154-576: Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis . Its US label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp (the first president of the Decca Record company of the USA) and Milton Rackmil , who later became American Decca's president too. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II , Lewis sold American Decca, and the link between the UK and US Decca label
308-551: A "record group" which is, in turn, controlled by a music group. The constituent companies in a music group or record group are sometimes marketed as being "divisions" of the group. From 1929 to 1998, there were six major record labels, known as the Big Six: PolyGram was merged into Universal Music Group (UMG) in 1999, leaving the remaining record labels to be known as the Big Five. In 2004, Sony and BMG agreed to
462-405: A 50% profit-share agreement, aka 50–50 deal, not uncommon. In addition, independent labels are often artist-owned (although not always), with a stated intent often being to control the quality of the artist's output. Independent labels usually do not enjoy the resources available to the "big three" and as such will often lag behind them in market shares. However, frequently independent artists manage
616-562: A US Senate committee, that the Byrds never received any of the royalties they had been promised for their biggest hits, " Mr. Tambourine Man " and " Turn! Turn!, Turn! ". A contract either provides for the artist to deliver completed recordings to the label, or for the label to undertake the recording with the artist. For artists without a recording history, the label is often involved in selecting producers, recording studios , additional musicians, and songs to be recorded, and may supervise
770-479: A bigger company. If this is the case it can sometimes give the artist greater freedom than if they were signed directly to the big label. There are many examples of this kind of label, such as Nothing Records , owned by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails ; and Morning Records, owned by the Cooper Temple Clause , who were releasing EPs for years before the company was bought by RCA . If an artist and
924-672: A change. He was growing disenchanted with the top management of Decca, which he believed had lost its pioneering enthusiasm. He moved from the record industry to become BBC Television 's head of music programmes. He inaugurated, and supervised several series of, André Previn's Music Night , in which Previn would talk informally direct to camera and then turn and conduct the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), whose members were dressed not in evening clothes but in casual sweaters or shirts. The programme attracted unprecedented viewing figures for classical music; an historian of
1078-481: A child, Culshaw was self-taught musically, and had no ambitions to be a performer. The critic and biographer Richard Osborne wrote of him, "Like many people for whom music is an obsession, Culshaw was a lonely and meticulous person, jealously guarding the sense of personal integrity which his precocious interest in music had helped form and deepen." While in the Fleet Air Arm, Culshaw "wrote articles on music by
1232-654: A concert-hall. He later initiated the Benson and Hedges music festival at Snape and was planning the fourth season at the time of his death. Some of his BBC programmes have been preserved on DVD, including films of the Amadeus Quartet playing works by Schubert and Britten. He took time off from the BBC to return to the recording studio, rejoining his old Decca engineering team in 1971 to produce Der Rosenkavalier , conducted by Leonard Bernstein . In 1975, Culshaw left
1386-408: A conventional cash advance to sign the artist, who would receive a royalty for sales after expenses were recouped. With the release of the artist's first album, however, the label has an option to pay an additional $ 200,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the net income from all touring, merchandise, endorsements, and fan-club fees. Atlantic would also have the right to approve the act's tour schedule, and
1540-460: A deal with a proper label. In 2002, ArtistShare was founded as the Internet's first record label where the releases were directly funded by the artist's fans. John Culshaw John Royds Culshaw , OBE (28 May 1924 – 27 April 1980) was a pioneering English classical record producer for Decca Records . He produced a wide range of music, but is best known for masterminding
1694-504: A distribution deal with American Decca until 1962 when distribution switched to MGM Records . Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre is a wholly owned subsidiary specialising in European classical music of the 15th to 19th centuries. American Decca's jazz catalogue is managed by GRP Records , an imprint of Verve Records . The American Decca rock/pop catalogue is managed by Geffen Records . American distribution of British Decca's rock/pop catalogue
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#17327755713411848-432: A financial interest in the new label. In 1934 Guy Lombardo also recorded for Decca. Decca became a major player in the depressed American record market thanks to its roster of popular artists, particularly Bing Crosby , the shrewd management of former US Brunswick general manager Jack Kapp , and the decision to price Decca at 35 cents. The US label also brought back the discontinued Champion label (from Gennett), as well as
2002-577: A full roster of stars, including Cecilia Bartoli and Renée Fleming . Its back catalogue includes several landmarks and critically acclaimed recordings, such as the Solti Ring , voted the greatest recording of all time by critics with the BBC Music Magazine , and Luciano Pavarotti remained an exclusive Decca artist throughout his recording career. In 2017, Universal Music revived Decca's American classical music arm as Decca Gold under
2156-407: A greatly enhanced frequency range (high and low notes) to be captured on recordings. Critics regularly commented on the startling realism of the new Decca recordings. The frequency range of ffrr was 80–15000 Hz, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 60 dB. While Decca's early ffrr releases on 78-rpm discs had some noticeable surface noise , which diminished the effects of the high fidelity sound,
2310-409: A guide to modern music ( A Century of Music in 1952). By 1947 Culshaw had been given the chance to produce classical sessions for Decca's rapidly expanding catalogue. At Decca, the musicians whom he recorded included Ida Haendel , Eileen Joyce , Kathleen Ferrier and Clifford Curzon . In 1948 he first worked with Georg Solti , a pianist and aspiring conductor. In 1950, after the introduction of
2464-621: A joint venture and merged their recorded music division to create the Sony BMG label (which would be renamed Sony Music Entertainment after a 2008 merger); BMG kept its music publishing division separate from Sony BMG and later sold BMG Music Publishing to UMG. In 2007, the remaining record labels—then known as the Big Four—controlled about 70% of the world music market , and about 80% of the United States music market. In 2012,
2618-476: A label want to work together, whether an artist has contacted a label directly, usually by sending their team a demo, or the Artists & Repertoire team of the label has scouted the artist and reached out directly, they will usually enter in to a contractual relationship. A label typically enters into an exclusive recording contract with an artist to market the artist's recordings in return for royalties on
2772-462: A large international media group , or somewhere in between. The Association of Independent Music (AIM) defines a 'major' as "a multinational company which (together with the companies in its group) has more than 5% of the world market(s) for the sale of records or music videos." As of 2012 , there are only three labels that can be referred to as "major labels": Universal Music Group , Sony Music , and Warner Music Group . In 2014, AIM estimated that
2926-669: A look at the Stones, who he had just seen live for the first time a couple of weeks earlier. Rowe saw the Stones and quickly signed them to a contract. Decca also released the first recording of Rod Stewart in 1964, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"/"I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town". Decca also signed up many rock artists ( The Moody Blues , The Zombies , The Applejacks , Dave Berry , Lulu , Alan Price ), The Marmalade , with varying degrees of success. Staff producer Hugh Mendl (1919–2008) worked for Decca for over 40 years and played
3080-529: A major hit label on the US R&;B and pop charts as Bill Haley's popularity started to fade, in the late 1950s. Decca's strong country catalogue did very well throughout this period and they had several crossover-to-pop hits, as well as the blockbuster success of Brenda Lee , but many R&B and rock music artists passed through Decca with little success ( The Flamingos , Billy Ward and his Dominoes , Bobby Darin , The Shirelles , etc.) American Decca embraced
