Vocalion (US, active 1920s-1970s)
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Annotation
Founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City (at first, until 1920, under the name Aeolian Vocalion).
In 1925, Vocalion was acquired by Brunswick Records.
In April of 1930, the Warner Bros. bought up Brunswick Records.
In December of 1931, the Warner Bros. licensed Brunswick (and Vocalion) to the American Record Corporation.
Vocalion became a subsidiary of Columbia Records in 1938, thanks to a CBS stunt, but then discontinued in 1940, its assets being turned into Okeh.
The Vocalion brand was then revived in the late 1940s by Decca Records as a budget label for back catalog reissues, before shutting it down again during the 60s.
In 1997 the Vocalion label was revived for a new series of compact discs by Michael Dutton of Dutton Laboratories of Watford, England.
The label now specializes in reissues of recordings from the 1920s - 1970s era, often leasing original master recordings made by Decca and EMI.
Previously known as: Aeolian Vocalion