Talk:His Master's Voice

Victor, Columbia, HMV phograph companies switch from old acoustic mechanical recording methods to new electric microphone technology

From 1925, the only other page that mentions HMV.

Yes, it's an orphan, But I don't know where to link it. Perhaps a list of record companies? Malcolm Farmer 10:39 Nov 7, 2002 (UTC)

Surely in the UK at least, EMI is the owner of HMV, not Virgin. Though maybe there is now a distinction between the stores, and the record label. -- User:David Martland

I've added a quick google around to vague memories, and what I've come up with is this:

The "His Master's Voice" trademark was owned by EMI in the UK (& Empire?) but by RCA Victor in the USA. Presumably the artist sold the rights seperately.
The HMV shops chain (which also now owns Waterstones bookshops) was floated in May 2002; It was previously 43% owned by EMI.
EMI owns Virgin Records and has done for about ten years now.
Virgin group still owns (or part-owns) the Virgin Megastores retail chain and also owns V2 records.

Does that help? I don't know who now owns the HMV trademark in the USA, but HMV shops seems to be in the UK, Canada and Japan, but not the USA.

--rbrwr

My latest information:

The Gramophone Company (in the UK) bought all rights to "His Master's Voice" in 1899.
It sold US rights to the Victor company in 1901.
Victor bought the Gramophone Company in 1920.
RCA bought Victor in 1929.
EMI was formed as the (British?) wing of RCA/Columbia/Parlophone in 1931. See EMI.
EMI was (apparently) spun off again, owning UK rights to "His Master's Voice" while RCA Victor owned them in the USA.
RCA is now owned by Thomson, and uses Nipper (and another dog, Chipper) but no gramophone.
The RCA Victor label (with the "His Master's Voice" logo) is owned by BMG-Bertelsmann.

Sources: http://www.ketupa.net/emi.htm - http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/EDC/CAC/m100/nipper.html -http://www.emigroup.com/ - http://www.rca.com/ - http://www.bmg.com/ - http://www.rcaredseal-rcavictor.com/

No dogs were harmed in the making of this comment.

--rbrwr

Think there should be a mention or link to Brian Epstein, who of course was running an HMV store when he "discovered" The Beatles? On one hand, it's probably the most famous HMV store in music history, on the other hand, I'm not sure it really has anything to do with the history of HMV. What does everyone think?

I think you should read Brian Epstein, which will tell you it was the NEMS shop that Epstein managed, not HMV. Unless you disgree with that? --rbrwr 22:39 Nov 29, 2002 (UTC)

'doh, you're right. Sorry. My memory was foggy I guess. The Beatles connection to HMV was this.. Epstein, visited an HMV store to have the Beatles demo tapes copied in its recording studio. An HMV technician named Jim Foy heard the songs and told EMI's George Martin about them, which in part led to the eventual record contract for the Beatles.

That might be worth putting in, but there are bigger problems with this article... --rbrwr

There seem to be three overlapping topics of interest here:

The painting His Master's Voice.
Use of the painting (and the name "His Master's Voice") as a trademark, by RCA-Victor and EMI, including its current status.
The "HMV Shop" retail chain (UK/Canada/Japan).

I'm not sure whether they're best dealt with in one article or not, or whether it should be at HMV or His Master's Voice...

--rbrwr

The article does a good job blending all this related history together. I do wonder about the comment that disc were pre-recorded only. I know Edison machines could record and playback and I thought early disc machines could too until they figured out that people could use them to make copies and not send all their money to record companies. But maybe I misremember. Ortolan88