Project Tag: Columbia Records

Velvet Tone Records

Velvet Tone Record

Velvet Tone Records (1925-1932)

Velvet Tone was introduced in 1925 by Columbia as a budget label. It was discontinued in 1932. The label recorded 1,500 records and focused mainly on pseudonymous performances by Columbia stars and miscellaneous free-lance musicians. The exception was that in 1930 a 7000 series was introduced devoted to blues and race items. The label relied on acoustic recordings rather than the newer technology of electrical recordings.

Velvet Tone Record
Record Label: 1925-1932 Velvet Tone with a four-point star and in bright blue and gold coloring.

Sources
—http://www.columbiarecords.com/timeline/#!date=1893-09-14_09:55:12!
—http://lp-originales.info/documents/online_editable_page_1.php
–Rust, Brian. The American Record Label Book. Arlington House Publishers, NY. 1978.
–Sutton, Nauck. American Record Labels and Companies: An Encyclopedia (1891-1943). Mainspring Press, CO.2000.

Clarion Records

Clarion

Clarion Records (1930-1932)

Clarion Records was a budget label for Columbia records. Clarion was introduced in Aug. 1930 and was discontinued in June 1932 after only 477 releases. It appears the label started from 5000 and ended with 5477. The label focused mainly on children’s and novelty records. It sold for 35 cents.

Some Clarions are experimental “Longer Playing Disc” with thinner grooves to accompany a longer track (4:30-5:00 minutes). A special note about Clarion was the fact that two other different labels also called Clarion did exist. Below is the label for Columbia.

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