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| Formerly | Synthetics Plastics Company (until 1964) |
|---|---|
| Founder | Daniel Kasen |
| Headquarters | |
| Subsidiaries | Peter Pan Records (1949-1970) |
Synthetics Plastics Company or SPC of Newark, New Jersey was a plastics manufacturing company that made various items made of plastic including children's records and budget music albums.
SPC was formed by Daniel Kasen in the late 1920s as a plastic manufacturer of buttons for the garments industry and game parts for the toy industry.
After World War II, Daniel and his brother Louis Kasen founded Peter Pan Records, in 1949, operating the label under SPC from then until 1970. Daniel and Louis Kasen owned several subsidiary music labels including: Ambassador Records, Guest Star, Parade, Prom, Promenade, Pirouette, Power Records, Spin-O-Rama (1959), [1] and Diplomat Records, whose motto was "Fine records need not be expensive".
In 1950, the American Music Performance Trust Fund challenged Synthetic for not paying royalties. A spokesman said that Peter Pan records were designed purely for home use and therefore there was no reason to pay contributions to the fund. [2]
Diplomat Records had its own children's label, Rocking Horse. In the 1960s SPC ventured into the Southern Gospel music arena when it hired former Oak Ridge Quartet member Ron Page to solicit groups to record for its Scripture label. Most of the Scripture sessions were done in Nashville, Tennessee, with the musicians under the direction of pianist/composer David Reece. Groups recording for Scripture included The Sego Brothers & Naomi, The Rangers Trio (featuring Reece and Page), Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters, and The Goss Brothers.
Under the SPC banner, one of their most successful records released was "My Son, The President", a comedy spotlighting then-president John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy and their daughter, Caroline, that followed in the footsteps of Vaughn Meader's The First Family series of comedy records. "My Son, The President" (the "My Son" part of the title itself borrows from Allan Sherman's series of comedy albums) was released on the Clan subsidiary of SPC in 1963.
They were very active in the business of sound-alike recordings. They would find a singer who sounded like a well-known artist of the time, such as Mario Lanza or Perry Como. The sound-alike singer would record an album of songs previously recorded by the better-known artist, which would be released with a facsimile of the "name" artist on the cover. The cover would prominently mention the popular artist (e.g., A Tribute To Mario Lanza), while the actual singer would be mentioned in very small print ("Sung by Enzo Stuarti"). Eventually, if the sound-alike became a name artist, the same record could be re-issued with a new title (Enzo Stuarti Sings). Some of the record pressings were of poor quality, as they were created from inferior grade vinyl, and often sounded very noisy.
Despite record companies lowering their prices, Synthetic Plastics said they remained successful due to their cooperation with the stores that sold them.[ citation needed ]
In 1964, the company changed its name to Peter Pan Industries because of their success in children's records under the name of Peter Pan Records. [3] Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early '80s, Peter Pan and its Power Records subsidiary became known for its licensed audio-story productions that featured characters from franchises ranging from DC Comics and Marvel Comics to Star Trek and The Six Million Dollar Man .
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its UK label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president too. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, and the link between the UK and US Decca label was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre.
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Musicology Live 2004ever was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince to promote his Musicology album. The tour began on March 27, 2004 in Reno, Nevada and concluded on September 11 in San Jose, California. It was a commercial success earning $87.4 million from 77 shows in 52 cities across the United States and selling more than 1.4 million tickets. Prince said one of the goals of the tour was "to bring back music and live musicianship."
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Apartment Life is the second studio album by American band Ivy, released by Atlantic Records on October 6, 1997. After being dropped from Seed Records following the release of Realistic in 1995, the group signed to Atlantic due to connections that Adam Schlesinger had with the record label. In addition to band members Andy Chase and Schlesinger, the album was produced by Lloyd Cole and Peter Nashel. In contrast to their previous releases, such as Lately (1994) and Realistic, Apartment Life is a pop album with varying forms of production consisting of keyboards, brass, and string instruments. Some of the compositions featured on the record were compared to the works of My Bloody Valentine, Pixies, and the Smiths. To promote the album, Ivy embarked on a series of promotional tours across the United States.
Aquarius Records is an independent record label based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Peter Pan Records is an American record label specializing in children's music. The label was introduced to the public in March 1948. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s.
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.
The Chartbusters were an American rock band from Washington, D.C. The group's lone hit single was the 1964 song "She's the One", which had an 8-week chart run and peaked at #33 in August 1964 on the Billboard Hot 100. "She's the One" was released on Mutual Records after 20 other record labels had turned it down.
Enzo Stuarti was an Italian American tenor and musical theater performer. After performing on Broadway under the stage names Larry Laurence and Larry Stuart, he changed his name again and began a recording career in which he released several successful albums. He made regular stage and television appearances, and was featured in commercials for Ragú spaghetti sauce.
CBS Records International was the international arm of the Columbia Records unit of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) formed in 1961 and launched in 1962. Previously, Columbia Records had licensed other record companies to manufacture and distribute Columbia recordings outside North America, such as Philips Records and its subsidiary Fontana in Europe.
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Score is the debut album by American recording artist Carol Lloyd, released on December 31, 1979, through Casablanca Records and Earmarc Records. Following Lloyd's signing with Earmarc, a new label division of Casablanca, she began recording material for the record throughout the latter half of 1979. A disco album, Score was one of the first projects to be released from the label, which specialized solely in disco music. All six of the tracks on the record were produced by Michael Forte and Bruce Weeden, with the former individual also contributing lyrics to four of the aforementioned songs.
