Classic RCA corporate logo, also used on foreign RCA record releases until retired in 1968. Revived by BMG from 1987 to 2016 for RCA Records worldwide and still appears on RCA Nashville division releases and some reissues.
In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) purchased the
phonograph records. The company then became the RCA Victor Division of RCA. In absorbing Victor, RCA acquired the New World rights to the famous Nipper/"His Master's Voice" trademark
In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 331⁄3 rpm records sold to the public, calling them "Program Transcription" records. These used a shallower and more closely spaced implementation of the large "standard groove" found on contemporary 78 rpm records, rather than the "microgroove" used for post-World War II 331⁄3 rpm "LP" (long play) records. The format was a commercial failure, partly because the new Victrolas with two-speed turntables designed to play these records were exorbitantly priced, the least expensive model retailing for $395.00 in the depths of the Great Depression. By 1933, the format was abandoned and two-speed turntables were no longer offered, but some Program Transcriptions lingered in the Victor record catalog until the end of the 1930s.[5]
During the early days of the Depression, RCA Victor made a number of attempts to create a successful low-priced label to compete with "
dime store labels" such as Perfect, Oriole, Banner, and Melotone. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931, sold exclusively by Montgomery Ward. Bluebird Records was created in 1932 as a sub-label of Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a dark blue label, alongside the 8-inch Electradisk label (sold by F.W. Woolworth
). Neither label was a success. In 1933, RCA Victor reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label (Bluebird's label was redesigned, and it became known as the 'buff' label). Another discount label, Sunrise, was produced (although it is not known for whom it was produced, as Sunrise records are exceptionally rare today). The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and the Bluebird label is still in existence today, nine decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued.
Besides manufacturing its own records, RCA's Custom Record Division was the leading record manufacturer for
The Reader's Digest Association
.
EMI
RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1938, but EMI continued to distribute RCA Victor recordings in the UK and its territories on the HMV label until 1957. RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV recordings on the RCA Victor and special HMV labels in North America.[16]
World War II era
Due to hostilities between Japan and the United States during
From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the
recording ban. Virtually all union musicians in the US and Canada were forbidden from making recordings during the period. One of the few exceptions was the eventual release of recorded radio broadcast performances from the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini. However, RCA Victor lost the Philadelphia Orchestra during this period; the orchestra's contract with RCA Victor expired during the strike and when Columbia Records settled with the union before RCA, Eugene Ormandy
and the Philadelphians signed a new contract with Columbia and began recording in 1944. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra would not return to RCA until 1968.
The post-war 1940s
Standard RCA Victor 78 RPM label design from just after the end of World War II until 1954
In the spring of 1946, "RCA Victor" replaced "Victor" on its record labels. In 1949, RCA Victor introduced the 7-inch 45
vinylite record, marketed simply as the "45". The new format, which had been under development for over a decade, was originally intended to replace 78 rpm discs.[17] By the time RCA Victor unveiled it, the 45 was now competing with the 10-inch and 12-inch 331⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl "LP" (Long Play) discs introduced by arch-rival Columbia Records in the early summer of 1948. In heavy promotion, RCA Victor sold compact, inexpensive add-on and stand-alone units that played the 45 rpm format exclusively. At first, RCA Victor's 45s were issued on colored vinyl according to the musical genre: contemporary pop music on black vinyl (47-xxxx series), prestigious Broadway musicals and operettas on "midnight blue" vinyl (52-xxxx series), classical music on red vinyl (49-xxxx series), country and polka on green (48-xxxx series), children's fare on yellow (also in the 47-xxxx series), rhythm and blues on orange or cerise (50-xxxx series), and international on light blue (51-xxxx series). This array of colors complicated the production process, and the practice was soon discontinued, all records becoming black. Yellow and red Red Seal records held on until about 1952. The first 45 rpm record manufactured was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0147 pressed December 7, 1948 at the Sherman Drive plant in Indianapolis. The use of vinyl, which was much more expensive than the gritty shellac compound normally used for 78s, was actually cheaper because of the smaller diameter and greatly reduced bulk of the new records, which required very little raw material. The smaller, lightweight discs were also more economical to store and ship.[18]
