A Concise Guide to the History of Disc Recording

A Concise Guide to the History of Disc Recording
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The evolution of jazz in America during the first 40 years followed a direct parallel with the developments of radio and record production. The following chronology of events will help relate the rapid growth of technological advancements to the widespread dissemination jazz.

1900's

1903	Victor released their first "Red Seal" record recorded on one side only. A Enrico Caruso recording breaks all sales records at 1 million.

1906	Victor began mass production of mechanical Victrola. Their logo trademark featured the dog "Nipper" poised listening to His Master's Voice coming from a phonograph.

1910's

1912	Dancing became American’s favorite form of entertainment, placing a premium on this kind of live and recorded music

1916-46	Record companies are in operation.

1917	Original Dixieland Jazz Band records "Dixie Jazz Band One-Step" for Victor, selling 1.5 million copies.

1920's

Record store customer samples 78-rpm recording of Paul Whiteman's Whispering that sold over a million copies

1920	Paul Whiteman, self proclaimed "Kind of Jazz," sold 2 million copies of “Whispering.” KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA became the first licensed radio station.

1921	Black Swan and Sunshine became the first exclusively Black record labels in this year.

1922	200 radio stations were licensed and 3 million radios had been sold to American households. Americans were spending more money on recorded music than any other form of entertainment

1923-24	Record companies began to experience the effects of recession. By 1924 there were 694 licensed radio stations.

1925	Victor revived the industry through a partnership with Western Electric in the creation of the first electrical recordings. The acoustical horn was replaced by the microphone. Duke Ellington issued his first record and Lawrence Welk began his long career.

1926	Turntable speeds were finally stabilized at 78 Revolutions Per Minute (RPM). RCA created the first radio network.

1929	Radio sales skyrocketed to $800,000 in one year and nearly 10 million sets could be found in American homes. Jazz pianist Earl Hines (featured on Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues") released his first recording with a larger nine-piece band.

1930's

Young girl listens to a radio broadcast playing the Original Dixieland Jazz Band's Home Again Blues

1932	Record industry was rocked by The Great Depression and was nearly out of business by 1933.

1935	The sudden success of the Benny Goodman Band ushered in a new musical era giving rise to a rebirth of dancing and the record industry through an alliance with radio. Annual record sales reach $8.8 million gross.

1939	Pop artists winning the polls were Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller (who grossed about $800,000 a year,) Glenn Gray, and Benny Goodman.

1940's

1942	Once again the record industry faltered with the onset of W.W.II. The War Production Board nearly suspended use of shellac used in manufacturing of records. A.F. of M. (musicians union) president James Petrillo called for strike against recording companies for nearly 2 years.

1947	Recording industry rebounded in a post-war boom featuring a rise in popularity of swing style vocalists such as Frank Sinatra. Minnesota Mining invented magnetic tape for recording.

1948	The 33-1/3 RPM record was introduced by Columbia while RCA offered their 45-RPM to feature pop music. These new formats threatened the older 78-RPM disc.

LATER ADVANCEMENTS

By 1950 the 78-RPM recordings were phased out completely and gross sales nearly doubled compared to those in 1945. The 45-RPM format gradually become the accepted standard to release singles and popular music. The 33-1/3 RPM format became the accepted standard for classical music and jazz, though a number of jazz recordings were done for a short time on the shorter 45-RPM format.

Since then, there have been numerous additional advancements and new formats introduced by the recording industry. Cassettes and, for a short time the 8-track format cassette, threatened the popularity and production of records in the 1970s. The digital CD captured sales in the 1980s nearly stopping production of LPs and cassettes. During this same period sophisticated analogue and digital techniques afforded artists and producers the opportunity to experiment with a wide range of techniques including stereo which arrived in the mid-'50s, tape splicing, editing of different tracks, special affects like artificial reverberation, and multi-track recording. The more compressed MPEG (MP3) format, polarized by Apple Computer with their iPod will no doubt lead to yet another new format for delivering portable, recorded music in the future.

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Home > History of Recording

	Course-wide Content
		Chapter 17 Listening Room History of Recording Glossary Contributors

	Instructor Resources
		Instructor's Manual Test Bank EZ Test

	Course-wide Content
		Chapter 17 Listening Room History of Recording Glossary Contributors