3234-404: A modified IVC model 826P open-reel 1-inch VTR , connected to a custom codec unit with time code capability (using a proprietary time code developed by Decca), as well as outboard DAC and ADC units connected to the codec unit. The codec recorded audio to tape in 18-bit linear PCM at 48 kHz, with a maximum of eight channels. Later versions of the system used 20-bit recording. Except for
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#17327755713413388-419: A new generation of high-resolution and multi-channel recordings, including Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio (DVD-A) formats. Decca is now routinely mastering new recordings in these formats. Decca Special Products developed products for the audio marketplace and a line of home audio equipment. American Decca bought Universal-International in 1952, and eventually merged with MCA Inc. in 1962, becoming
3542-533: A non-reciprocal right to license and issue American Decca recordings in the UK on their Brunswick (US Decca recordings) and Coral (US Brunswick and Coral recordings) labels; this arrangement continued until 1967 when a UK branch of MCA was established utilizing the MCA Records label, with distribution fluctuating between British Decca and other English companies over time. In Canada, the Compo Company
3696-445: A position of great influence in the classical music world. The Gramophone obituarist wrote of him in 1980: "To meet John Culshaw for the first time, quiet, charming, sharp-eyed but with no signs of aggressiveness about him, was to marvel that here was one of the two great dictators of recording art. If Walter Legge in a flash had one registering extrovert forcefulness in the very picture of a dictator, John Culshaw's comparable dominance
3850-423: A properly-made sound recording should create what he called "a theatre of the mind". He disliked live recordings such as those attempted at Bayreuth; to him they were technically flawed and, crucially, were merely sound recordings of a theatrical performance. He sought to make recordings that compensated for the lack of the visual element by subtle production techniques, impossible in live recordings, that conjured up
4004-605: A return by recording for a much smaller production cost of a typical big label release. Sometimes they are able to recoup their initial advance even with much lower sales numbers. On occasion, established artists, once their record contract has finished, move to an independent label. This often gives the combined advantage of name recognition and more control over one's music along with a larger portion of royalty profits. Artists such as Dolly Parton , Aimee Mann , Prince , Public Enemy , among others, have done this. Historically, companies started in this manner have been re-absorbed into
4158-568: A reversal of the usual situation, in which American Decca had released original Broadway cast albums of three Rodgers and Hammerstein shows, this was the only film soundtrack album of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show ever released by Decca, while the Broadway cast album had been released by Columbia Masterworks. The American RCA label severed its longtime affiliation with EMI 's His Master's Voice (HMV) label in 1957, which allowed British Decca to market and distribute Elvis Presley 's recordings in
4312-464: A series of innovations to bring classical music to the television viewer. He later undertook several academic posts. He remains best remembered for his Decca records; along with Fred Gaisberg and Walter Legge , he was one of the most influential producers of classical recordings. The Times said of him that "he stood in that great tradition of propagandists from Henry Wood to Leonard Bernstein , who seek to bring their love and knowledge of music to
4466-482: A series of recordings with Paddy Roberts (best known for "The Ballad of Bethnal Green"), numerous "original cast" and soundtrack albums including Oh! What a Lovely War and even an LP record of the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour race, inspired by his lifelong passion for motor racing. Mendl was a driving force in the establishment of Decca's progressive Deram label, most notably as the executive producer of The Moody Blues ' groundbreaking 1967 LP Days of Future Passed . He
4620-456: A short-lived version of the Broadway label. The following year, the pressing and Canadian distribution of US Decca records was licensed to Compo Company Ltd. in Lachine, Quebec , a breakaway and rival of Berliner Gram-o-phone Co. of Montreal , Quebec. (Compo was acquired by Decca in 1951 although its Apex label continued in production for the next two decades.) By 1939, Decca and EMI were
4774-496: A significant role in its success in the popular field from the 1950s to the late 1970s. His first major production credit was pianist Winifred Atwell . He produced Rock Island Line , the breakthrough skiffle hit for Lonnie Donegan , and he is credited as the first executive to spot the potential of singer-actor Tommy Steele . Mendl's other productions included the first album by humorist Ivor Cutler , Who Tore Your Trousers? (1961), Frankie Howerd at The Establishment (1963),
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4928-609: A subsidiary company under MCA. Dissatisfied with American Decca's promotion of British Decca recordings and because American Decca held the rights to the name Decca in the US and Canada, British Decca sold its records in the United States and Canada under the label London Records beginning in 1947. In Britain, London Records became a mighty catch-all licensing label for foreign recordings from the nascent post-WW II American independent and semi-major labels such as Cadence, Dot, Chess, Atlantic, Imperial and Liberty. Conversely, British Decca retained
5082-485: A twenty-minute version of Moby Dick , with Charles Laughton as Captain Ahab, and The Littlest Angel , narrated by Loretta Young . British Decca released on LP, in 1968, the most complete version of Man of La Mancha ever put on vinyl records, a 2-LP album featuring most of the dialogue and all of the songs, performed by the show's original London cast. Keith Michell starred as Don Quixote and Cervantes, and Joan Diener
5236-523: Is branching out into pop music from established recording stars: in 2007 its Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA by Boyz II Men reached No. 27 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. In 2007 they won the race to sign English teen jazz sensation Victoria Hart and released her first album Whatever Happened to Romance in July. In December 2007, it was announced that Morrissey would be joining
5390-923: Is credited with battling against Decca's notorious parsimonious treatment of their artists, ensuring that the Moody Blues had the time and resources to develop beyond their beat group origins into progressive rock, and he also used profits for pop sales to cross-subsidise recordings by avant-garde jazz artists like John Surman . British Decca lost a key source for American records when Atlantic Records switched British distribution to Polydor Records in 1966 for Atlantic to gain access to British recording artists which they did not have under Decca distribution. The Rolling Stones left Decca in 1970, and other artists followed. Decca's deals with numerous other record labels began to fall apart: RCA Records , for instance, abandoned Decca to set up its own UK office in June 1969, just before
5544-417: Is handled by Island Records . The Decca Broadway imprint is used for both newly recorded musical theatre songs and Universal Music Group's vast catalogues of musical theatre recordings from record labels UMG and predecessor companies acquired over the years. On 10 January 2011, Universal Music Group, which owns the masters to Decca Records, announced that it was donating 200,000 of its master recordings from
5698-454: Is often marketed as a "unit" or "division" of the parent label, though in most cases, they operate as pseudonym for it and do not exist as a distinct business operation or separate business structure (although trademarks are sometimes registered). A record label may give a musical act an imprint as part of their branding, while other imprints serve to house other activities, such as side ventures of that label. Music collectors often use
5852-684: Is owned by Sony Group Corporation ). Record labels and music publishers that are not under the control of the big three are generally considered to be independent ( indie ), even if they are large corporations with complex structures. The term indie label is sometimes used to refer to only those independent labels that adhere to independent criteria of corporate structure and size, and some consider an indie label to be almost any label that releases non-mainstream music, regardless of its corporate structure. Independent labels are often considered more artist-friendly. Though they may have less sales power, indie labels typically offer larger artist royalty with
