Emerson Records
Encyclopedia
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
active in the United States between 1916 to 1928. Emerson Records produced between the 1910s and early 1920s offered generally above average audio fidelity
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
for the era, pressed in high quality shellac
Shellac
Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes , which are dissolved in ethyl alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and wood finish...
. The fidelity of the later issues compares less favorably.
Emerson was founded by Victor H. Emerson, an employee for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
from the 1890s. In 1916 he began his namesake company, producing 7-inch gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
that sold for 25 cents
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
each and 5½-inch discs that sold for 10 cents each. Early fare included popular tunes, dance numbers and patriotic marches, mostly recorded by small groups of unnamed musicians hired in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. They were credited as the "Emerson Orchestra" or sometimes grandly, "The Emerson Symphony Orchestra". In January 1918 Emerson added a line of 9-inch records that sold for 75 cents. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Emerson began an ambitious expansion of the business, and in 1919 it finally introduced a line of common industry standard 10-inch discs for 85 cents and increased to one dollar the following year.
The year 1919 saw the debut of a series of 12-inch Emerson discs, mostly of Classical music, retailing for US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.25. At the same time, more popular "big name" artists were hired to record for the label including Wilbur Sweatman
Wilbur Sweatman
Wilbur C. Sweatman was an African-American ragtime and dixieland jazz composer, bandleader, and clarinetist....
, Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
, the Six Brown Brothers
Six Brown Brothers
The Six Brown Brothers were a Canadian vaudeville era saxophone sextet consisting of six brothers. The brothers were, William, Tom , Alec, Percy, Fred and Vern Brown. The Brown Brothers lived in Lindsay, Ontario until 1893. The first instrumentation consisted of a saxophone quintet The Six Brown...
, and the Louisiana Five
Louisiana Five
The Louisiana Five was an early dixieland jazz band that was active from 1918-1920. It was among the earliest jazz groups to record extensively.-History:The Louisiana Five was led by Anton Lada, who played the drums....
. Somewhat later, the label also recorded Lizzie Miles
Lizzie Miles
Lizzie Miles was the stage name taken by Elizabeth Mary Landreaux , an African American blues singer.-Career:...
, Eubie Blake
Eubie Blake
James Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...
, Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...
, and the Original Memphis Five.
Other noteworthy artists who recorded for Emerson included John W. Myers, Henry Burr
Henry Burr
Henry Burr was a Canadian singer of popular songs from the early 20th century, an early radio performer and producer...
and The Peerless Quartet
Peerless Quartet
The Peerless Quartet, , was a vocal group from the acoustic era . It was organised in 1904 as the Columbia Quartet. It remained active until 1928 and had many changes of personnel during that time, the one constant being Henry Burr...
, Billy Golden, Collins & Harlan
Collins & Harlan
Collins & Harlan, the team of Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan formed a popular comic duet between 1903 and 1926. They sang ragtime standards as well as what were known as "Coon songs" - music sung by white performers in a black dialect. Their material also employed many other stereotypes of the...
, Sally Hamlin
Sally Hamlin
Sally Hamlin was a child actor and recording artist. She was the daughter of Dr. Cyrus E. Hamlin and Hattie Bennion; also the great-granddaughter of former U.S. Vice President Hannibal Hamlin...
, Dan Quinn
Dan Quinn
Daniel Peter Quinn is a Canadian professional golfer and former professional ice hockey player. Quinn played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
, Sam Ash
Sam Ash
Sam Ash was founded in 1924, and is the largest family owned chain of musical instrument stores in the United States. Sam Ash sells musical instruments, recording equipment, DJ and lighting equipment, and professional sound equipment.The Company record shows annual revenue is $1b to $5b &...
, Vernon Dalhart
Vernon Dalhart
Vernon Dalhart , born Marion Try Slaughter, was a popular American singer and songwriter of the early decades of the 20th century. He is a major influence in the field of country music.-Early life:...
, Van & Schenk, Ada Jones
Ada Jones
Ada Jones was a popular mezzo-soprano who recorded from 1905 to the early 1920s. She was born in Lancashire, England but moved with her family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of six in 1879...
, and Homer Rodeheaver
Homer Rodeheaver
Homer Alvan Rodeheaver was an American evangelist, music director, music publisher, composer of gospel songs, and pioneer in the recording of sacred music.- Early career :...
.
In May 1920, Emerson opened a second recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Emerson's expansions over-extended the company finances and forced it into receivership in 1921. In May 1922 investors Benjamin Abrams
Benjamin Abrams
Benjamin Abrams was a Romanian-born American businessman and a founder of Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corporation after his purchase of Emerson Records in 1922...
and Rudolph Kararek purchased the Emerson Company for US$50,000 and raised an additional US$200,000 of capital to revive the business. Emerson records were then sold for 50 cents each. In 1924 the investors sold Emerson to the Scranton Button Company
Scranton Button Company
The Scranton Button Company was a U.S. corporation, founded in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1885.For much of its early history it was controlled by Canadian immigrant William Connell . Connell's family moved to Scranton when he was a small child, and at the age of 7 he left school to work in the coal...
of Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
. About this time, electric microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
s replaced mechanical recording techniques, and Emerson switched to the new method of sound recording in 1926. Scranton Button Co. halted production of new records by its Emerson subsidiary in 1928, but the company retained the name and later applied it to a line of radio
Emerson Radio
Emerson Radio Corporation was founded in 1948. It is one of the United States’ largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912...
s.
The company also issued so-called "race records" marketed to the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
demographic.