Editing Edison Records (section)

== Edison disc records ==
{|
| valign=top|{{Listen
| filename=I Want to Go Back to Michigan.ogg
| title=I Want to Go Back to Michigan
| description=Performed by [[Billy Murray (singer)|Billy Murray]] for Edison Records in 1914.}}
| valign=top|{{Listen
| filename=Ada Jones and Billy Murray - Shine On, Harvest Moon.ogg
| title=Shine On, Harvest Moon
| description=1909 Edison Records recording of husband-and-wife team [[Jack Norworth]] and [[Nora Bayes]]' 1908 hit [[Shine On, Harvest Moon]] with [[Ada Jones]] and [[Billy Murray (singer)|Billy Murray]].
}}
|}

{{Main|Edison Disc Record}}

In October 1912 the '''[[Edison Disc Record|Edison Diamond Disc Record]]''' was introduced. Edison Laboratories had been experimenting with [[gramophone record|disc records]] for some 3 years, as the general public seemed to prefer them to cylinders. The thick Edison Discs recorded the sound vertically in the groove at a rate of 150 grooves-per-inch (GPI) rather than the typical laterally-cut groove of around 100 GPI, which gave {{convert|10|in|adj=on}} Edison discs a longer playing time (up to five minutes) than laterals and could only be played to their full advantage on Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs. This combination produced audio fidelity superior to any other home record playing system of the time. However, Edison Discs and phonographs were more expensive than their competitors'. This, together with the incompatibility of the Edison system with other discs and machines, had an adverse effect on Edison's market share. Nonetheless, Edison Discs for a time became the third best selling brand in the United States, behind [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]] and [[Columbia Records]].
[[File:EdisonDiscLabelBunk.jpg|thumb|Edison Records "Diamond Disc" label, "That's a Lot of Bunk", sung by [[Ernie Hare]] and [[Billy Jones (singer)|Billy Jones]] (early 1920s)]]

With World War I various materials used in Edison Discs came in short supply, and many discs pressed during the war were made hastily and with inferior materials, notably a reformulated phenolic finishing varnish that was introduced when European chemical supplies were cut off. This resulted in problems with [[surface noise]] even on new records, and Edison's market share shrank.

Prior to the war Edison Records started a marketing campaign, hiring prominent singers and [[vaudeville]] performers to perform alongside and alternating with Edison records of their performances played on top-of-the-line "Laboratory Model" Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs. At various stages during the performances, all lights in the theater would be darkened and the audience challenged to guess if what they were hearing was live or recorded; accounts often said that much of the audience was astonished when the lights went back up to reveal only the Edison Phonograph on stage. According to a book published by the Edison company titled ''Composers and Artists whose Art is Re-Created by Edison's New Art'' (ca. 1920), the first such comparison test or "tone test" as Edison copywriters referred to them, took place at [[Carnegie Hall]] on April 28, 1916, with [[Marie Rappold]] of the [[Metropolitan Opera]] providing the live vocal performance.

After the war, disc quality improved substantially as better quality ingredients became available again, and in the brief postwar boom Edison regained status in the industry. Sales for Edison discs peaked in 1920, but declined incrementally thereafter. In 1926, an attempt at reviving interest in the Edison Disc was with a 450-GPI long-playing disc, acoustically recorded and still spinning at 80 rpm, with times of 24 minutes per {{convert|10|in|adj=on}} disc and 40 for a {{convert|12|in|adj=on}} disc, but problems occurred (notably with broken groove walls and overall low volume, often only 40% of that of the regular discs), and the disc failed. In August 1927, discs began to be electrically recorded, making Edison the last major label to adopt electrical recording (over two years after Victor, Columbia, and Brunswick had converted from acoustical recording). Concurrently, Edison tried to freshen its catalogues by recording popular dance bands such as those of [[B. A. Rolfe]] and [[Harry Reser]] (whose "Six Jumping Jacks" group appeared on Edison as "Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies"), the [[Goldman Band]] conducted by founder [[Edwin Franko Goldman]], jazz performers [[Eva Taylor]] and [[Clarence Williams (musician)|Clarence Williams]], and radio personalities like [[Vaughn De Leath]] and "The Radio Franks" (Frank Bessinger and Frank Wright). Classical performers who became Edison artists in the late 1920s included pianists [[E. Robert Schmitz]] and [[Moriz Rosenthal]], violinists [[Arcadie Birkenholz]] and [[Erna Rubinstein]], the [[Roth Quartet]], tenors [[José Mojica]] and [[Giovanni Martinelli]], and baritone [[Mario Basiola]].  Despite these efforts and constant experimentation at the Edison plant and their New York studio (including moving from 79 Fifth Avenue to more modern premises at 261 Fifth Avenue in early 1929), record sales and morale continued to drop – in fact, one Edison executive later asserted that Edison discs had lost money from the beginning<ref>{{cite web |title=Arthur Walsh stated to Charles Edison on October 12, 1929 "on or about 1912 the Edison Industries began to manufacture and sell the disc type of record and from that date to this, as far as I can estimate, it has always been a losing business", noting a loss of over $1.3&nbsp;million over the previous five years. |url=http://www.mainspringpress.com/edison_discontinuing.html |publisher=Mainspringpress.com |access-date=2014-09-17}}</ref> – and although Edison Diamond Discs were available from dealers until the company left the record business in late October 1929, the last vertically cut direct masters were recorded in the early summer of that year.

In 1928 the Edison company began plans for making "Needle Cut" records; by which they meant standard lateral cut discs like the "78s" marketed by almost every other company of the time. Although several hundred lateral cut masters and stampers had been made by January 1929, the first "Needle Cut" discs were not released until August, and new titles were issued at a rate of only a few at a time each week for ten weeks before the company ceased record sales, thus only about 100 titles ever commercially appeared. The audio fidelity was often comparable to the best of other record companies of the time, but they sold poorly not only because Edison's market share had declined to the point where it was no longer one of the leading companies and Edison had few distributors compared to leaders like [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]], [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], and [[Brunswick Records|Brunswick]], but also because their brief existence did not allow them to establish any kind of market presence.

After Edison Records closed down in October 1929, many of the employees were transferred to manufacturing radios. Edison's remaining wax masters and thousands of metal master molds, including unissued experimental recordings dating to several years before Diamond Discs were commercially introduced (many in a never-released {{convert|12|in|adj=on}} format), were purchased by [[Henry Ford]], and became part of the collection of the [[Henry Ford Museum]]. They were recently deaccessioned by the museum and sent to the Edison Historic Site (National Park Service) in New Jersey. Some of the Edison catalogue is in the [[public domain]] and available for download at the [[Library of Congress]] website.