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Art Shifrin asked:
1. Did Brunswick start their record business from scratch, or buy an
existing concern, & then change to their name?
The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company initially entered the
phonograph market in 1916, with their universal-soundbox phonograph. At
first, they did not make any records of their own, but recommended Pathé records
for use with their machine.
As far as I know, the B-B-C Co. developed their own
recording facilities, rather than buying any existing operation. Allan
Sutton notes that Brunswick was the first company to maintain permanent
recording studios in Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as New York.
2. In what year were Brunswick records sold to the
public?
Brunswick's first records were sold only in Canada, circa
1916-1918, and were vertical-cut discs. When the Victor/Columbia
cross-licensed control of the lateral-cut record market loosened in 1919,
Brunswick began to manufacture lateral-cut discs, for eventual sale in the
United States. The new Brunswick product was released "with considerable
fanfare" in January 1920.
3. Was Vocalion always a Brunswick label, or had it been acquired by them? No, "Vocalion" was not always a Brunswick
label; it was an acquisition.
If acquired, then when did the label first appear & when was it acquired? In 1921, The Aeolian Company of New York City introduced the
Vocalion "label," to replace their earlier Aeolian-Vocalion brand name.
B-B-C Co. purchased the record division of The Aeolian Co. in December
1924.
4. Why was ownership of the catalog split in 1931?
If we are both thinking of the same situation, the "catalog split" actually arose in 1941, and only referred back to
1931, retrospectively. For the messy
details, read on ...
B-B-C Co. sold its radio and phonograph interests to Warner
Brothers Pictures, Inc. on April 9, 1930. Warner Brothers licensed the
Brunswick and Vocalion trademarks and brand names to the Brunswick Record
Corporation (a subsidiary of the American Record Corporation) in an agreement of
December 3, 1931. The terms required minimum annual production quantities
and payment of royalties to the Brunswick Radio Corporation (a separate
corporate entity operated by Warner Brothers).
Production of the Brunswick and Vocalion labels continued
under ARC and beyond the CBS acquisition of BRC/ARC (in December 1938).
CBS discontinued the Brunswick label in April 1940, and soon supplanted the
Vocalion label with the Okeh brand. Under the terms of the 1931 agreement,
rights to the pre-ARC Brunswick and Vocalion masters then reverted to the
Brunswick Radio Corporation.
By a May 2, 1941 agreement, Warner Brothers sold the Brunswick
Radio Corporation, including rights to the Brunswick and
Vocalion trademarks and the Brunswick and Vocalion masters
recorded before November 17, 1931, to Decca Records, Inc. Decca
revived the Brunswick label in 1944, largely for reissues of the 1920s and 1930s
jazz and blues material they had acquired. In contrast, the post-1931 ARC
material was owned by CBS and their Columbia Recording Corporation.
(I'm not sure I fully understand your question about the
"split," so this may not be a proper answer!)
By the way, the information above is from Allan Sutton's
Directory of American Disc Record Brands and Manufacturers, 1891-1943
(Greenwood Press, 1994) and from writings of Ross Laird.
Art, if you need more information, you might contact Allan or
Ross. Allan recently published a new book, in collaboration with Kurt
Nauck: American Record Labels and Companies - an Encyclopedia,
1891-1943. Ross Laird has compiled a four-volume discography,
Brunswick Records 1916-1931, to be published by Greenwood
Press.
Regards,
Bill
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