6006-475: The Boyd Neel ensemble (Purcell Club, 14 sides, issued February 1936); and Henderson's famous pupil Kathleen Ferrier was recorded and issued by Decca through the period of transition from 78 to LP (1946–1952). Heinrich Schlusnus made pre-war lieder recordings for Decca. Decca's emergence as a major classical label may be attributed to three concurrent events: the emphasis on technical innovation (initially
6160-518: The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam." In early 1955, Lewis warned Culshaw that he had heard rumours that Capitol was on the point of severing its ties with Decca. Within days it was announced that Capitol had been taken over by EMI. Capitol sessions already booked were completed, including two records of Jacques Ibert conducting his own works, but EMI made it clear that it would put an end to Capitol's classical activity, which
6314-577: The Decca recording company in November 1946, writing musical analyses and biographies of recording artists for Decca's classical albums. His first book, a short biography of Rachmaninov, was published in 1949 and was well received. The critic of The Times praised it for its discriminating judgment, conciseness and discretion. It was followed by two further books; a popular introduction to concertos ( The Concerto in "The World of Music" series in 1949), and
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6468-584: The New York Stock Exchange as Decca Records Inc. Therefore, the two Deccas became separate companies and remained so until American Decca's parent company bought British Decca's parent company in 1998 (during this time, US Decca artists were issued in the UK on the Brunswick label until 1968 when MCA Records was launched in the UK). In 1940, American Decca released the first album of songs from
6622-620: The University of Melbourne . He also took on the responsibility for the annual United Nations concert in New York, and acted as a music consultant to the Australian Broadcasting Commission . He frequently served as a commentator for broadcasts of Metropolitan Opera performances, and his 1976 book, Reflections on Wagner's "Ring" , was based on the series of interval talks he gave during the broadcasts of
6776-636: The first studio recording of Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen , begun in 1958. Largely self-educated musically, Culshaw worked for Decca from the age of 22, first writing album liner notes and then becoming a producer. After a brief period working for Capitol Records , Culshaw returned to Decca in 1955 and began planning to record the Ring cycle, employing the new stereophonic technique to produce recordings of unprecedented realism and impact. He disliked live recordings from opera houses, and sought to put on disc specially made studio recordings that would bring
6930-463: The free software and open source movements and the success of Linux . In the mid-2000s, some music publishing companies began undertaking the work traditionally done by labels. The publisher Sony/ATV Music, for example, leveraged its connections within the Sony family to produce, record, distribute, and promote Elliott Yamin 's debut album under a dormant Sony-owned imprint , rather than waiting for
7084-735: The long-playing record (LP), he produced the first LP versions of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company . In 1951, Culshaw and one of Decca's senior engineers, Kenneth Wilkinson , were sent to the Bayreuth Festival to record Wagner's Parsifal . For Culshaw, Wagner was an abiding passion, and he persuaded Decca and the Bayreuth management to let him record that year's Ring cycle in addition to Parsifal . The Ring recording could not be released, probably for contractual reasons. The Parsifal recording, on
7238-510: The "parent" of any sublabels. Vanity labels are labels that bear an imprint that gives the impression of an artist's ownership or control, but in fact represent a standard artist/label relationship. In such an arrangement, the artist will control nothing more than the usage of the name on the label, but may enjoy a greater say in the packaging of their work. An example of such a label is the Neutron label owned by ABC while at Phonogram Inc. in
7392-594: The 1920s to the 1940s to the United States Library of Congress. The collection of master recordings will be cleaned and digitised. Included in this group are Bing Crosby's original recording of 'White Christmas' and thousands more by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, the Andrews Sisters, and other famous and lesser-known musicians who recorded during this time. Because of this transaction, once
7546-482: The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz . However, it was not a soundtrack album but a cover version featuring only Judy Garland from the film, with other roles taken by the Ken Darby Singers. In 1942, American Decca released the first recording of " White Christmas " by Bing Crosby . He recorded another version of the song in 1947 for Decca; to this day, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" for Decca remains
7700-648: The 1960s and 1970s, the company developed its "Phase 4" process which produced even greater sonic impact through even more interventionist engineering techniques. Big-band leader Ted Heath was an early pioneer of the Decca "Phase 4" sound. Decca recorded some quadrophonic masters that were released in Sansui 's quadraphonic system called QS Regular Matrix. Starting in late 1978, British Decca developed its own digital audio recorders used in-house for recording, mixing, editing, and mastering albums. Each recorder consisted of
7854-471: The BBC and worked freelance as a record and stage producer, writer and broadcaster. He was invited to serve on the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1975 and was chairman of its music panel from 1975 to 1977. In 1977 he became a senior fellow in the creative arts at the University of Western Australia , and was visiting professor at the University of Houston , the University of Southern California and
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#17327755713418008-622: The Decca label, Linfair Records also distributes V2 Records' releases and some independent labels. However, Linfair Records' releases outside Taiwan will continue to be released internationally via Universal Music. The Decca label is currently in use by Universal Music Group worldwide; this is possible because Universal Studios (which officially dropped the MCA name after the Seagram buyout in 1996) acquired PolyGram, British Decca's parent company in 1998, thus consolidating Decca trademark ownership. In
8162-618: The Decca roster. In August 2009, it was revealed that American Idol alum, Clay Aiken , had signed with Decca. It reentered the American country music scene in 2008. There are two Universal Music label groups now using the Decca name. The Decca Label Group is the US label whereas the London-based Decca Music Group runs the international classical and pop releases by such world-famous performers as Andrea Bocelli and Hayley Westenra . The London Records pop label that
8316-694: The Grimethorpe Colliery Band , as well as the composers themselves. For many years, Decca's British classical recordings had been issued in the US under the London Records label because the existence of the American Decca company precluded the use of that name on British recordings distributed in the US. The practice was no longer necessary when the MCA and PolyGram labels merged in 1999 and created Universal Music. Today Decca makes fewer major classical recordings but still has
8470-557: The IVC VTRs (which were modified to Decca's specifications by IVC's UK division in Reading ), all the electronics for these systems were developed and manufactured in-house by Decca (and by contractors to them as well). These digital systems were used for mastering most of Decca's classical music releases to both LP and CD and were used well into the late 1990s. After the start of the new century, Decca became actively involved in pioneering
8624-633: The Kinks , the Who , and Manfred Mann . Decca had earlier accepted London-born pioneer rock'n'roll singer Terry Dene , who was later known as the British Elvis Presley, and another Merseyside singer, Billy Fury . The turning down of The Beatles led indirectly to the signing of one of Decca's biggest 1960s artists, The Rolling Stones . Dick Rowe was judging a talent contest with George Harrison , and Harrison mentioned to him that he should take
8778-651: The Library has organised and cleaned the collection, the public will eventually have some degree of access to thousands of recordings that have been commercially unavailable for decades. According to the Los Angeles Times , "[a]s part of the agreement between UMG and the library, Universal retains ownership of the recording copyrights and the right to exploit the cleaned-up and digitized files for commercial purposes." Today, Decca distributes UMG's jazz holdings led by Blue Note Records and Verve Records along with
