Re: [ARSCLIST] Brunswick Records rights

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thomas Stern" <sternth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> just a footnote:  I believe that Brunswick recordings are partly owned 
> by ARC/Columbia (now Sony-BMG), and partly owned by US Decca (now 
> Universal).  I heard a story many years ago that a Bing Crosby session 
> spanned the change of ownership, and that some of the sides owned by 
> Decca were inadvertantly issued on a Columbia LP-when the error was 
> realised some quick negotiations resulted in some exchange of masters 
> between the companies......anyone know that actual date of the division, 
> or details of the Crosby arrangement??
> Both companies have used the label the 45/lp era.

The whole point is that ARC never actually owned Brunswick outright...
they just owned the right to use the Brunswick and Vocalion names 
as well as access to their existing catalog (I don't know if the
1932 date applied there). In 1940, after CBS bought ARC, they
failed to issue enough new Brunswick records to maintain their
right to use the names, and shortly thereafter replaced Vocalion
with Okeh and quit reissuing Brunswick material. I don't know if
Columbia had any rights to reissue Brunswick sides they had
earlier issued on Columbia, however.

Decca acquired the same rights ARC had in early 1943 (they were
hard-hit by the AFM ban, with no archive of recordings to speak
of) and they used the Brunswick name extensively on a historic
reissue series (including a lot of Decca hits). Around 1950,
they revived both Brunswick and Vocalion as pop labels, using
both into the fifties and probably thereafter.

IIRC, Decca eventually sold off the Brunswick name to a small
independent (Black-owned, I think) Chicago record firm, who
faded from existence not too long thereafter. Brunswick-Balke-
Collender is still in their original business of pool tables
and accessories...

Steven C. Barr