Record club

Last updated
Record club
IndustryRecorded music
Products
  • records
  • tapes
  • compact discs
Owners
  • Concert Hall Society
  • Greystone Press
  • Book-of-the-Month Club
  • Crowell-Collier Publishing Co.
  • Columbia Records
  • RCA Victor Records
  • Capitol Records

A record club was a mail-order music subscription service. It was adopted and implemented by the major record labels in the 1950s for selling phonograph records and prerecorded reel-to-reel tapes. The labels later expanded their offerings to 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, and compact discs. The clubs dwindled to a close by 2010.

Contents

Early clubs

Subscription record selling first appeared in the early 1930s during the Depression, but the practice was renewed with heightened interest in the post-World War II years of the mid- and late-1940s. [1] Early record mail-order clubs were limited to esoteric repertoire or childrens records. The Concert Hall Society was founded in 1946 by Samuel and David Josefowitz to produce classical music records, distributing them through a mail-order club.

In 1951 Greystone Press inaugurated the American Recording Society, a classical music record club based on the company's book club model. [2]

In early 1952, the advent of the Musical Masterpiece Society by the Josefowitz brothers reflected a movement to promote record clubs as a mass sales tool. Two years later, the Greystone Press, which had premiered its Children's Record Club and Young People's Record Club, began testing Music Treasures of The World. Within that time frame, Book-of-the-Month Club launched Music Appreciation Records, [3] and by 1956, additionally offered the Metropolitan Opera Club. [4] Subsidiary clubs of the Concert Hall Society included the Opera, Handel, Chamber Music, Musical Masterpiece, and Jazztone Societies.

Crowell-Collier Publishing Company announced in February 1956 its intention to enter the record club arena, using its 10,500,000-subscriber base for solicitation. [5] Six months later, the company acquired the Concert Hall Society and its five clubs. [6] In January 1957, the company launched the Crowell-Collier Record Guild, focused on classical recordings. [7]

Early efforts of the major labels

Columbia Records launched an experimental record club in 1953, limited to solicitations in three Midwestern states. [8] Due to the retail dealer furor it created, the club was shut down a year later, in November 1954. Dealers were upset by club benefits which included a free dividend record for every three purchased, and feared loss of direct sales as a result. [9] Columbia revamped the membership plan and benefits, and allowed for dealer participation in the enrollment and purchase process, in a revised club that was announced in August 1955. [10]

That same month, RCA Victor announced that it had no plans to start its own record club. [11] Instead, in March 1956, RCA initiated its Save-on-Records coupon booklet plan, entitling the holder to discounts and bonus records through retail dealers. [12] By November 1957, RCA had decided to join the record club ranks, and announced a partnership with Book-of-the-Month Club for classical discs to be offered through "The RCA Victor Society of Great Music – Presented by The Book of the Month Club." [13] The club was set to begin operation in early 1958. [14] In March 1958, RCA and Book-of-the-Month Club began operation of a Popular Album Club. [15]

Capitol Records launched its record club with an initial test mailing in November 1957. [16] The enthusiastic response prompted Capitol to announce a full-scale drive to establish its record club. [17] A second, nationwide, mailing went out in January 1958. [18]

How it worked

Under Columbia's original club plan, upon enrolling in the club, the record buyer received a free LP from a group of the label's artists. Thereafter, eight selections were offered monthly, in four categories: classical; listening and dancing; Broadway, movies, television and musical comedies; and jazz. Columbia published a monthly club magazine describing current selections. Membership required the customer to purchase four LPs per year. For every two disks purchased, the customer would receive a bonus disk. [10]

Over time, plans varied in the number of disks at sign-up, whether free or at a reduced price; the number of LPs required to be purchased in order to maintain membership; and the time period within which the minimum number of LPs were to be purchased. For example, in 1966, the Capitol sign-up allowed the customer to choose seven LPs for $1.87, with a commitment to purchase seven more LPs in one year. In 1976, the Columbia sign-up allowed the customer to choose 11 LPs for $1.00, with a commitment to purchase eight more LPs in a three-year period. [19]

