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| Concert Hall/Varieton/Musical Masterpieces/Jazztone |
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| 20th Nov 2015, 10:28 AM | #1 REPORT | |
 | KeithS SUBS Member since Dec 2009 12492 Points Moderator | These companies are all from the same post-order/Record Club Source Concert Hall used MMS ,Jazztone and Varieton as their post order labels. They were obviously sold all over the world in their different guises. Unless the packaging is specifically aimed at a certain country, its difficult to categorise them. Can we agree that those that we list under UK should include the extra "Record first published" text.....that could be a good start in the identification process Edited by privatecitizen on 22nd Nov 2015, 7:28 AM |
| 20th Nov 2015, 1:55 PM | #2 REPORT | |
 | Juke Jules SUBS Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow Member since Jan 2011 4138 Points Moderator | Thanks for raising this question We could do with a label biography in Vinyl World, International links and links between these labels There has not been much attention to this relationship on 45cat either: I see that KeithS has contributed a bio for Jazztone there |
| 21st Nov 2015, 5:48 PM | #3 REPORT | |
 | Pridesale Member since Mar 2013 805 Points | Concert Hall/ /Musical Masterpieces have been noted as closely related, and the difficulties of figuring out exactly what ( on 45cat ) is a meaningful country of issue. Is there any paperwork, adverts in journals, order forms around that could help ? |
| 13th Oct 2016, 8:47 AM | #4 REPORT | |
| keebrev Member since Aug 2016 464 Points | Here you find the story of the Dutch "Muzikale Meesterwerken Serie". Type MMS in the "Zoeken" machine and you will find two pages of MMS history in Holland and Europe. The pages are in the Dutch language. The MMS in the Netherlands had in their high tide days four (4)! shops in the main cities |
| 13th Oct 2016, 12:39 PM | #5 REPORT | |
| Juke Jules SUBS Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow Member since Jan 2011 4138 Points Moderator | Thanks for the excellent links, now added to the 45cat biography for MMS There is still plenty of work needed to link up all these labels on 45cat |
| 13th Oct 2016, 2:20 PM | #6 REPORT | |
| Juke Jules SUBS Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow Member since Jan 2011 4138 Points Moderator | The related labels on 45cat are Concert Hall, Gala International, Populaire Platen Kring, Pop Parade, Varieton, Jazztone, |
| 14th Oct 2016, 4:01 PM | #7 REPORT | |
| KeithS SUBS Member since Dec 2009 12492 Points Moderator | Here's what I've got on Concert Hall.....any further input welcome CONCERT HALL GROUP In The US Started by The Josefowitz brothers Concert Hall Society was advertising LP’s in record catalogues starting 1950 The Handel Society began in late 1951 and discs were available in 1952 catalogues The Chamber Music Society began in May 1952 and offered LP’s in red vinyl All above three labels were available in retail stores but in an effort to supply customers in a post order club form , Musical Masterworks Society was formed. Legal problems with Columbia over the “Masterworks” title led to a renaming - Musical Masterpiece Society. In 1953, popularity of the series meant a change of address to larger premises Nov 1954 Billboard Bell records have closed a deal with Musical Masterpieces for the distribution of its Pop Music Masters in various European countries. MMS and its affiliate Concert Hall operate mail order record clubs here and abroad MMS will now have access to Bell masters it feels suitable for exploitation in European countries where it currently operates including France, Holland Switzerland and Western Germany. The deal will not include Great Britain where Bell are attempting a separate deal. Also excluded are Belgium & Luxembourg The Varieton label was used for Pop Material 1955 Billboard “Concert Hall With its Musical Masterpiece Society, Opera Society and Jazztone is operating in virtually all European countries:- Holland, France, Germany, Italy. The biggest operation is in West Germany where most of the records are pressed Jazztone began 1955 In 1955 Concert Hall had bought the master recordings of the defunct Dial and Pax labels and began the Jazztone imprint releasing an impressive array of artists into the European market – all available through a catalogue and post order service. Each month an archive recording and a new recording would appear and in August it was reported that ten albums were already in the catalogue In March 1955 they announced that these same recordings would now be available in retail shops but on the Concert Hall Label. Jazztone will now be only 12” discs but Concert Hall can still be available on 10”. According to the Sound Foundation site, Jazztone ceased to be in 1960 May 1955 Billboard Concert Hall has acquired the mail-order rights for Milt Gabler’s Commodore label for release on Jazztone. Among the Commodore masters are sides by Jelly Roll Morton from when Gabler bought out Hazard Reeves’ General Records May 1956 Billboard Concert Hall varies its operations in each country.Many of its discs are pressed in the US. Some are made in one European country and shipped to another. In some countries the outfit simply supplies the discs to a local mail order promoter – in others it maintains its own organisation. |
| 14th Oct 2016, 4:01 PM | #8 REPORT | |