8932-718: The Met's Ring cycle in 1975. Culshaw died in London in 1980, at the age of 55, from a rare form of hepatitis . He was unmarried. His unfinished autobiography, Putting the Record Straight , was published after his death. Among the honours given to Culshaw, The Times listed "eight Grands Prix des Disques, numerous Grammys and in 1966 an OBE ", and the Vienna Philharmonic's Nicolai Medal in 1959 and its Schalk Medal in 1967. A lesser-known part of Culshaw's work
9086-581: The Moon ", while he was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Edward Lewis recruited him as his personal assistant and "talent spotter". But contemporary punk rock signings such as Slaughter & the Dogs and the pre-stardom Adam and the Ants (whose sole single with Decca, " Young Parisians ", would later be a UK Top 10 hit on the back of the band's success at CBS ), were second division when compared to
9240-472: The Oscar-winning film, they quickly released a stereo version in 1958. Because American Decca bought Universal Pictures in 1952, many of these soundtrack albums were of films released by what was then called Universal-International Pictures. In June and July 1957, Decca Records released the soundtracks from Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions ' film Sweet Smell of Success . It was a landmark event in
9394-461: The Pioneers , Stuart Hamblen , The Ranch Boys, and other popular acts based in both New York and Los Angeles. Louisiana singer/composer Jimmie Davis began recording for Decca the same year, joined by western vocalists Jimmy Wakely and Roy Rogers in 1940. From the late 1940s on, the US arm of Decca had a sizeable roster of country artists. The main architect of Decca's success in country music
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#17327755713419548-512: The Rolling Stones decided to also abandon Decca in favour of forming their label. The Moody Blues were the only international rock act that remained on the label. The company's fortunes declined slightly during the 1970s, and it had few major commercial successes; among those were Dana's 1970 two-million selling single, " All Kinds of Everything ", issued on their subsidiary label Rex Records . Although Decca had set up Deram in 1966,
9702-456: The UK. At one point artist Lizzie Tear (under contract with ABC themselves) appeared on the imprint, but it was devoted almost entirely to ABC's offerings and is still used for their re-releases (though Phonogram owns the masters of all the work issued on the label). However, not all labels dedicated to particular artists are completely superficial in origin. Many artists, early in their careers, create their own labels which are later bought out by
9856-514: The UK. on the RCA label (later RCA Victor). British Decca had several missed opportunities. In 1960, they refused to release " Tell Laura I Love Her " by licensed artist Ray Peterson and even destroyed thousands of copies of the single. In 1962, Decca famously turned down a chance to record The Beatles , believing "guitar groups are on the way out." Other refusals of note include the Yardbirds ,
10010-598: The US Decca label became MCA Records , which formed half of what is now Universal Music Group (UMG). The UK and US divisions of the former Decca label were combined under UMG in 1998 and the MCA brand was retired in 2003 (with the exception of the American MCA Nashville country music imprint). The name dates back to a portable gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca"
10164-538: The US, the Decca country music label was shut down and the London classical label was renamed as it was able to use the Decca name for the first time because of the merger that created Universal Music. In 1999, Decca absorbed Philips Records to create the Decca Music Group (half of Universal Music Classics Group in the US, with Deutsche Grammophon being the other half). Today, Decca is a leading label for both classical music and Broadway scores although it
10318-546: The United States would typically bear a 4th & B'way logo and would state in the fine print, "4th & B'way™, an Island Records, Inc. company". Collectors discussing labels as brands would say that 4th & B'way is a sublabel or imprint of just "Island" or "Island Records". Similarly, collectors who choose to treat corporations and trademarks as equivalent might say 4th & B'way is an imprint and/or sublabel of both Island Records, Ltd. and that company's sublabel, Island Records, Inc. However, such definitions are complicated by
10472-498: The action in the listener's head. Culshaw took unprecedented pains to meet Wagner's musical requirements. Where in Das Rheingold the score calls for eighteen anvils to be hammered during two brief orchestral interludes – an instruction never followed in opera houses – Culshaw arranged for eighteen anvils to be hired and hammered. Similarly, where Wagner called for steerhorns , Culshaw arranged for them to be used instead of
10626-407: The album will sell better if the artist complies with the label's desired requests or changes. At times, the record label's decisions are prudent ones from a commercial perspective, but these decisions may frustrate artists who feel that their art is being diminished or misrepresented by such actions. In other instances, record labels have shelved artists' albums with no intention of any promotion for
10780-411: The artist from their contract, leaving the artist in a state of limbo. Artists who have had disputes with their labels over ownership and control of their music have included Taylor Swift , Tinashe , Megan Thee Stallion , Kelly Clarkson , Thirty Seconds to Mars , Clipse , Ciara , JoJo , Michelle Branch , Kesha , Kanye West , Lupe Fiasco , Paul McCartney , and Johnny Cash . In
10934-415: The artist in question. Reasons for shelving can include the label deciding to focus its resources on other artists on its roster, or the label undergoing a restructure where the person that signed the artist and supports the artist's vision is no longer present to advocate for the artist. In extreme cases, record labels can prevent the release of an artist's music for years, while also declining to release
11088-425: The artist is established and has a loyal fan base. For that reason, labels now have to be more relaxed with the development of artists because longevity is the key to these types of pact. Several artists such as Paramore , Maino , and even Madonna have signed such types of deals. A look at an actual 360 deal offered by Atlantic Records to an artist shows a variation of the structure. Atlantic's document offers
11242-484: The artists may be downloaded free of charge or for a fee that is paid via PayPal or other online payment system. Some of these labels also offer hard copy CDs in addition to direct download. Digital Labels are the latest version of a 'net' label. Whereas 'net' labels were started as a free site, digital labels represent more competition for the major record labels. The new century brought the phenomenon of open-source or open-content record labels. These are inspired by
11396-418: The basic reason that it did not seem that we were trying to make records or video tapes; we were just trying to make music." Culshaw thought of all his recordings, that of Britten's War Requiem was the finest. Greenfield says of it, "another recording which confounded the record world not just by its technical brilliance but by the way it sold in huge quantities." The recording was made in London in 1963,
11550-433: The best-selling single worldwide of all time. In 1943, American Decca ushered in the age of the original cast album in the United States, when they released an album set of nearly all the songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein 's Oklahoma! , performed by the same cast who appeared in the show on Broadway , and using the show's orchestra, conductor, chorus, and musical and vocal arrangements. The enormous success of this album
11704-443: The catalogues five decades later. The opera sets include Tosca , Carmen , Aida , Die Fledermaus and Otello ; among the orchestral sets were Holst 's The Planets and several Richard Strauss works including the then rarely heard Also sprach Zarathustra . In the late 1950s Decca entered into a commercial partnership with RCA , by which Decca teams recorded classical works in European venues on RCA's behalf. Among
11858-650: The circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information. Within the mainstream music industry , recording artists have traditionally been reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and promote their singles on streaming services, radio, and television. Record labels also provide publicists , who assist performers in gaining positive media coverage, and arrange for their merchandise to be available via stores and other media outlets. Record labels may be small, localized and " independent " ("indie"), or they may be part of
