Madison Records was a United States-based record label. It was also sold in the United Kingdom through the F.W. Woolworth dime store chain. It was a subsidiary of Grey Gull Records, produced from 1926 through 1931 (almost a year after the last record on the Grey Gull label was issued). General opinion among the knowledgeable record collectors of this era is that Madison, being sold at Woolworth's, survived for a while after Grey Gull and their other labels due to fulfilling the Woolworth contract.
Like Grey Gull, Madison records were often poorly recorded and made from the same cheap material. Much of Madison's material duplicates other Grey Gull labels issues, but some material appeared only on Madison. Unlike the other Grey Gull subsidiaries, Madison Records labels and advertising made no reference to the parent company.
Issues include popular dance music and songs of the time, mostly recorded by studio musicians in New York City. There are a few jazz sides of interest, as well as some Hawaiian music and Wurlitzer organ solos on Madison records. Audio fidelity, is about average to somewhat below average for the era, pressed in below average quality shellac.
An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to six tracks and have a playing time of 15 to 30 minutes. An EP is usually less cohesive than an album and more "non-committal".
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered.
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Peerless Records was a record label based in Mexico.
Van Dyke Records was a budget American record label which operated in 1929 and 1930. Van Dyke was a subsidiary of Grey Gull Records of Boston, Massachusetts and releases duplicated material found on the parent label. Despite claims of quality found on the label, the record was cheaply manufactured, and marketed to record dealers as a budget record with a high profit margin for the dealer. Accordingly the playing surface is noisy, and the recordings are often over-modulated.
Conqueror Records was a United States–based record label, active from 1928 through 1942. The label was sold exclusively through Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Radiex Records was an American record label during the 1920s. It was manufactured by Grey Gull Records of Boston, Massachusetts, from 1921 until the demise of Grey Gull in late 1930; it was then pressed for a few more months into 1931 by the successor firm, which continued the Radiex, Van Dyke and Madison labels. Radiex records were sold in Montgomery Ward catalogs although they were not manufactured specifically for that firm. In some cases, records have been found which had the labels of other Grey Gull products over Radiex labels or vice versa.
Grey Gull Records was a record company and label founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1919. The company was started by Theodore Lyman Shaw, a member of an upper class family from Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Oriole Records was an American record label founded in 1921 by McCrory's stores.
Crown Records was a budget record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records in 1957. It has been the name of several different record labels, listed below.
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus.
Waldorf Music Hall Records was a budget record label exclusively sold in Woolworth stores from 1954 to 1959. Waldorf was headed by Enoch Light and based in Harrison, New Jersey. Light's business partners in this venture were Casper Pinsker and Dick Davemos. The business model for Waldorf Music Hall appears to have been inspired by the popularity of the Your Hit Parade television program. In the 1950s it was common to refer to Waldorf Music Hall, and other labels like it, as 'Hit Parader Records.'
Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird was noted for what came to be known as the "Bluebird sound", which influenced rhythm and blues and early rock and roll. It is currently owned by RCA Records parent company Sony Music Entertainment.
Embassy Records was a UK budget record label that produced cover versions of current hit songs, which were sold exclusively in Woolworths shops at a lower price than the original recordings. The original label was active between 1954 and 1965, after which it disappeared when its parent company, Oriole, was taken over by CBS Records.
A CD single is a music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the CD single standard was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (CD3); later on the term referred to any single recorded onto a CD of any size, particularly the 12 cm (5-inch) "full-size" disc (CD5). From a technical viewpoint, a CD single is identical to any other audio CD. The format started gaining popularity in the early 1990s, but quickly declined in the early and mid 2000s, in favor of digital downloaded singles and CD albums.
Mike Mosiello was an Italian-born American trumpet player.
2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide & Woolworths Group respectively.
Budget albums were low-priced vinyl LPs of popular and classical music released during the 1950s to 1970s consisting either of previously released material or material recorded especially for the line. Prices ranged from as low as 59 U.S. cents to $2.98. In the UK Pickwick Records' Top of the Pops record series, which operated between 1968 and 1985, was the most successful budget album range.
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