RCA Victor marketed the 45 as a direct replacement for 10-inch and 12-inch 78 rpm records, which typically played for about three and four minutes per side respectively. The company also released some "
Ketèlbey's In a Persian Market. RCA Victor issued boxed sets of four to six 45s, each set providing about the same amount of music as one LP (an extreme example of these 45 rpm boxed sets was the complete 1951 recording of the opera Carmen, featuring Risë Stevens and Jan Peerce, conducted by Fritz Reiner
, which consisted of sixteen 45 rpm discs). In the case of operas, symphonies and other complete recordings of classical music, there was an interruption every four minutes as one record side ended and another side began. These disruptive "side breaks", a nuisance long familiar to listeners of album sets of classical and operatic 78 rpm records, were minimized by an extremely fast automatic record-changing mechanism that was a core feature of RCA Victor's 45 players. Thanks in large degree to RCA Victor's massive five million dollar advertising campaign, the 45 became the preferred speed for pop music singles, overtaking U.S. sales of the same material on 78s by 1954, but Columbia's LP prevailed as the favored format for classical music and convenient one-disc "album" collections of eight or more pop songs. RCA Victor finally bowed to the inevitable and announced its intention to issue LPs in January, 1950.
1950s
Boston Pops Orchestra, which had been recorded in Boston's Symphony Hall on June 20, 1947; the record was given the catalogue number LM-1001. Non-classical LP record albums were issued with the prefix "LPM". When RCA Victor began issuing classical LPs in stereophonic sound in 1958, the prefix "LSC" was used. Non-classical stereo LPs were issued with the prefix "LSP". RCA utilized these catalog prefixes until 1973, when they were changed to "ARL1" and "APL1" for stereo classical and stereo non-classical single LPs, respectively.[19][20]
During the 1950s, RCA Victor had three subsidiary or specialty labels: Groove, Vik and "X".
The edition of Billboard magazine dated April 11, 1953, announced a new RCA Victor subsidiary label, its first to use independent distribution and was nameless when it was first revealed. For the lack of any better designation, Billboard chose to refer to the new, unnamed label in the story as Label "X"; the new label began to hire staffers and decide on a direction, and the name stuck until 1955. RCA Victor officially announced the formation of label "X" on April 20, 1953. Groove was an
R&B specialty label founded in 1954 and folded into Vik in 1957;[21]
the Vik label was discontinued the following year.
From the label's beginnings in 1902, and intensifying through the 1940s and 1950s, RCA Victor was in direct competition with
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
under contracts.
On October 6, 1953, RCA Victor held experimental stereophonic sessions in New York City's Manhattan Center with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of New York City musicians in performances of
Charles Münch, in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. This began a practice of simultaneously recording orchestras with both stereophonic and monaural equipment. Other early stereo recordings were made of Toscanini's final NBC concerts (never officially issued) and Guido Cantelli respectively, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra; the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. Initially, RCA used RT-21 quarter-inch tape recorders (which ran at 30 inches per second), wired to mono mixers, with Neumann U-47 cardioid and M-49/50 omnidirectional microphones. Then they switched to an Ampex 300–3 one-half inch machine, running at 15 inches per second (which was later increased to 30 inches per second). These recordings were initially issued in 1955 on special stereophonic reel-to-reel tapes and then, beginning in 1958, on vinyl LPs with the "Living Stereo" logo. RCA has continued to reissue many of these "Living Stereo" recordings on CD.[22] Another 1953 project for RCA was converting the acoustically superior building Webster Hall
into its main East Coast recording studio. RCA Victor operated this studio venue from 1953 to 1968.
In September 1954, RCA Victor introduced "Gruve-Gard" where the center and edge of a record are thicker
than the playing area, reducing scuff marks during handling and when stacked on a turntable with an automatic record changer.[23] Most competitors quickly adopted the raised label and edges.