Expansion

The clubs expanded their appeal by taking on other record labels' albums. In 1955, Book-of-the-Month Club's Music Appreciation Records struck deals with Angel, Westminster, and Vox Records to offer some of their catalog offerings. [20]

In 1960, RCA Victor committed to handle two Warner Bros. Records releases. [21] By 1965, RCA added releases from Decca and its subsidiary labels Coral and Brunswick. [22]

Mercury Records went with Columbia, [23] as did Argo, Kapp, Liberty, Verve, and United Artists. [24]

ABC-Paramount Records signed with the Capitol Record Club in 1965, bringing along its subsidiary labels Impulse, Command, and Westminster (which it had acquired in the early 1960s). [25]

After the Federal Trade Commission cleared Columbia’s practice of licensing outside record labels, the clubs picked up additional labels. RCA added Deutsche Grammophon and London Records; MGM Records linked up with the Capitol Record Club, which included its Verve and Folkways affiliates. [26]

In the U.K., mail-order subscription services were offered by the Britannia Music Club and the World Record Club.

Mergers and acquisitions

Proliferation of record clubs inevitably led to mergers and acquisitions. Crowell-Collier announced the sale of its clubs in September 1957, a year after it got into the business. The company had planned to market the club to subscribers of its magazines, The American Magazine,Collier's, and Woman's Home Companion, which by December 1956, had discontinued publication. [27]

In December 1968, Capitol announced the sale of its Direct Marketing subsidiary to Longines-Wittnauer Co., and the Capitol Record Club came under the wing of the Longines Symphonette Society (which operated a club of its own). [28]

The RCA Victor Record Club evolved into RCA Direct Marketing, was acquired by Bertelsmann Music Group in 1986, and its name was changed to BMG Direct Marketing. In 2008, the enterprise was acquired by an investment firm, and became Direct Brands. [29] It ceased music mail-order operations in 2010. [30]

The Columbia Record Club began to be marketed as Columbia House in the early 1970s, an umbrella brand for its various mail order offerings. In 1987, Sony acquired Columbia House from its parent, CBS. In 1991, Sony partnered with Time-Warner in a joint venture that enabled Columbia House to market both companies' music and video offerings. In 2002 the enterprise was sold to an investment group, [29] and three years later was acquired by BMG Direct Marketing (an outgrowth of RCA Direct Marketing, successor to the RCA Victor Record Club), and was renamed BMG Columbia House. In 2008, the enterprise was acquired by an investment firm, and its name changed to Direct Brands. [31] It ceased music mail-order operations in 2010. [30]

Assessment

Over time, a significant number of members would not pay for records they ordered. Record companies saw lower royalties from sales through record clubs than from sales through stores and other means. In addition, that the clubs could give away up to one free record for every record sold resulted in about half as much revenue for record companies as they might get through other distribution channels. [32] As a general assessment, record clubs were deemed not a complete commercial success. [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Records</span> American record label

Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 22, 1889, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1991, its recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels: Epic Records, and former longtime rivals, RCA Records and Arista Records as the latter two were originally owned by BMG before its 2008 relaunch after Sony's acquisition alongside other BMG labels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capitol Records</span> American record label

Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note in the United States in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs. Capitol was acquired by British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary in 1955. EMI was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012, and was merged with the company a year later, making Capitol and the Capitol Music Group both distributed by UMG. The label's circular headquarters building is a recognized landmark of Hollywood, California.

RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twelve-inch single</span> Type of vinyl phonograph record

The twelve-inch single is a type of vinyl gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compared to LPs which have several songs on each side. It is named for its 12-inch (300 mm) diameter. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the mastering engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality. This record type is commonly used in disco and dance music genres, where DJs use them to play in clubs. They are played at either 33+1⁄3 or 45 rpm. The conventional 7-inch single usually holds three or four minutes of music at full volume. The 12-inch LP sacrifices volume for extended playing time.

Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophone Company, EMI and its affiliated companies from 1898. The label has been inactive since 2006, when it dissolved and reassigned its active artists and catalogue while retaining its recent catalogue to sister labels EMI Classics, Virgin Classics and Manhattan Records and its musical theatre artists and catalogue to another sister label, Capitol Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20th Century Fox Records</span> American record label

20th Century Fox Records was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three distinct 20th Century Fox-related operations in the analog era, ranging chronologically from about 1938 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Selvin</span> Musical artist

Benjamin Bernard Selvin was an American musician, bandleader, and record producer. He was known as the Dean of Recorded Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia House</span> Mail-order music club brand by Columbia Records

Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records, and had a significant market presence in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shorty Rogers</span> American jazz trumpeter (1924–94)

Milton "Shorty" Rogers was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Freeman</span> American pianist, arranger and composer (1922–1981)

Ernest Aaron Freeman was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s.

On August 1, 1942, the American Federation of Musicians, at the instigation of union president James C. Petrillo, began a strike against the major American record companies because of disagreements over royalty payments. Beginning on midnight, July 31, 1942, no union musician could make commercial recordings for any commercial record company. That meant that a union musician was allowed to participate on radio programs and other kinds of musical entertainment, but not in a recording session. The 1942–1944 musicians' strike remains the longest strike in entertainment history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LP record</span> Vinyl analog sound storage discs

The LP is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of 33+1⁄3 rpm; a 12- or 10-inch diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a vinyl composition disk. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire US record industry and, apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound in 1957, it remained the standard format for record albums, during a period in popular music known as the album era. LP was originally a trademark of Columbia and competed against the smaller 7-inch sized "45" or "single" format by RCA Victor, eventually ending up on top. Today in the vinyl revival era, a large majority of records are based on the LP format and hence the LP name continues to be in use today to refer to new records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Elgart</span> American musician

Lawrence Joseph Elgart was an American jazz bandleader. With his brother Les, he recorded "Bandstand Boogie", the theme to the long-running dance show American Bandstand.

Alvin Stoller was an American jazz drummer. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s. He was best known for playing drums on both Mitch Miller's recording of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and Stan Freberg's parody of Miller's recording.

Crowell-Collier Publishing Company was an American publisher that owned the popular magazines Collier's, Woman's Home Companion and The American Magazine. Crowell's subsidiary, P.F. Collier and Son, published Collier's Encyclopedia, the Harvard Classics, and general interest books.

Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music, Inc. was an American music publishing company founded by film producer Harold Hecht, his brother-in-law Loring Buzzell, and Hecht's business partner, actor/producer Burt Lancaster.

Concert Hall Society, Inc., was a New York City-based membership-subscription-oriented record production and distribution company founded in 1946 by Samuel Mulik Josefowitz (1921–2015) and David Josefowitz (1918–2015), brothers. The New York office was located at 250 West 57th Street in Manhattan. The Josefowitz's sold Concert Hall Society in 1956 to Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. The name Concert Hall Society was also one of several labels owned by the company.

Loring Bruce Buzzell was an American music publisher and record label executive. Together with film producer Harold Hecht and actor Burt Lancaster, he formed a series of music publishing imprints in the middle and late 1950s. His music publishing companies, Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music, Calyork Music, Leigh Music and Colby Music, were responsible for copyrighting, publishing and promoting the soundtracks and theme songs from such notable films as Marty, Trapeze, The Kentuckian, Sweet Smell of Success, Separate Tables, Cry Tough, Take a Giant Step and The Unforgiven. Buzzell's companies also published "May You Always", the recordings of which by The McGuire Sisters for Coral Records and Joan Regan for HMV Records, became the top-selling records and the second-best-selling sheet music in the United States and the United Kingdom for 1959. Calyork Records and Maine Records were two independent record labels operated by Buzzell in partnership with Hecht and Lancaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTA Records (American record label)</span> Defunct American record label

For the British record label see MTA Records.

<i>The Tender Touch</i> 1956 studio album by Nelson Riddle

The Tender Touch is the second studio album by Nelson Riddle, released in 1956.

