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Polydor Records
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==Label history== ===Beginnings=== Polydor Records was founded on 2 April 1913 by German Polyphon-Musikwerke AG in [[Leipzig]] and registered on 25 July 1914 (Nr. 316613). The label was founded as Firma Brachhausen & Riesener in 1887 by Gustav Adolf Brachhausen and Ernst Paul Riessner, for manufacturing their new mechanical disc-playing [[music box]] [[Polyphon]], invented in 1870.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grammophon-platten.de/page.php?107|title=Schellackplatten Label - Polyphon - Grammophon und Schellackplatten Portal 78rpm|work=grammophon-platten.de|access-date=17 February 2017}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2025}} During [[World War I]] on 24 April 1917, Polyphon-Musikwerke AG acquired the German [[Deutsche Grammophon]]-Aktiengesellschaft record plant and company from the German government. The German state had taken over British-held Grammophon as enemy property during World War I.<ref name="BerlinerStudios">{{cite web|url=http://www.emil-berliner-studios.com/en/chronik0.html|title=EMIL BERLINER STUDIOS - About us - Chronicle|first=Emil Berliner|last=Studios|work=emil-berliner-studios.com|access-date=17 February 2017}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2025}} Polydor was originally an [[independent record label|independent branch]] of the [[Polyphon]]-[[Grammophon]]-Konzern group. It was used as an export label from 1924. After the British and German branches of the [[Gramophone Company]] were separated during [[World War I]], Deutsche Grammophon claimed the rights to the [[Nipper]]-dog and gramophone trademark for Germany, where [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] recordings were to be released under the [[Electrola]] [[trademark]] replacing the company lost during the war. [[File:Polydorearly78.JPG|thumb|left|160px|1920s vintage Polydor export label with its double-horn gramophone logo Playing [[Ave verum corpus (Mozart)|Ave verum corpus]] - [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Wolfgang Amadeus mozart]]]] In turn, Deutsche Grammophon records exported from Germany were released on the [[Polyphon Musik]] and [[Polydor]] [[record labels|labels]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-FOSAgAAQBAJ&q=Polyphon+Record&pg=PA585|title=Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound|first=Frank|last=Hoffmann|date=12 November 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135949501}}</ref> New foreign branches were founded, for example in Austria, Denmark, Sweden and France. In 1941, Deutsche Grammophon (including Polydor) was purchased by [[Siemens & Halske]]. Polydor became a [[popular music]] label in 1946, while the new Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft label became a [[European classical music|classical music]] label in 1949.<ref name="BerlinerStudios"/> The previously used label, Grammophon, was disbanded. DGG gave, by an agreement dated 5 July 1949, an exclusive license from 1 July 1951 to use the Nipper-dog with gramophone to the original owner's company [[Electrola]], the German branch of [[EMI]]. (In Germany, it was impossible to sell the trademark without selling the company.)<ref>[http://www.dg-111.com/en_GB/history Dg-111.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305145646/http://www.dg-111.com/en_GB/history |date=5 March 2012 }}</ref> Polydor remained Deutsche Grammophon's export label, including classical music, in France and the Spanish-speaking world for the remainder of the long-playing era, as a result of language and cultural concerns. DGG established a subsidiary in London called Polydor Records Ltd. in 1954. In the early 1960s, [[orchestra]] leader [[Bert Kaempfert]] signed unknowns [[Tony Sheridan]] and [[The Beatles]], credited as ''The Beat Brothers'', to Polydor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.friktech.com/btls/tony/tony.htm|title=The Beatles with Tony Sheridan|website=Friktech.com|access-date=19 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707220058/http://www.friktech.com/btls/tony/tony.htm|archive-date=7 July 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.beatlesource.com/savage/1962/62.01.XX%20top%20ten%20-%20ringo/62.01.00topten-ringo.html Infosite], Beatlesource.com; accessed 19 April 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Coleman|first=Miriam |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beatles-collaborator-tony-sheridan-dead-at-72-20130217|title=Beatles collaborator Tony Sheridan dead at 72|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=17 February 2013|access-date=23 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nme.com/news/the-beatles/68758|title=One-time Beatles frontman Tony Sheridan dies|website=Nme.com|date=18 February 2013|access-date=23 February 2013}}</ref><ref>[[Mark Lewisohn|Lewisohn, Mark]]: ''All These Years'' Volume 1:''The Beatles Tune In'', Little Brown, London 2013,{{ISBN|978-0-316-72960-4}}</ref> Popular International entertainers such as [[James Last]], Bert Kaempfert, [[Kurt