In 1955, RCA Victor purchased the recording contract of Elvis Presley from Sun Records for the then-exorbitant sum of $40,000. His first single for RCA Victor was "Heartbreak Hotel", recorded in January 1956. Ten million Presley singles were sold by the label during 1956; Presley went on to become RCA Victor's biggest selling artist.
Effective in 1957, EMI/HMV ended its 55-year association with RCA Victor, after EMI's acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955.[24][25] Capitol then became the main distributor for EMI recordings in the Americas; Decca Records became the manufacturer and distributor for RCA Victor in the United Kingdom, using the RCA lightning bolt logo, instead of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark for which EMI held the rights to in the U.K. and Europe.
RCA set up its own British manufacturing and distribution in 1969.[26][27]
RCA Victor issued several spoken word albums in the 1950s and 60s, notably the soundtracks of the films
, who also played Desdemona in the Olivier Othello). None of these albums have appeared on compact disc, but the films of Richard III, A Man For All Seasons, The Taming of the Shrew and the filmed version of Olivier's Othello have all been issued on DVD.
1960s
In 1960, RCA Victor announced the Compact 33 double extended play and singles; these were 7 inch records, which played at 33 1/3 rpm. In January 1961, the Compact 33 discs were released simultaneously with their 45 rpm counterparts. The long-term goal was to phase out the 45 rpm disc, but sales of the new records were poor and by early 1962 the campaign had failed.[30]
In 1963, RCA Victor introduced Dynagroove which added computer technology to the disc cutting process, ostensibly to improve sound reproduction. Whether or not the complex process was actually an improvement is still debated among audiophiles. RCA quietly phased out the Dynagroove process by 1970.
In September 1965, RCA and
Stereo 8) which were first used in the 1966 line of Ford automobiles and were popular throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. (The initial release comprised 175 titles from RCA Victor and RCA Camden's
catalog of artists.)
In late 1968, RCA, attempting to modernize its image, introduced what was then a new futuristic-looking logo (the letters 'RCA' in block, modernized form), replacing the original lightning bolt logo, and the virtual retirement of both the Victor and Nipper/His Master's Voice trademarks. The Radio Corporation of America officially changed its name to the RCA Corporation; the RCA Victor Division was now known as RCA Records. The 'Victor' trademark now appeared only on the labels and album covers of RCA's regular popular record releases. The labels of RCA Victor popular record labels were changed to bright orange or yellow (becoming tan briefly late in 1975–76), replacing the traditional black label color in use since 1901. The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark was restricted to the album covers of RCA Red Seal Records.
In late 1969, RCA Records introduced a very thin, pliable, lightweight vinyl LP record known as Dynaflex. This thin, flexible record claimed to overcome warping and other problems encountered with conventional thicker LP records, but it had a similarly controversial reputation, being derided by some record collectors as "Dynawarp". RCA abandoned Dynaflex by the late 1970s and returned to making thicker vinyl records.[31]
1970s
Platinum record of album Nilsson Schmilsson, featuring the 1968–75 Orange RCA Victor label
In April 1970, RCA Records announced the first
quadraphonic 4-channel 8-track tape cartridges ("Quad-8", later called just Q8). RCA began releasing quadraphonic vinyl recordings in the United States in February 1973, in the CD-4 format developed by its former subsidiary, the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), and made commercially practical by Quadracast Systems Inc. (QSI). RCA's trade name became "Quadradisc". The CD-4 format required a special cartridge that had a ±1 db frequency response out to 50 kHz, a CD-4 demodulator which decoded the difference between the front and rear channels from a 30 kHz subcarrier, four separate amplifier channels, and four separate speakers for the left and right front and left and right rear. Both the CD-4 Quadradisc and Quad-8 tape cartridge systems were true discrete 4–4–4 quadraphonic systems. Columbia Records introduced a quadraphonic matrix system, SQ, which required a decoder, 4-channel amplifier and the four speakers. The SQ system was referred to as a 4–2–4 matrix system. The Warner Music Group labels also adopted Quadradisc, but the format never became popular, and both RCA and CBS/Columbia abandoned quadraphonic recording in 1976; some of the RCA sessions were later remastered for Dolby encoding (same as Peter Scheiber
In order to publish music in Japan, RCA collaborated with the Victor Company of Japan's publishing wing Victor Musical Industries Inc. in 1975 to found Japanese record label RVC.