12012-479: The classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon and Parlophone . American Decca began issuing its classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations. To further American Decca's dedication to serious music, in August 1950, Rackmill announced the release of a new series of disks to be known as the "Decca Gold Label Series" which
12166-482: The classical music holdings led by Decca Classics, Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon . It also distributes recordings from the Concord Music Group , which includes Rounder Records . Record label [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos , or
12320-471: The company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture , distribution , marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos, while also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists , artist financing and maintaining contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from
12474-403: The company. Some independent labels become successful enough that major record companies negotiate contracts to either distribute music for the label or in some cases, purchase the label completely, to the point where it functions as an imprint or sublabel. A label used as a trademark or brand and not a company is called an imprint , a term used for a similar concept in publishing . An imprint
12628-424: The conductor had led at its first performance in 1919. John Culshaw , who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior role, quickly rose to become a senior producer of classical recordings. He revolutionised recording – of opera , in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers and simply record their performance. Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be 'a theatre of
12782-400: The corporate mergers that occurred in 1989 (when Island was sold to PolyGram) and 1998 (when PolyGram merged with Universal). PolyGram held sublabels including Mercury, Island and Motown. Island remained registered as corporations in both the United States and UK , but control of its brands changed hands multiple times as new companies were formed, diminishing the corporation's distinction as
12936-522: The development of the full frequency range recording [ffrr] technique, followed by the early adoption of stereo recording), the introduction of the long-playing record , and the recruitment of John Culshaw to Decca's London office. Decca released the stereo recordings of Ernest Ansermet conducting L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, including, in 1959, the first complete stereo LP recording of The Nutcracker , as well as Ansermet's only stereo version of Manuel de Falla 's The Three-Cornered Hat , which
13090-512: The dozen and – quite rightly – they came back by the dozen." After many rejections, his first substantial article to be accepted for publication was a piece on Sergei Rachmaninoff , for The Gramophone , published in March 1945. This led to invitations to broadcast musical talks for the BBC and to contribute articles to classical music magazines. After demobilisation from the forces, Culshaw joined
13244-416: The early days of the recording industry, recording labels were absolutely necessary for the success of any artist. The first goal of any new artist or band was to get signed to a contract as soon as possible. In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, many artists were so desperate to sign a contract with a record company that they sometimes ended up signing agreements in which they sold the rights to their recordings to
13398-512: The end of their contract with EMI when their album In Rainbows was released as a " pay what you want " sales model as an online download, but they also returned to a label for a conventional release. Research shows that record labels still control most access to distribution. Computers and internet technology led to an increase in file sharing and direct-to-fan digital distribution, causing music sales to plummet in recent years. Labels and organizations have had to change their strategies and
13552-490: The expense involved in taking his major works to the studio did not seem to be justified by the sales potential. But after the Lohengrin experience I found myself fervently hoping that I would never return to Bayreuth, at least in a recording capacity. From 1953 to 1955 Culshaw headed the European programme for Capitol Records . As Capitol at that time had commercial ties with Decca, Culshaw's move did not estrange him from
13706-862: The famous Decca tree , a stereo microphone recording system for big orchestras. Decca started the first actual stereophonic recording on 13–28 May 1954, at Victoria Hall , Geneva, the first European record company to do so; only two months before, RCA Victor had begun the first actual stereophonic recording in the US, 6–8 March 1954. Decca archives show that Ernest Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande recorded Antar by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Decca's official first actual stereo recording); Stenka Razin by Alexander Glazunov ; Tamara by Mily Balakirev ; Anatoly Liadov 's Baba-Yaga , Eight Russian Folksongs , Kikimora ; and Le Martyre de saint Sébastien by Claude Debussy . These performances were initially issued only in monaural sound; and in 1959,
13860-518: The ffrr recordings to be transferred to disc very realistically. In 1949, in both the UK and the US, Decca took up the LP promptly and enthusiastically giving the British arm an enormous advantage over EMI, which for some years tried to stick exclusively to the old format, thereby forfeiting competitive advantage to Decca, both artistically and financially. British Decca recorded high-fidelity versions of all
14014-503: The first of many New Year's Day concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic and Willi Boskovsky . By 1958 Decca, with its pre-eminent technical team ( The Times called them "Decca's incomparable engineers") was in a position to embark on a complete studio recording of Wagner's Ring cycle. Decca decided to begin its cycle with Das Rheingold , the shortest of the four Ring operas. It was recorded in 1958 and released in
14168-569: The first of the British "progressive" labels, with such stars as the Moody Blues, Cat Stevens and Ten Years After , Decca in the 1970s became increasingly dependent on re-releases from its back catalogue. It had some renewed pop success in the late 1970s despite the growth of punk rock , with hits by acts such as John Miles , novelty creation Father Abraham and the Smurfs , and productions by longtime Decca associate Jonathan King . King had achieved an early hit with Decca in 1965, " Everyone's Gone to
14322-622: The go-ahead. Culshaw, who was then responsible for recordings in Vienna, was unavailable to produce that pioneering recording, which was also the first modern opera to be recorded in stereo: instead, he "planned it down to the last detail", and passed his detailed instructions to Erik Smith , who produced the recording. Among the works Culshaw himself recorded with Britten were the operas Albert Herring (1964), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1967), and Billy Budd (1968). Culshaw wrote, "The happiest hours I have spent in any studio were with Ben, for
14476-530: The head of Decca, Edward Lewis , who generally took a dim view when his employees left Decca to join its competitors. Culshaw found his attempts to build up a roster of classical artists for Capitol frustrated by bureaucracy at the company's headquarters in Los Angeles. He was prevented from encouraging the soprano Kirsten Flagstad to emerge from retirement, or from signing the conductor Otto Klemperer . The latter misjudgment, as Culshaw noted in his memoirs,
14630-477: The influence of these releases in the recording of theatrical shows in the US continues to this day – in Decca's home country, the UK original cast albums had been a fixture for years. Columbia Records followed with musical theatre albums, starting with the 1946 revival of Show Boat . In 1947, RCA Victor released the original cast album of Brigadoon . By the 1950s, many recording companies were releasing Broadway show albums recorded by their original casts, and
14784-415: The introduction of long-playing records in 1949 made better use of the new technology and set an industry standard that was quickly imitated by Decca's competitors. Nonetheless, titles first issued on 78rpm remained in that form in the Decca catalogues into the early 1950s. The ffrr technique became internationally accepted and considered a standard. The Ernest Ansermet recording of Stravinsky 's Petrushka
