The idea that really caught on to glue a paper label to flat disc records. --- The deliberation was not entirely new as disc records of the 1890's were of such poor intelligibility that labels were used to type out the lyrics even for the spoken recording of "The Lord's Prayer." On the other hand, the shellac and celluloid used for early discs did not form a bond with paper glue. Eldridge Johnson patented a new method appropriating the circular label in 1900. The technique was to apply the circular label while the record was still hot, this technique became a standard operation for many years and, in saying that, the label was to become even more important than the record. In 1901 a Russian gramophone dealer tried to fleece one of Berliner's European associated companies by suggesting that the company should pay a high compensation cost. The Russian dealer idea was for the Berliner associated company in Europe should pay compensation to four of the Czar's much-loved singers. The dealer, who had set-up an elaborate looking shop in St. Petersburg, recommended an ingenious way of making money. His ingenious idea was to charge five times more than the cost of the record. He envisaged that if the record labels were made red the upper crust of the community would willingly pay extra for this prestige series. Both the Deutsche Gramophone Company and their head office in England approved of the idea. With the approval by both these companies it brought about the first Red-Seal Label. The first Red Seal Label was placed on operatic records that was then imported to the USA in 1903. England on the other hand refused to register a colour as a trademark. Maybe England would have prefer just to register a label. |