In mid 1976, the RCA Corporation announced the revival of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. RCA Records reinstated Nipper to most (Victor,
T-shirts
caps, posters, coin banks, keychains, watches, coffee mugs and stuffed toys. The trademark was also restored to RCA stationery, shipping cartons and delivery and service trucks.
BMG revived the RCA "lightning bolt" logo that was retired in 1968 to differentiate RCA Records from the other RCA divisions, which GE either liquidated, sold, or closed. BMG also revived the "RCA Victor" label for Red Seal, Broadway and soundtrack releases and other musical genres outside of rock, pop and country music. In 1986, Bob Buziak, formerly an artist manager, was appointed president of the label.
During the mid-1980s, RCA Records operated at a deficit, due in part to "overpriced deals" with pop stars including
In August 1990 Buziak was replaced by Joe Galante, who had been the president of RCA Records Nashville division. The roster was cut once again and the A&R department was restructured. Along with the launch of BNA Records and the expansion of the urban music division, these initiatives would prove to be positive, but RCA was unsuccessful under Galante, ranking 10th in market share in 1995.[36][37][38][39] Galante returned to head the Nashville division and was replaced in March 1995 by the president of RCA Records Canada, Bob Jamieson.[40] Jamieson overhauled RCA, eliminating a layer of middle management and retooling the label's marketing department. The A&R department was again restructured and the artist roster cut.
By the close of the decade, RCA Records had undergone what
BMG Label Group.[43] In 2006, Sony BMG merged its former Broadway music and classical labels, including Red Seal and Gold Seal, to Sony Masterworks. Legacy Recordings
, Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division, reissued classic albums from RCA.
In April 2008, former Zomba Label Group president and CEO
The decade marked a period during which RCA Records had notable success in the pop genre, with Christina Aguilera, Kesha, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and Pitbull scoring multiple #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.[47]
2010s
In May 2011, former
Sony Music umbrella. Following the shutdown of the three labels, a majority of various artists from the rosters of Jive, Arista and/or J were shifted to release future material under RCA.[49][50][51][52]
During the first half of the decade, RCA released platinum and multi-platinum records by artists including
In 2015, RCA Records reinstated its 1968 space-age 'RCA' styled logo after utilizing the lightning bolt logo since 1987. The lightning bolt logo is still used by RCA's Nashville division.[54]
John Fleckenstein and Joe Riccitelli were appointed as co-presidents of RCA Records in January 2018.[55] Later that year, RCA named Keith Naftaly president of A&R,[56] and Tunji Balogun executive VP of A&R.[57]
2020s
In addition to releasing successful albums by Bryson Tiller, Alicia Keys, Fousheé' and Pentatonix in 2020, RCA had #1 records with Doja Cat's "Say So" feat. Nicki Minaj; Miley Cyrus' "Plastic Hearts" and Chris Brown & Young Thug's "Go Crazy". Brockhampton's single "Sugar" was certified platinum,[58] and singles by Flo Milli[59] and Latto (formerly known as "Mulatto") were certified gold.[60] Both Doja Cat and Kaytranada received multiple Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, H.E.R. received her 13th Grammy nomination, and the Strokes album The New Abnormal won for Best Rock Album. Koffee signed with RCA just after she became the first woman and the youngest person to win the Reggae Album of the Year Grammy.[61][62] In June 2020, the label partnered with the Human Rights Campaign to present the 2020 Pride Benefit Concert, a livestream supporting LGBTQ equality in June. RCA artists including Isaac Dunbar, Cam, and Citizen Queen performed.[63] SZA released the single "Good Days" on December 25.[64]
In January 2021, Mark Pitts was appointed president of RCA Records and John Fleckenstein was named chief operating officer.[65] Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales hit #1 on the Billboard R&B albums chart.[66] Tate McRae's "You Broke Me First" (stylized as "you broke me first") was quadruple platinum in Ireland, double platinum in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand, and platinum in the US, UK, Australia, Finland, France, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. She was #1 on the Billboard emerging artist chart.[67] In April 2024, Variety announced that the label had signed Thai rapper Lisa, a member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, for her venture into American solo endeavors.[68]
