This book taught me more than I ever knew about the origins of the modern recording industry!

books:


	• The Label: The Story of Columbia Records Gary Marmorstein Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007 - 640 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fascinating story of the history of a great recording label

This book is for music collctors. It's a well written very informative account of Columbia records. Filled with many interesting stories about all the greats of music. Sinatra, Bruno Walter, Streisand, and so many others. Every music collector should read this book. The most interesting part for me was the dawn of the lp, how RCA did everything they could to compete with the new format, only to lose out and create the 45. GREAT book and a must read for record collectors.

The Story Of Columbia Records

I find this book an excellant learning tool for anyone who seeks reliable knowledge about Artist's, Managers, and the workings of Columbia Records. Very interesting!

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This book taught me more than I ever knew about the origins of the modern recording industry!

Barely a chapter into this almost 600-page long history of the venerable record company, which sports its famed red label on the cover, I've already learned more than I ever knew about the origins of the modern recording industry. Columbia Records was actually founded in 1888 by Edward Easton, a stenographer and principal in the company based in Washington, D.C. (hence the name), which manufactured Graphophones, an early forerunner of the victrola, originally used for office dictation. Just like today, the technology came first, and uses for the invention only came later. The fact that music could be recorded and played back on wax cylinders was virtually an afterthought (Thomas Edison, with his competing phonograph, felt music "demeaned" his invention), as the label was launched with a selection of John Philip Sousa marches recorded by the U.S. Marine Band and black singer George Washington Johnson, dubbed the "Whistling Coon" after his hit of the same name, brought to the label by prototypical 19th century A&R man Victor Emerson. What's striking is the role technology played in the growth of the industry, and how the format affected what was recorded and distributed, a factor still in place today in the wake of the digital revolution. A fascinating read that I have just dipped into, but will keep you abreast as I get deeper. - Roy Trakin

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A MAJOR BOOK FOR A MAJOR LABEL

Well written history about a time when the record companies, specially Columbia Records, were drive by musicians and not MBA guys.

reviews: page 1, 2

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