| KeithS SUBS Member since Dec 2009 12492 Points Moderator | The Sale to Crowell- Collier Publishing Company The US part of the Concert Hall catalogue was sold to Crowell- Collier Publishing Company in July 1956. . Crowell-Collier bought only the US operation with a view to expanding their market for pre- recorded tapes The Josefowitz brothers will act for C-C in an advisory capacity In Europe, nothing changed and it was business as usual Nov 1956 Billboard Crowell-Collier in trouble with Vanguard Records for advertising tracks with Count Basie as “Guest” which shouldn’t have been made known for contractual reasons but on the up side they had just signed a contract to lease RCA Victor archive Jazz masters Spring 1957 March Ad in Billboard wants distributors to stock more product and an effort is being made to clear out non-sellers so everyone can concentrate on the good stuff Under new management, Concert Hall recordings were being offered at a knock down price with the note that certain were discontinued items and will never again be available CHS 1500, 1501 and 1502 announced as new releases June 1957 Crowell-Collier have acquired the rights to Dave Brubeck masters in a deal with Fantasy records. Releases will appear on the Jazztone label and must not compete with any Fantasy product. September 1957 Crowell-Collier trying to sell the whole Concert Hall Group even though everything is operating as usual with scheduled release etc. During C-C ownership much has been remastered and repackaged…newly recorded and new leasings made….BUT November 1957 Some key personnel leave C-C and set up their own production company called Bouree. George T. Simon is President. Alan Silver of Concert Hall and Jazztone will be Production manager December 1957 Crowell-Collier signs a deal with Urania Record Distributors whereby from Jan 01 1958 Urania will become responsible for the whole disc and stereo tape catalogues and a comment that” the mail order activities of Concert Hall and Jazztone will be sharply curtailed during the early months of 1958” |
| 14th Oct 2016, 4:02 PM | #9 REPORT | |
| KeithS SUBS Member since Dec 2009 12492 Points Moderator | General The early MMS and Jazztone releases were originally 10” LP’s – being cheaper to produce than the 12” Concert Hall versions. Their artwork was basic to keep down the costs.. In Germany, England, France and Switzerland and Belgium MMS offices were quite active with their own distribution through selling club members. Label marking codes Labels marked "Tu" were pressed in Switzerland by Turicaphon..and the company still exists today Labels marked "AH" were pressed in Holland by Artone Labels marked "P" were pressed in Germany by Philips In Switzerland The earliest foreign contacts had been with Swiss artists which then led to the opening of a sales area in Switzerland. In 1953 communication is established with the Swiss Book Club and publishing house "ExLibris" to distribute recordings. Concert Hall, Jazztone and MMS were imported and completed with Swiss packaging. bearing"Grammo Club Ex Libris" markings. In Holland Holland was the next country to be contacted. In the early years of MMS , the liner notes were in English. By the mid fifties, for the Dutch market , mostly German texts were used. Certain records, especially the introductory ones, which addressed themselves to a new public, there was a Dutch text. MMS then operated under the name of Musical Masterpieces Series. The Stereo requirement of the early 1960 caused a gradual decline in MMS activity whose stock was mainly Mono. MMS in Holland dwindled away faster than most In France the Musical Masterpiece Society name was not adopted – there it became “Guilde Internationale du Disque”. They began in 1954 and were still operating into the 1980’s In Finland Concert Hall first registered as a trading company June 1962 Beginning in the early 1960’s the Concert Hall Group continued their mail order service and offered a catalogue of mixed popular music and copies of current hit parade material which various countries released on their own affiliated labels.Similar packaging was used although content could vary between countries. France had Vargal Gala Des Varietes..which became Gala Des Varietes Germany used Sans Souci Scandinavia had Gala International Holland had Populaire Platen Kring UK had Pop Parade A Quote from the soundfoundation site “From 1956 on, The MMS Label is no longer available in Europe” In the first half of the 1960’s, copyright notices appear where the writers belong to Stereone Corporation. A check on that name shows that they are the registered owners of the MMS trade mark which they registered in 1960 and after 25 years was then considered expired The advent of stereo meant that the Concert Hall organisation dwindled to next to nothing but revived itself in the 1970’s with Syncro Stereo Edited by privatecitizen on 22nd Oct 2016, 9:43 AM |
| 15th Oct 2016, 4:35 PM | #10 REPORT | |
| keebrev Member since Aug 2016 464 Points | Thanks for the information private citizen! So now all the records with these label marking code can be put from the unknown into the right country. Actually, all MMS records must play with a 33 1/3 Rpm speed, so they don't belong in the 45Cat World. The Vinyl World is the correct one.....or am I wrong? Is it possible to extend the "record type" field with 7" records? It's just the same thing with the (scare) 7" 78 Rpm records (Philips) in the 78World. Edited by keebrev on 15th Oct 2016, 4:57 PM |
| 16th Oct 2016, 1:43 PM | #11 REPORT | |
| Juke Jules SUBS Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow Member since Jan 2011 4138 Points Moderator | Please put all the 7" 33rpm records on 45cat and all 78s on 78cat. The allocation of formats was decided in the early days of 45cat |
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Vinyl Albums : Live Music : 78 RPM : CD Albums : CD Singles : 12" Singles : 7" Singles : Tape Media : Classical Music : Music Memorabilia : Cinema : TV Series : DVD & Blu-ray : Magazines : Books : Video Games : Create Your Own World
Latest » Items : Comments : Price Guide : Reviews : Ratings : Images : Lists : Videos : Tags : Collected : Wanted : Top 50 : Random
45worlds for music, movies, books etc : 45cat for 7" singles : 45spaces for hundreds more worlds