References

  1. ↑ Revolutionizing** Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946–1977 , by David Bonner, Scarecrow Press (2008), pps. 17 & 18; OCLC   859155478
  2. ↑ LondonJazzCollector. "American '50s Record Clubs: The American Recording Society (1956-7)". londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  3. ↑ Is Horowitz (November 6, 1954). "Music Lovers Send Record Clubs on $6,000,000 Spin". Billboard. New York NY. p. 1.
  4. ↑ Bill Simon (October 20, 1956). "Buyers of Records Find Big Salesmen In Their Mail Boxes". Billboard. New York NY. p. 1.
  5. ↑ "Crowell-Collier Sets Sights On Jumbo Mail-Order Club". Billboard. New York NY. February 11, 1956. p. 13.
  6. ↑ "Crowell-Collier Co. Buys Concert Hall Label, 5 M.-O. Clubs". Billboard. New York NY. August 4, 1956. p. 16.
  7. ↑ "C-C Launches Disk Guild This Month". Billboard. New York NY. January 12, 1957. p. 16.
  8. ↑ "Columbia to Quit Club Plan Mailings". Billboard. New York NY. May 1, 1954. p. 16.
  9. ↑ "Col'bia Calls Quits With Record Club". Billboard. New York NY. October 16, 1954. p. 13.
  10. 1 2 "Columbia Devises Club Plan As Dealers, Distrib Protection". Billboard. New York NY. August 20, 1955. p. 16.
  11. ↑ "Sacks Comments on Record Club Plan". The Cash Box. New York NY. August 27, 1955. p. 20.
  12. ↑ "Dealers Say Victor's Save-On-Records Plan Is Traffic Builder". The Cash Box. New York NY. July 28, 1956. p. 34.
  13. ↑ Bill Simon (November 11, 1957). "Victor's Hat in Mail Order Ring With BOM Hook-Up". Billboard. New York NY. p. 18.
  14. ↑ "RCA Victor Announces Classical Record Club". The Cash Box. New York NY. November 23, 1957. p. 42.
  15. ↑ "RCA and B.O.M. Announce Popular Record Album Club". The Cash Box. New York NY. February 15, 1958. p. 27.
  16. ↑ Joel Friedman (November 11, 1957). "Cap Trains Sales Artillery on M.O. Record Club Target". Billboard. New York NY. p. 19.
  17. ↑ "Capitol Plans All-Out Drive for Record Club Memberships". The Cash Box. New York NY. January 4, 1958. p. 23.
  18. ↑ "Cap Disk Club Winds Up 2d Mailings". Billboard. New York NY. January 20, 1958. p. 30.
  19. ↑ "How Columbia House & other mail-order record clubs sold vinyl albums & tapes for a penny". ClickAmericana.com. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  20. ↑ Is Horowitz (September 17, 1955). "Westminster, Vox Involved In Mail-Order Enterprises". Billboard. New York NY. p. 25.
  21. ↑ "Victor Club To Offer Two WB LP's". Billboard. New York NY. May 16, 1960. p. 2.
  22. ↑ "Decca in RCA Club; May Releases Set". Billboard. New York NY. May 8, 1965. p. 3.
  23. ↑ Bob Rolontz (June 6, 1960). "Col and Victor Clubs Woo Key Labels for Product". Billboard. New York NY. p. 7.
  24. ↑ "Liberty Joins Columbia Club". Billboard. New York NY. February 10, 1962. p. 4.
  25. ↑ "ABC-Para Joins Cap Club". Billboard. New York NY. May 15, 1965. p. 3.
  26. ↑ Mike Gross (November 13, 1965). "Club Picture Sharpens as RCA, Capitol Add Labels". Billboard. New York NY. p. 1.
  27. ↑ "Crowell-Colliers To Sell C-C Disk Clubs". Billboard. New York NY. September 2, 1957. p. 11.
  28. ↑ "Longines to Acquire Cap Direct Marketing: Gains Record Club". Billboard. New York NY. December 14, 1968. p. 3.
  29. 1 2 "Columbia House Company History". FundingUniverse. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  30. 1 2 Marley Jay. "Columbia House owner files for bankruptcy". torontosun.com. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  31. ↑ "Letters from Direct Brands & BMG Direct lawyer to Federal Trade Commission, re: Prenotification Negative Option Rule Review" (PDF). July 21, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 6, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  32. ↑ Passman, Donald S. (1991–2012). All You Need to Know About the Music Business. Toronto, Canada: Free Press. p. 160. ISBN   978-1-4516-8246-5.
  33. ↑ Peter Tschmuck Creativity and Innovation in The Music Industry 2012 p.131
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.