universal Music Group) continued to distribute RCA Victor recordings in the UK and its territories on the His Master's Voice label until 1957. RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV recordings on the RCA Victor and custom HMV labels in North America.
Due to hostilities between Japan and the United States during World War II, ties between RCA Victor and its Japanese subsidiary Victor Company of Japan (Nippon Victor) were severed. JVC's (Japan Victor Company) record company is known today as Victor Entertainment and still retains the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark for use in Japan.
From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban. Virtually all union musicians in the US and Canada were forbidden from making recordings during the period. One of the few exceptions was the eventual release of recorded radio broadcast performances from the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini. However, RCA Victor lost the Philadelphia Orchestra during this period; the orchestra's contract with RCA Victor expired during the strike and when Columbia Records settled with the union before RCA Victor, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphians signed a new contract with Columbia and began recording in 1944. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra would not return to RCA until 1968.
In the spring of 1946, "RCA Victor" replaced "Victor" on its record labels. In 1949, RCA Victor introduced the 7-inch 45 rpm micro-grooved vinylite record, marketed simply as the "45". The new format, which had been under development for over a decade, was originally intended to replace 78 rpm discs. By the time RCA
Source: RCA Records (CC BY-SA)
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