14938-404: The label's roster. However, Culshaw was not the first to do this. In 1951, Columbia Records executive Goddard Lieberson partnered with Broadway conductor Lehman Engel to record a series of previously unrecorded Broadway musical scores for Columbia Masterworks , including what Engel, in his book The American Musical Theatre: A Consideration , termed "Broadway opera," and in 1951, they released
15092-408: The likes of PolyGram , CBS, EMI, and newcomer Virgin's rosters of hitmakers. Ultimately Decca's founder Edward Lewis "was unable to appoint a successor or relinquish control of the business. As a consequence, in 1980, days before his death, the business, then in the grip of a serious financial crisis, was sold." PolyGram acquired the remains of Decca UK within days, and British Decca's pop catalogue
15246-683: The major divisions of EMI were sold off separately by owner Citigroup : most of EMI's recorded music division was absorbed into UMG; EMI Music Publishing was absorbed into Sony/ATV Music Publishing; finally, EMI's Parlophone and Virgin Classics labels were absorbed into Warner Music Group (WMG) in July 2013. This left the so-called Big Three labels. In 2020 and 2021, both WMG and UMG had their IPO with WMG starting trading at Nasdaq and UMG starting trading at Euronext Amsterdam and leaving only Sony Music as wholly-owned subsidiary of an international conglomerate ( Sony Entertainment which in turn
15400-433: The major labels (two examples are American singer Frank Sinatra 's Reprise Records , which has been owned by Warner Music Group for some time now, and musician Herb Alpert 's A&M Records , now owned by Universal Music Group). Similarly, Madonna 's Maverick Records (started by Madonna with her manager and another partner) was to come under control of Warner Music when Madonna divested herself of controlling shares in
15554-537: The majors had a collective global market share of some 65–70%. Record labels are often under the control of a corporate umbrella organization called a "music group ". A music group is usually affiliated to an international conglomerate " holding company ", which often has non-music divisions as well. A music group controls and consists of music-publishing companies, record (sound recording) manufacturers, record distributors, and record labels. Record companies (manufacturers, distributors, and labels) may also constitute
15708-653: The management of Verve Music Group . In Britain, Decca bought out the bankrupt UK branch of Brunswick Records in 1932, which added such stars as Bing Crosby and Al Jolson to its roster. Decca also bought out the Melotone and Edison Bell record companies. In late 1934, a United States branch of Decca was launched. In establishing the American unit, the founders bought the former Brunswick Records pressing plants in New York City and Muskegon, Michigan , which were shut down in 1931, from Warner Bros. in exchange for
15862-406: The mind,' offering listeners at home not merely a second-best alternative to being in the opera house , but an entirely distinct experience. To that end, he had the singers move about in the studio as they would onstage, used discreet sound effects and different acoustics, and recorded in long, continuous takes. His skill, coupled with Decca's sound engineering capabilities, elevated the label into
16016-467: The most complete Porgy and Bess recorded up to that time. Far from being a mere rendering of the score, the 3-LP album set used sound effects to realistically recreate the production as if the listener were watching a stage performance of the work. Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings. Afterward, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered
16170-482: The music through Decca Records. The first soundtrack LP featured the jazz score composed by Elmer Bernstein , while the second soundtrack LP featured music composed and performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet , a band that appears in the film. In 1961, American Decca released the soundtrack album of Flower Drum Song , Universal Pictures' film version of the 1958 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. In
16324-526: The new post-war record formats adopting the LP in 1949 and the 45 rpm record around a year later while continuing to sell 78s. During the 1950s, American Decca released several soundtrack recordings of popular motion pictures, notably Mike Todd 's production of Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) with the music of veteran film composer Victor Young . Since Decca had access to the stereo tracks of
16478-420: The new technique was a distinctive feature of Decca. Even after stereo became standard and into the 1970s, Decca boasted a special sound quality, characterized by aggressive use of the highest and lowest frequencies, novel use of tape saturation and out-of-phase sound to convey a livelier hall ambiance, plus considerable bar-to-bar rebalancing by the recording staff of orchestral voices, known as "spotlighting". In
16632-441: The only record companies in the UK. That same year, British Decca head Edward Lewis completed a three-year sale of his interest in American Decca to avoid a potential freeze on his foreign investments due to the threat of World War II . In 1941, American Decca acquired Brunswick Records and its sublabel Vocalion Records from Warner Bros. , which had a financial interest in Decca. In 1942, stock in American Decca began trading on
16786-458: The operas fully to life in the listener's mind. In addition to his Wagner recordings, he supervised a series of recordings of the works of Benjamin Britten , with the composer as conductor or pianist, and recordings of operas by Verdi , Richard Strauss and others. Culshaw left Decca in 1967 and was appointed head of music programmes for BBC Television , where he remained until 1975, employing
16940-580: The orchestra wrote, "More British people heard the LSO play in Music Night in one week than in sixty-five years of LSO concerts." Culshaw also screened more formal concerts, including Klemperer's 1970 Beethoven symphony cycle from the Royal Festival Hall . In 1973 he organised for BBC television to broadcast a complete performance of Wagner's Siegfried conducted by Reginald Goodall , but
17094-415: The other hand, was released to great acclaim in 1952. The Decca team returned to Bayreuth to record the 1953 performances of Lohengrin . The resultant recording was well reviewed, but Culshaw wrote of it: … the cast was only of moderate ability, and we had access to far too few performances to make up anything really worth while. It was still felt that this was the only economic way to record Wagner, for
17248-507: The output of recording sessions. For established artists, a label is usually less involved in the recording process. The relationship between record labels and artists can be a difficult one. Many artists have had conflicts with their labels over the type of sound or songs they want to make, which can result in the artist's artwork or titles being changed before release. Other artists have had their music prevented from release, or shelved. Record labels generally do this because they believe that
17402-484: The poll. Culshaw produced a series of Decca recordings of Britten 's music with the composer as conductor or pianist. The Times described them as "a priceless heritage for posterity." Culshaw persuaded Decca to make the first complete recording of Peter Grimes , arguing that unless they did so they should abandon their exclusive agreement with the composer and so "give him a chance to try his luck with other companies". Decca, unwilling to lose out to competition, gave
17556-822: The project never happened. In 1974 Verdi's Un ballo in maschera was broadcast from Covent Garden . Culshaw also set up BBC studio productions of The Marriage of Figaro , The Yeomen of the Guard , The Flying Dutchman and La traviata . Culshaw commissioned Britten's opera Owen Wingrave , written expressly for television. He also persuaded Britten to conduct television productions of Peter Grimes and Mozart's Idomeneo , and to accompany Pears in Schubert's Winterreise . Britten and Pears invited him to Snape , not far from their base at Aldeburgh in Suffolk and he encouraged them to transform Snape Maltings into
17710-548: The record label in perpetuity. Entertainment lawyers are usually employed by artists to discuss contract terms. Due to advancing technology such as the Internet , the role of labels is rapidly changing, as artists are able to freely distribute their own material through online radio , peer-to-peer file sharing such as BitTorrent , and other services, at little to no cost, but with correspondingly low financial returns. Established artists, such as Nine Inch Nails , whose career
17864-495: The recording of original cast albums had become standard practice whenever a new show opened. Decca throughout the 1930s and early to mid-1940s was a leading label of blues and jump music with such best-selling artists as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Louis Jordan (who was the best-selling R&B artist of the 1940s). In 1954, American Decca released " Rock Around the Clock " by Bill Haley & His Comets . Produced by Milt Gabler ,
