Phil G. Anderson started the company's operations in April 1958, originally oriented to providing Canadian promotion, merchandising and distribution for other labels. In 1965, the label released a single called "The Klan". It contained the lyrics, "Now, he who travels with the Klan, he is a monster, not a man". It was announced in the June 12 issue of
Billboard that prominent political figures, including
civil rights movement leader
Martin Luther King Jr., were to receive copies of the single. There had been an effort to promote the single. The band behind this anti-Klan single was
The Brothers-in-Law with their
The Brothers-In-Law Strike Again album. In 1967, the label had an injunction brought against them restraining them from the manufacture and distribution of "This Land Is Your Land", which was a parody of the
Woody Guthrie tune. Besides the aforementioned artists, Arc Sound signed and produced many other top Canadian recording artists in the 1960s, such as
Anne Murray, Stitch In Tyme,
Catherine McKinnon, Fred McKenna,
Harry Hibbs,
Ronnie Hawkins,
The Travellers and
the Ugly Ducklings. One of their biggest successes was the Canadian release of "We're Off to Dublin in the Green" by the
Abbey Tavern Singers. The group was an Irish band but became enormously popular in Canada, as the song reached #2 on Canada's
CHUM Charts and sold close to 150,000 copies in Canada within the first year of release. In the early 1970s, Arc Sound became a subsidiary of AHED (acronym for Arc Home Entertainment Diversified), a music technology company (main product line was the GBX amplifier) owned by Anderson. AHED, including Arc Records and Arc Sound, ceased operations in 1986 due to the slow Canadian economy and changes in the music industry. ==References==