by Record-changer »
Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:26 am
In the years between World War I and World War II, isolationism reared its ugly head. Several governments, including the United Kingdom and Germany, required foreign companies operating within their borders to divest their holdings, and domestic companies to stop operating overseas. Victor, Columbia, and Decca were victims of this government greed.
Victor was split into three companies:
- The German company we know know as Deutche Grammophon
- The American Victor Talking Machine Company, later to become RCA Victor
- The British company His Master's Voice
Since the trademark laws were not international, each of these three companies got the use of the "nipper" painting as a trademark in their own countries. But this then caused a marketing problem, because these companies could not sell records in the other two countries, due to the trademark ownerships by different companies. So each company developed alternate labels for selling records in other countries:
- Deutche Grammophon sold records in the UK and US on the Angel label.
- RCA Victor sold records in foreign countries on the RCA Camden label.
- HMV used the Parlophone and Electrola labels in the US and Germany.
Philips-Decca and Columbia had similar problems.
Decca was divided into four companies:
- Philips Decca is in the Netherlands and Germany, with the Philips label for other countries.
- English Decca is in the UK, with the London label for other countries.
- US Decca is in the US, with Norelco and several other labels for other countries.
- French Decca became Polydor, used for all sales.
Columbia was divided into English Columbia and American Columbia. American Columbia used the Okeh label for foreign sales for a while.