18018-555: The recording was initially only moderately successful, but when it was used as the theme song for the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle , it became the first international rock and roll hit, and the first such recording to go to No. 1 on the American musical charts. According to the Guinness Book of Records , it went on to sell 25 million copies, returning to the US and UK charts several times between 1955 and 1974. But due to management and promotion decisions, Decca lost its place as
18172-525: The recordings supervised by Culshaw for RCA were Sir Thomas Beecham 's lavishly re-orchestrated version of Handel 's Messiah . Other artists with whom he worked for Decca and RCA included pianists such as Wilhelm Backhaus , Arthur Rubinstein and Julius Katchen ; conductors including Karl Böhm , Sir Adrian Boult , Pierre Monteux , Fritz Reiner , and George Szell ; and singers such as Carlo Bergonzi , Jussi Björling , Lisa Della Casa , Leontyne Price , and Renata Tebaldi . By 1967 Culshaw wished for
18326-418: The salaries of certain tour and merchandise sales employees hired by the artist. In addition, the label also offers the artist a 30 percent cut of the label's album profits—if any—which represents an improvement from the typical industry royalty of 15 percent. With the Internet now being the dominant source for obtaining music, netlabels have emerged. Depending on the ideals of the net label, music files from
18480-419: The selling price of the recordings. Contracts may extend over short or long durations, and may or may not refer to specific recordings. Established, successful artists tend to be able to renegotiate their contracts to get terms more favorable to them, but Prince 's much-publicized 1994–1996 feud with Warner Bros. Records provides a strong counterexample, as does Roger McGuinn 's claim, made in July 2000 before
18634-774: The set outsold popular music releases such as those of Elvis Presley and Pat Boone . The cast included Flagstad in one of her last recorded performances, in the role of Fricka, which she had never sung on stage. Culshaw hoped to record her as Fricka in Die Walküre and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung , but her health did not permit it. His cast for the remaining three Ring operas included Birgit Nilsson , Hans Hotter , Gottlob Frick , Wolfgang Windgassen , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Régine Crespin , with even minor roles sung by such stars as Joan Sutherland . In these productions Culshaw put into practice his belief that
18788-411: The soundtrack industry; the first time that a film had two separate soundtracks, each featuring completely different music. All of the music from Sweet Smell of Success was published by Calyork Music , a music publishing company founded by the film's producers Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster , along with Hecht's brother-in-law, established music publisher Loring Buzzell , who secured the releasing of
18942-421: The spring of 1959. Culshaw engaged Solti, the Vienna Philharmonic and a cast of established Wagner singers. The performance won enthusiastic praise from reviewers, and the engineers were generally acknowledged to have surpassed themselves. The Gramophone described the recording quality as "stupendous" and called the set "wonderful … surpass[ing] anything done before." To the astonishment and envy of Decca's rivals
19096-747: The staff of the Midland Bank as a clerk, working at a branch in Liverpool . He had little aptitude or liking for banking, failing to pass the company's examination in banking theory, and in 1941 he volunteered to join the Fleet Air Arm as soon as he reached the minimum recruitment age in May 1942. He trained as a navigator, was commissioned as an officer, and promoted to lieutenant as a radar instructor. What spare time he had, he devoted to his passionate interest in music. Apart from piano lessons as
19250-516: The stereo version of Le Martyre de saint Sébastien was issued only in the US as London OSA 1104 (OS 25108); and stereo versions of others were finally issued from the late 1960s to the beginning of the 1970s as part of the "Ace of Diamonds" series and ""Decca Eclipse"" series (in the UK) or "Stereo Treasury" series (in the US on the London label). The Decca stereo format was called (in succession to ffrr) "ffss", i.e. "full frequency stereophonic sound". With most competitors not using stereo until 1957,
19404-528: The symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams except for the ninth, under the personal supervision of the composer, with Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra . Benjamin Britten conducted recordings of many of his compositions for Decca, from the 1940s to the 1970s; most of these recordings have been reissued on CD. The British Decca recording engineers Arthur Haddy, Roy Wallace, and Kenneth Wilkinson developed in 1954
19558-400: The term sublabel to refer to either an imprint or a subordinate label company (such as those within a group). For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, 4th & B'way Records (pronounced as "Broadway") was a trademarked brand owned by Island Records Ltd. in the UK and by a subordinate branch, Island Records, Inc., in the United States. The center label on a 4th & Broadway record marketed in
19712-586: The theatre. Siegfried's voice made to sound like Gunther's, the voice of Fafner from his cave, not to mention the splendour of anvils and rainbow bridge harps in Rheingold, all transcend what is heard in the opera-house. In 1967, after the Decca Ring was complete, Culshaw wrote a memoir, Ring Resounding , about the making of the recording. In 1999, Gramophone ran a poll of its readers to find "the ten greatest recordings ever made." The Decca Ring topped
19866-651: The top tier of recording companies. His pioneering recording (begun in 1958) of Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success (to the chagrin of other companies). Solti recorded throughout his career for Decca, and made more than 250 recordings , including 45 complete opera sets. Among the international honours given to Solti (and Decca) for his recordings were 31 Grammy Awards – more than any other recording artist, whether classical or popular. Following Decca's success, artists such as Herbert von Karajan , Joan Sutherland and later Luciano Pavarotti were keen to join
20020-464: The trombones habitually substituted at Bayreuth and other opera houses. In The Gramophone , Edward Greenfield wrote: It was thanks to Culshaw's devotion to Wagnerian intentions – ever encouraged by the engineer who was at his right hand through the whole project, Gordon Parry, himself a devoted Wagnerian – that in the Solti Ring cycle one is able to hear the scores in a way literally impossible in
20174-433: The way they work with artists. New types of deals called "multiple rights" or "360" deals are being made with artists, where labels are given rights and percentages to artist's touring, merchandising, and endorsements . In exchange for these rights, labels usually give higher advance payments to artists, have more patience with artist development, and pay higher percentages of CD sales. These 360 deals are most effective when
20328-512: The widest audience." Culshaw was born in Southport , Lancashire, one of at least two children of Percy Ellis Culshaw, a bank inspector, and his first wife, Dorothy née Royds. He was educated first at Merchant Taylors' School , Crosby , which he despised for its snobbery and its sports-obsessed philistinism. His father then sent him to King George V Grammar School , Southport. When he left school in 1940, aged 16, he followed his father into
20482-496: The world, calling itself "The Supreme Record Company". Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name. In the 1950s, the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City. In classical music, Decca had extensive work from its roots to be equals with the established HMV and Columbia labels (later merged as EMI ). The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca
20636-461: The year after the premiere of the Requiem at the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral . For the recording Culshaw managed to assemble the three singers whom Britten had in mind when writing the work, uniting Russian, German and English soloists to represent the former enemy nations – Galina Vishnevskaya , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Peter Pears . One composer Culshaw had nothing to do with
20790-410: Was Mahler . He had a strong aversion to Mahler's music, writing that it made him feel sick: "not metaphorically but physically sick. I find his strainings and heavings, juxtaposed with what always sounds (to me) like faux-naif music of the most calculated type, downright repulsive". Culshaw produced many of the conductor Herbert von Karajan 's best-known operatic and orchestral sets, which remain in
