RCA Victor
~ Label
Annotation
Formed in 1929 when Radio Corporation of America (est. 1901) bought the Victor Talking Machine Company.
During the Second World War, ties with their Japanese affiliate JVC were severed - nowadays, Victor Entertainment remains a JVC subsidiary.
Until 1957, all RCA-Victor records were distributed by EMI.
Victor's sister label, RCA records wasn't set up until the late 1940's when it was thought an imprint for pop/rock/country records - as opposed to the classical records that had until then been most popular - was required.
With the birth of rock n' roll, (and the signing of Elvis Presley) RCA Records' sales far exceeded those of Victor, but it has survived to the modern day as an imprint for blues, world music, jazz, and musicals.
When RCA sold all its record labels to Bertelsmann in 1986, this label was re-organised into the RCA Victor label group, consisting of the RCA Victor, Windham Hill and Bluebird labels. The company was further re-organised when Sony/BMG began their joint venture in August 2004.
Catalog Numbers
78RPM albums
- M- series: manual change: disc 1 A/B; disc 2 A/B; disc 3 A/B
- DM- series: auto changer: sides A in disc order, then sides B in reverse disc order. (1A, 2A, 3A, 3B, 2B, 1B)
- AM- series: alternative auto changer: sides A in disc order, then sides B in disc order (1A, 2A, 3A, 1B, 2B, 3B)
1940–ca. 1973
beginning with the introduction of the 45-RPM, prefix was added:
- 20-: 78-RPM, 10-in.(?)
- 21-: 78-RPM, 10-in.(?)
- 47-: 45-RPM, 7-in.
- 48-: 45-RPM, 7-in.
1950–ca. 1974
- LM: Long-playing Monaural (12-in. 33⅓, mono)
- LSC: Long-playing Stereophonic Classical (12-in. 33⅓, stereo)
1969–ca. 1973
- 74-: Stereo 45-RPM, 7-in.
ca. 1973–
The first character is a letter indicating the master tape source.
- A: RCA Victor
- C:
- F:
- L:
- V:
The second character is a letter indicating the label or category or type of music.
- B: Broadway(?)
- F: Folk(?)
- H:
- P: Pop(?)
- R: Red Seal (classical)
- Y:
The third character is a letter indicating the format.
- B: 7-in. (?)
- D: SQ quadraphonic 33⅓ 12-in.
- L: Stereo(?) 33⅓ 12-in. (“LP”)
The fourth character is a number indicating the number of discs
- 0: single
- 1…n: number of discs
Previously known as: Victor Talking Machine Co.
Wikipedia
RCA Victor est un ancien label discographique américain, faisant partie du groupe RCA de Sony-BMG.
Les groupes et artistes produits incluent Arthur Crudup, Enrico Caruso, Elvis Presley, Little Richard (1951-1952), Duane Eddy, Eddie Cochran, Bob Dylan, Alys Robi et, en France : Chantal Goya (1964-1987), Alain Souchon (1973-1984), Laurent Voulzy, Mama Béa, Nicole Croisille, Nicole Rieu, Sylvie Vartan, Patrick Bruel , Mylène Farmer (1983-1984), Philippe Chatel (1977-1982) (l'édition originale double 33 tours de son conte musical Émilie Jolie y obtint un grand succès en 1979/1980), Hervé Cristiani (1981-1985) (son titre Il est libre, Max y fit un grand succès en 45 tours en fin d'année 1981/début d'année 1982), Yves Simon (1972-) (à partir de son 45 tours Les Gauloises bleues suivi, l'année suivante, de son album Au pays des merveilles de Juliet, jusqu'à 1988), Bernard Demichelis (1982-1987).