Broadway and Hollywood
RCA Victor has produced several notable Broadway cast albums, among them the original Broadway recordings of
film soundtrack albums of Damn Yankees, South Pacific, Bye Bye Birdie, Half a Sixpence, and The Sound of Music. The album made from the 1965 hit Julie Andrews film was (and is) one of the best selling soundtracks of all time. The film soundtrack of Oliver!, made by Colgems Records, was distributed by RCA, which had released the Broadway cast album. RCA Victor also released the original American cast album of Hair
in 1958. Contrary to the way the show is written, both of these Show Boat albums featured all-white casts, reflecting the era of racial segregation.
In 2006, Sony BMG merged its Broadway music labels, including RCA Victor, to the new
Masterworks Broadway Records
, which has remastered and reissued many of these albums.
Criticisms and controversies
Kenny Rogers
After Kenny Rogers left RCA Records in 1987, he accused the label of trying to ruin his career. Rogers had signed to RCA in 1982 for an advance sum of $20 million (the largest deal ever in country music up to that time) when Bob Summer was head of the label.[69]
Kelly Clarkson
In the summer of 2007, Kelly Clarkson and Clive Davis, then head of Sony BMG, feuded publicly regarding the direction of her album My December, the follow-up to Clarkson's multi-platinum album, Breakaway. Clarkson wrote the songs on My December, "showcasing her own songwriting on darker, edgier rock-oriented fare", and Davis insisted Clarkson work with hired hitmakers, as she had previously, on "polished, radio-friendly songs". Clarkson refused to change the album, and it was released in June 2007. It has since been certified platinum.[70][71][72]
Avril Lavigne
In November 2010, Avril Lavigne stated that the long delay of her fourth album, Goodbye Lullaby, was due to "a bunch of bureaucratic BS" related to RCA.[73] The album was ultimately released in March 2011. In October 2011, Lavigne confirmed that she had left RCA and signed with sister label Epic Records.[74][75]
Brooke Candy
In early 2017, Brooke Candy left RCA before the release of her initially planned debut studio album Daddy Issues, citing creative stifling for her departure and accusing the label of taking control of her sound and image, as well as dictating what she could publicly say and do.[76] She later claimed that she "fought, bare-fucking knuckle, to get the fuck out of [RCA]" and that Sony had taken ownership of the scrapped album's songs despite not allowing her to release them, leaving her back at square one musically.[77]
R. Kelly
RCA ignored allegations of sexual misconduct by R. Kelly,[78][79] which included running a violent cult, wherein he held teenage individuals hostage in exchange for sexual favors.[78] Kelly continued to release music for RCA through 2018, when pressure from the Mute R. Kelly campaign mounted against him.[80] In January 2019, following the broadcast of Lifetime's documentary Surviving R. Kelly, his contract was terminated by RCA.[81][82]
Other notable events
Sergei Rachmaninoff's studio master recordings were believed destroyed in the demolition of RCA Victor's Camden warehouse
In the early 1920s, Victor was slow about getting deeply involved in recording and marketing black jazz and vocal blues. By the mid-to-late 1920s, Victor had signed
race records) series, a 23000 'hot dance' continuation of the V-38000 series, as well as a 23200 'Race' series with blues, gospel and some hard jazz. However, throughout the 1930s, RCA Victor's involvement in jazz and blues slowed down and by the time of the musicians' strike and the end of the war, Victor was neglecting the R&B (race) scene, which is one of the reasons so many independent companies sprang up so successfully.[83]
In the early 1960s, RCA Victor demolished its
Jimmie Rodgers; why the masters of Sergei Rachmaninoff apparently were not saved is a mystery), but it is uncertain just how many others were saved or lost. A few days before the demolition took place, some collectors from the US and Europe were allowed to go through the warehouse and salvage whatever they could carry with them for their personal collections. Soon afterward, record collectors and RCA Victor officials watched from a nearby bridge as the warehouse was dynamited, with many studio masters still intact in the building. The remnants were bulldozed into the Delaware River and a pier was built on top of them. In 1973, to celebrate the centenary of Rachmaninoff's birth, RCA decided to reissue his complete recordings on LP; RCA was forced to go to collectors for copies of certain records because their archives were incomplete, as documented in a Time magazine article.[citation needed
in 1949. It was closed in 1987 and reactivated in 2006.
