Zonophone
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2010) |
phonograph records | |
| Owner | Seaman, Eldridge R. Johnson, EMI, then Warner Music Group |
|---|---|
Zonophone (early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone) was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey, by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company but was applied to records and machines sold by Seaman's Universal Talking Machine Company from 1899 to 1903. The name was subsequently acquired by Columbia Records, the Victor Talking Machine Company, and finally the Gramophone Company/EMI Records. It has been used for a number of record publishing labels by these companies.
1899–1910s
Gramophone, formed a partnership with machinist Eldridge R. Johnson, who had improved Berliner's Gramophone to the point of marketability, and with former typewriter promoter Frank Seaman. Berliner was to hold the patents; Johnson had manufacturing rights; and Seaman had selling rights.[1]
1920s–1970s
In West Africa (primarily today's Ghana and Nigeria) Zonophone was used as a label to record and produce Sakara, Juju and Apala music on 78 rpm discs from 1928 to the early 1950s.[2][3]
See also
- List of record labels
References
- ISBN 978-0-9973333-3-6.
- ^ PAUL VERNON. Savannaphone. FolkRoots No.122.
- ISBN 0-89410-075-0
External links
- US Zonophone masters in the Discography of American Historical Recordings
- Regal Zonophone label profile
- Highlife Piccadilly: "African Music on 45 rpm records in the UK, 1954–1981" (19 May 1999). Ray Templeton
- Scans of British 78 rpm record labels: includes a large number of Zonophone & Regal-Zonophone labels.
