Decca
Multinational label; also appears as Decca Records. Label code: LC 0171 / LC 00171. This is the LABEL to use, regardless of whether the COMPANY behind is The Decca Record Company Limited (formerly owned by its founder Edward Lewis and PolyGram) or Decca Records, Inc. (formerly owned by MCA), or whichever else. Former stockbroker Edward Lewis formed The Decca Record Company Limited in the United Kingdom on February 28, 1929. It was founded for Brunswick Ltd., which was founded locally by Brunswick-Balke-Collender and the German Polyphon Musik. The company started releasing records under the Decca trademark. A US branch, Decca Records, Inc., was launched on August 4th, 1934. The first US Decca label was a Sunburst design (also referred to as three-dimensional), but that design disappeared in 1937. The sunburst design was replaced by a Decca in block lettering (also referred to as two-dimensional), mainly blue and red. This branch was sold off during World War II, but the UK & US companies continued to release each other’s recordings in their respective territories. In the UK, US Decca recordings were released on the Brunswick label from 1934 until February 1968, when the MCA Records label was established. Brunswick was also used elsewhere in Europe and other countries. However, some European countries released recordings from the two companies on the same Decca label, sometimes with the extra slogan “American Series”. In 1935, The Decca Record Company Limited contracted with EMI companies in Australia, New Zealand, India and elsewhere for the release of UK & US Decca recordings in those territories. This deal gave US Decca the rights to release recordings from the Parlophone and Odeon labels in North America. In 1947, The Decca Record Company established the London Records trademark in the US, Canada, South America, and the Far East, as they couldn't use their own Decca trademark in those territories anymore. In the early 1960’s, following MCA, Inc.’s acquisition of US Decca, the company name appearing on releases became Decca Records, A Division Of MCA, Inc. The company name became MCA Records, Inc. in 1971. MCA Records was then established as an American label in 1973 to replace the Decca, Coral, Kapp Records, Uni Records and Vocalion labels. At the end of 1968 Decca UK had stopped preparing separate monos and stereos for new recordings and instead relied on compatible mixes. There was a shrinking demand for mono, but still enough to make the issues lucrative. To save the cost of printing two different covers, they made a common one with a die-cut hole on the top right of the back cover and separating the issues with different inner sleeves - blue stereo and red mono. This was used for most labels distributed by UK Decca record group (one exception being RCA). The 1970s were disastrous for the UK Decca label. Although The Decca Company set up the first of the British "progressive" labels, Deram, in 1966, by the time the punk era set in 1977, Decca had become known primarily as a classical label. Label founder Edward Lewis died in January 1980, and PolyGram acquired the Decca labels within days of his death. EMI outside the US, Europe and UK lost their rights to Decca on 31 July 1981. Decca was revived as a US label for reissues in the 1980’s and 1990’s, some of these in conjunction with the GRP label. Decca Records Nashville was also formed to release new country recordings. In 1997, Seagram bought out MCA/Universal, giving them ownership of Decca US. They then acquired Decca UK's parent company PolyGram in 1998, thus consolidating Decca trademark ownership under the new Universal Music Group. The recordings from the two Deccas have not, however, been reconsolidated under the Decca label, with reissues of US recordings typically appearing on the Geffen Records, MCA Nashville, Verve Records and Deutsche Grammophon imprints. Today, Decca is a leading label for both classical music and Broadway scores. Decca Music Group Limited also includes the Philips Classics label, and those labels are grouped together with the Deutsche Grammophon and ECM labels into the Universal Classics group. This label contains releases in multinational markets. Do NOT create imprints for different countries. Cover that information on new releases with the country field and with company links, rights societies, labelcode etc. For all unofficial releases (bootlegs, counterfeits ... , pirate compilations) that pretend to be a release of Decca please use Decca (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Companies related to Decca: UK: The Decca Record Company Limited, later Decca Music Group Limited – original company founded in 1929; subsidiary company name Brunswick Ltd., acquired by Decca in 1932, appears on Brunswick label releases for licensed US recordings until 1968. MCA Records Ltd. - company name us…