We’ve seen that Alfred Clark left Berliner’s employ in favour of Edison and moved to Paris to set up a rival to the Gramophone Company in Europe. This put the two old friends, Alfred Clark and Fred Gaisberg, in direct competition for new recordings in 1899. Clark, pictured above, proved to be a canny businessman.Continue reading “Rivalry and co-operation”
Tag Archives: the gramophone company
The first music industry format war hots up: cylinders v discs
(This blog entry is a bit of a catch up in the story of the Gramophone Company…..) In 1899, Alfred Clark left Emile Berliner’s employment and went back to working for Thomas Edison’s rival business which sold cylinders rather than discs. Clark, you may remember had set up the world’s first record (disc) shop inContinue reading “The first music industry format war hots up: cylinders v discs”
Art Deco loveliness: The Marconiphone
The Marconiphone was a brand of radios that were originally developed by the Marconi Company in the UK from 1923. The brand was sold to the Gramophone Company in 1929 as that company diversified into wireless technology. The Gramophone Company became EMI in 1931 and continued to make Marconiphone Radios until 1956. This blog entryContinue reading “Art Deco loveliness: The Marconiphone”
The main problem with starting new businesses…
…is getting all the ducks in a row. The early recording business proved no different. Emile Berliner decided to set up his European disc pressing factory in Germany rather than England in 1898. In doing so he created the German Gramophone Company – aka Deutsche Grammophon (DG). Berliner’s European operations were therefore split in two.Continue reading “The main problem with starting new businesses…”
“Stop Yer Tickling Jock”: The great Scottish singing swindle – Russell Hunting day #5
This is the final part of a five-day series of blog entries about Russell Hunting, a maverick who was involved at the start of the very start of the record business when its pioneers were searching to find the best business model to capitalise on the new sound-recording and playback technology. Hunting tried all sortsContinue reading ““Stop Yer Tickling Jock”: The great Scottish singing swindle – Russell Hunting day #5″
Setting up a new record company #7 Sell your product!
This week we aimed to tell the story of how Emile Berliner and Fred Gaisberg set up their record company in America in the late 19th Century. Seven blog entries on seven days. This is day #7. The final day; we made it! Its 1896. The new Philadelphian investors have decided that the United StatesContinue reading “Setting up a new record company #7 Sell your product!”
Setting up a record company #6 Getting the right people onboard
This week we plan to tell the story of how Emile Berliner and Fred Gaisberg set up their record company in America. Seven blog entries on seven days. This is day #6. It’s late 1895 and the fledgeling gramophone enterprise has just raised $25,000 from the Philadelphian syndicate to expand the business. Berliner now beginsContinue reading “Setting up a record company #6 Getting the right people onboard”
Setting up a record company: #1 Get the technology right
When William Barry Owen and Trevor Williams shook hands to establish the UK’s first record company, The Gramophone Company, in 1897 they sent for Fred Gaisberg, an American “recording expert” to come over to England to help them by setting up the recording department and the UK’s first recording studios in Maiden Lane. Fred’s involvementContinue reading “Setting up a record company: #1 Get the technology right”
Every picture tells a story.
This is a scanned page of a Gramophone Company catalogue from 1902. The company had progressed from making 7″ records to 10″ records by late 1901 and this catalogue shows the new range of discs retailing at 5 shillings a piece. There were 20 shillings to a £, so five shillings expressed in modern moneyContinue reading “Every picture tells a story.”
“That faint perfume of the salons” The Gramophone Company moves into Opera. 1902.
In the early days of their UK business (i.e. before 1900), Gaisberg and the Gramophone company made good headway in persuading music hall stars and comedians to record with the new Gramophone technology. They found it much more difficult to persuade the great Opera singers of the day to condescend to do so. To tryContinue reading ““That faint perfume of the salons” The Gramophone Company moves into Opera. 1902.”
Sound Of The Hound 