Vocalion - Biography

Biography - Vocalion

Australia

The Aeolian Company (Australia) Ltd., formerly The Pianola Company Pty., Ltd., had been at 49-59 Coppin Street, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, since the building was built in 1921.

In January, 1927, the Vocalion Gramophone Company Ltd., began converting part of the existing building, 49-50 Coppin Street, into a record factory and plant. It was described as a large, modern, brick building, in which there was plant and machinery capable of producing 4,000,000 Records per annum. Record production began mid 1927, with the first records coming off the presses in late July of that year.

The Vocalion Gramophone Company, Ltd., formed Vocalion (Foreign) Ltd., in March, 1928, to aquire Vocalion's Australian factory and business.

Later that year, a recording studio was established on the second floor of 654-664 Bourke Street, Melbourne. It was equipped with an electrical recording plant, and operated under an exclusive licence by the Marconi Wireless & Telegraph Company Ltd.

In May, 1930, ".. the assets in Australasia of Vocalion (Foreign) Ltd., [were] purchased by a group of Australian and New Zealand investors and a new company [Vocalion (Australasia) Ltd., was] formed ...". - source listed below.

Now an Australian company, royalties no longer needed to be paid to the Vocalion Gramophone Company, Ltd., England. This allowed for cheaper prices, with the price dropping from 4/- to 2/6.

After going into liquidation around October, 1931, the company was purchased by Moulded Products (Australasia), Pty., Ltd., in January, 1932.

More information on this label can be found here, halfway down the page.

DISCOGRAPHY

A good discography can be found at www.78rpm.net.nz.

Along with the Vocalion label, they also pressed a number of other labels, too. These were: Aco, Arcadia, Broadcast, Broadcast Twelve, Broadcast De Luxe, Embassy (8000 Series), Gaiety, Gennett, Polydor, Savoy, and Vocalion Midget.

KA-12000 12" Series

An Australian catalogue series containing five records: KA-12001 to KA-12005.

XA-18000 10" Series

An Australian catalogue series introduced in 1927. This series ranged from XA-18001 to XA-18081.

500 10" Series

In mid 1928, the Vocalion label was discontinued and was replaced by the new Broadcast label. However, it was still used for some private recordings up until it was re-introduced in May, 1930, this time replacing the Broadcast labels. It started at 500 and finished at 853 in mid/late 1931.

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SOURCES

Main source used: trove.nla.gov.au - Digital newspaper resource by the National Library of Australia.

- Factory - to be erected
- Vocalion Gramophone Co. Ltd. - now Vocalion (Foreign) Ltd.
- The Vocalion Studio
- Vocalion (Foreign) Ltd. - assets purchased
- Vocalion (Foreign) Ltd. - now Vocalion (Australasia) Ltd.
- Vocalion (Australasia) Ltd. - purchased by Moulded Products (Australasia) Pty., Ltd.

See Also

- Biography: Aco AUS
- Biography: Arcadia AUS
- Biography: Broadcast AUS
- Biography: Broadcast Twelve AUS
- Biography: Broadcast De Luxe AUS
- Biography: Embassy AUS
- Biography: Polydor AUS

- Biography: Decca AUS

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