20944-556: Was Owen Bradley , who joined Decca in 1947 and was promoted to vice president and head of A&R for the Nashville operations in 1958. Full frequency range recording (ffrr) was a spin-off devised by Arthur Haddy of British Decca's development, during the Second World War , of a high fidelity hydrophone capable of detecting and cataloguing individual German submarines by each one's signature engine noise, and enabled
21098-471: Was Aldonza/Dulcinea. Around 1970, American Decca enjoyed success with LPS of soundtrack dialogue excerpts from the films of W.C. Fields , the Marx Brothers , and Mae West . The Fields and Marx Brothers albums were narrated by radio personality and cartoon voice actor Gary Owens . In 1934, Jack Kapp established a country & western line for the new Decca label by signing Frank Luther , Sons of
21252-463: Was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. In 1947, following World War II, British Decca re-established distribution in the United States through its new subsidiary London Records . The London trademark name has also been used in other countries such as Canada , Mexico , Germany and Japan . In 1973,
21406-495: Was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word " Mecca " with the initial D of their logo "Dulcet" or their trademark "Dulcephone". Samuel, a linguist, chose "Decca" as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages. That company was eventually renamed the Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. and then sold to former stockbroker Edward Lewis in 1929. Within years, Decca Records was the second-largest record label in
21560-408: Was conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch with Flagstad in the role of Sieglinde; in the other set the "Todesverkundigung" scene from Act 2 and the whole of Act 3 were conducted by Solti with Flagstad as Brünnhilde. In those early years of stereo, Culshaw worked with Pierre Monteux in recordings of Stravinsky and Ravel , and with Solti in a recording of Richard Strauss 's Arabella . He also recorded
21714-455: Was developed with major label backing, announced an end to their major label contracts, citing that the uncooperative nature of the recording industry with these new trends is hurting musicians, fans and the industry as a whole. However, Nine Inch Nails later returned to working with a major label, admitting that they needed the international marketing and promotional reach that a major label can provide. Radiohead also cited similar motives with
21868-483: Was established in the UK in 1990, run by Roger Ames, and distributed by PolyGram became part of Warner Music Group in 2000 when he was hired to run that company. Universal Music reacquired trademark rights in 2011, and Warner Records 90 Ltd. (formerly London Records 90), a company that controlled most of London's post-1980 catalogue, was acquired by French company Because Music in 2017. They started licensing "London Recordings" name and logo from UMG, and Warner Records 90
22022-476: Was followed by original cast recordings of Carousel and Irving Berlin 's Annie Get Your Gun , both featuring members of the original casts of the shows and utilising those shows' vocal and choral arrangements. Because of the technical restrictions of recording on 78 rpm records , none of these scores were recorded completely; they were shorter than cast albums made after LPs were introduced. But Decca had made history by recording Broadway musicals, and
22176-571: Was key in the development of full frequency range records and alerting the listening public to high fidelity in 1946. The long-playing record was launched in the US in 1948 by Columbia Records (not connected with the British company of the same name at the time). It enabled recordings to play for up to half an hour without a break, compared with the three to five minutes playing time of the existing records. The new records were made of vinyl (the old discs were made of brittle shellac ), which enabled
22330-536: Was not extensive but was select. The 3-disc 1929 recording of Delius 's Sea Drift , arising from the Delius Festival that year, suffered by being crammed onto six sides, being indifferently recorded and expensive; following issue in July they were already withdrawn by October the same year. However, it won Decca the loyalty of the baritone Roy Henderson , who went on to record for them the first complete Dido and Aeneas of Purcell with Nancy Evans and
22484-648: Was not repeated by Walter Legge of EMI , who signed Klemperer up with great artistic and commercial success. Capitol further frustrated Culshaw by ignoring the impending introduction of stereophony which the major companies were working on. Among the recordings Culshaw was able to make for Capitol were a Brahms Requiem conducted by Solti in Frankfurt , and what Peter Martland in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls "a series of remarkable recordings of performances by Eduard van Beinum and
22638-403: Was regarded as superfluous. Lewis invited Culshaw to rejoin Decca, which he did in the autumn of 1955. Finding on his return to Decca that other recording producers were capably filling his former role, Culshaw concentrated on the emerging stereophonic recording technology, and stereo opera in particular. A year after his return he was made manager of the company's classical recording division,
22792-485: Was renamed London Music Stream Ltd. It is also the distributing label of POINT Music , a joint venture between Universal and Philip Glass 's Euphorbia Productions that folded shortly after the merger that created Universal Music. Ironically, the American Decca classical music catalogue is managed by sister Universal label Deutsche Grammophon . They include the recordings of guitarist Andrés Segovia . Before Deutsche Grammophon founded its own American branch in 1969, it had
22946-616: Was reorganized into MCA Records (Canada) in 1970. The Decca name was dropped by MCA in America in 1973 in favor of the MCA Records label. The first-run American Decca label's final release, " Drift Away " by Dobie Gray (label No. 33057), reached No. 5 on the Billboard chart and received gold record status. PolyGram acquired the remains of Decca UK within days of Sir Edward Lewis's death in January 1980. British Decca's pop catalogue
23100-420: Was something to appreciate over a longer span. … [H]e transformed the whole concept of recording." Culshaw hoped to record Die Walküre with Flagstad, whom he persuaded out of retirement, as Brünnhilde. Flagstad, however, was over sixty, and would not agree to sing the whole opera. To capture as much of her Wagner as she was willing to record, Culshaw produced separate sets of parts of the opera in 1957. Act 1
23254-453: Was taken over by Polydor Records . Ironically, PolyGram descended from British Decca's former Dutch distributor Hollandsche Decca Distributie. In Taiwan, PolyGram acquired 60% of Linfair Magnetic Sound (founded in 1961) in 1992 and renamed it Decca Records Taiwan. The name remained until 2002, when it decided to sell its 60 percent stake, and changed its name to Linfair Records, making the company independent from Universal Music. In addition to
23408-502: Was taken over by Polydor. American Decca also released several notable spoken word albums, such as a recording of Charles Dickens 's A Christmas Carol starring Ronald Colman as Scrooge, and a recording of the Christmas chapter from The Pickwick Papers read by Charles Laughton . These two separate 78-RPM albums were later combined into one LP. Other spoken word albums included Lullaby of Christmas , narrated by Gregory Peck ,
23562-945: Was to be devoted to "symphonies, concertos, chamber music, opera, songs and choral music." American and European artists were to be the performers. Among the classical recordings released on Decca's "Gold Label" series were albums by Leroy Anderson , the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Max Rudolf and guitarist Andrés Segovia . American Decca shut down its classical music department in 1971. Between 1973 and 1980, Decca championed new music through its Headline imprint. Works given their recorded premiere included pieces by Peter Maxwell Davies , Harrison Birtwistle , Luciano Berio , Hans Werner Henze , Witold Lutoslawski , Toru Takemitsu , David Bedford , Thea Musgrave , Andrzej Panufnik , Iannis Xenakis , Brian Ferneyhough and John Cage . Performers included Roger Woodward , Stomu Yamash'ta , Salman Shukur , and
23716-463: Was writing fiction. He published two novels in the early 1950s; the first, The Sons of Brutus (1950) had been inspired by what he had seen during trips to ruined German cities in the aftermath of the war. It was chosen by The Observer as one of its books of the year in 1950. At the time of its publication he was working on a second novel. He gave it the title A Harder Thing , but was persuaded by his publisher to change it to A Place of Stone. It
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