RCA Victor: The former name of RCA Records until late 1968. It is active as a label that distributes electronic, rock and soundtrack albums, such as
Jose Feliciano's Feliz Navidad, the European release of The Fashion by the Fashion, American releases of albums by Imogen Heap. In 1987, BMG revived the RCA Victor name for Red Seal recordings and other classical, pop and soundtrack releases. Some re-releases of albums by Elvis Presley
and others issued prior to 1968 list the label as "RCA Victor".
RCA Records (Australia): A division of
Sony Music Australia. Founded in 1956, initially under the distribution of Amalgamated Wireless Australasia, it began recording Australian artists in 1963.[85]
Renamed to RCA Limited Australia and New Zealand in 1976 for Australian and New Zealand artists. Renamed to RCA Records (Australia) in 2006.
Bluebird Records: Launched by RCA Victor in 1932, Bluebird was originally a lower-priced label releasing mainly jazz, blues and country music. The Bluebird label offers mostly jazz releases, as well as some reissues of historic jazz, swing and pop titles originally released on the RCA Victor label.
Label of an RCA Victor 45 rpm record from 1954 to 1964
Label of an RCA Victor 78 rpm record from the mid to late 1950s. This basic design was also used for most LPs and 45s from 1954 to 1964
RCA Victor used this label for its American 45 rpm records during the "Dynagroove" era from 1965 to late 1968
RCA Victor LP label during the "Dynagroove" era was also used for 45 rpm records in South America during the mid- to late 1960s
An example of an RCA Compatible Discrete 4 or Quadradisc album; RCA used this label on some Quadradisc LPs from 1972 to 1976
Standard "Blue Ring" RCA Victor label used on early US CDs from 1983 through 1987. Some reissues on this label change the ring and print color from blue to black
RCA's standard black Victor label used on most vinyl LPs issued in the Americas from mid 1976 to 1989; 45 rpm records used a similar label
^"Deal with RCA/JIVE Brings Music Stars to BAT's Endorsement Platform". The Business Journals (Via PR Newswire). The Business Journals (Via PR Newswire). October 12, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2015. RCA/JIVE Label Group is comprised of RCA Music Group (J Records, Arista Records, RCA Records, Polo Grounds, and Battery Records) and JIVE Label Group (Jive Records, LaFace Records, Volcano Entertainment, Battery Records and Verity Gospel Music Group).
^"Audio Player". 92.5 THE BEAT Montreal's Best Music Variety Radio Station. Archived from the original(MP3 (audio)) on May 21, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
^Passman, Donald. "Pressing & Distribution Deals". taxi.com. Taxi: The World's Leading Independent A&R Company. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
Bryan, Martin F. Report to the Phonothèque Québécoise on the Search for Archival Documents of Berliner Gram-O-Phone Co., Victor Talking Machine Co., R.C.A. Victor Co. (Montréal), 1899–1972. Further augmented ed. Montréal: Phonothèque Québécoise, 1994. 19, [1] p.
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