Edelhagen]], [[Caterina Valente]] and the [[Kessler Twins]] appeared on the Polydor label, as well as many French, Spanish and Latin-American figures. Siemens entered into a joint venture with [[Philips]] in 1962 creating the Grammophon-Philips Group, of which Polydor became a subsidiary label. Throughout the late 1960s, Polydor released albums of [[John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers]], [[Cream (band)|Cream]], [[The Who]], [[Jimi Hendrix]], [[Bee Gees]] and [[Eric Clapton]]. Polydor opened a US branch in 1969 (in years prior, they licensed their catalogue to [[Atlantic Records]]),<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zygEAAAAMBAJ&q=polydor+++1969+++%22united+states%22&pg=PA64|title=College Music Contest Opens Talent Hunt| magazine=Billboard |page=64 |date=15 March 1969|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.}}</ref> but did not become a real presence in the US record industry until its purchase of the recording contract and back catalogue of [[rhythm and blues|R&B]] performer [[James Brown]] in 1971, and the absorption of the [[MGM Records]] label by its parent company PolyGram in 1972. In 1970, Polydor acquired the Hong Kong–based [[Diamond Records (Hong Kong)|Diamond Records]], which had been owned and founded by the local [[Portugal|Portuguese]] merchant Ren da Silva in the late 1950s. ===PolyGram=== [[File:Polydor orange II.JPG|thumb|left|150px|In 1954 Polydor Records introduced their distinctive orange label.]] In 1972, the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG) reorganised to create [[PolyGram]], from '''Poly'''dor and Phono'''Gram'''. The ''Polydor'' label continued to run as a subsidiary label under the new company. Throughout the 1970s, Polydor Incorporated became a major rock label, also releasing records by hit makers such as the [[Bee Gees]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bee-gees-mn0000043714/discography|title=Bee Gees - Album Discography - AllMusic|work=allmusic.com|access-date=17 February 2017}}</ref> [[Gloria Gaynor]], [[Atlanta Rhythm Section]] and [[Ray, Goodman & Brown]].<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ray-goodman-brown-mn0000872794/discography Ray, Goodman & Brown], ''[[AllMusic]]'', Retrieved 5 May 2023</ref> Into the 1980s, Polydor continued to do respectable business, in spite of becoming increasingly overshadowed by its PolyGram sister label [[Mercury Records]]. Polydor took over management of [[Decca Records|British Decca's]] pop catalogue. [[A&R]] manager Frank Neilson was able to score a major top ten hit in March 1981 for the label with "Do the Hucklebuck" by [[Coast to Coast (band)|Coast to Coast]] as well as signing [[Ian Dury]] and [[Billy Fury]] to the company. In 1984, the company name was parodied in the [[rockumentary]] film ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' (whose [[This Is Spinal Tap (album)|soundtrack album]] was distributed by Polydor), where "Polymer Records" was the band's record company. By the early 1990s, Polydor had begun to underperform. PolyGram subsequently trimmed most of Polydor's staff and roster, and shifted it to operate under the umbrella of '''PolyGram Label Group''' (PLG), a newly constructed "super label" specifically designed to oversee the operations of PolyGram's lesser performing imprints, which included [[Island Records]], [[London Records]], [[Atlas Records]] and [[Verve Records]] at the time. In 1994, as Island Records recovered from its sales slump, PolyGram dissolved most of PLG into it. Meanwhile, Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called "Polydor/Atlas", and began operating through [[A&M Records]], another PolyGram subsidiary. In 1995, Polydor/Atlas became simply Polydor Records again. === Twilight years in the United States === {{unreferenced section|date=December 2023}} Over the next few years, Polydor endeavored to sustain its operations through the signing of new artists, and the reissuing of past works, even as it increasingly became less active. In 1998, PolyGram was acquired by [[Seagram]] and combined with its [[Universal Music Group]]. During the merger of these two music powerhouses, Polydor's operations in the United States were assimilated into the [[Interscope-Geffen-A&M]] label group. Meanwhile, its international division remained operational, with its records still being distributed domestically via [[Interscope Records|Interscope]] and A&M. Today, in North America, the Polydor Records name and logo is mostly used on reissues of older material from its 1960s and 1970s heyday. [[Island Records]] handles the US distribution of most pre-1998 Polydor releases, including the reissues from the British Decca pop/rock collections. In contrast [[Republic Records]] handles reissues from [[James Brown]] and the MGM Records and Verve Records pop catalog. Nevertheless, during the 2010s, Interscope Records occasionally released music by artists such as [[Azealia Banks]] and [[Lana Del Rey]] under the Polydor name and branding. Polydor joined UMG's [[Interscope Capitol Labels Group]] in 2024.
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