for RCA Records worldwide from 1987 to 2015, and still appears on RCA Nashville division releases and some reissues. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) purchased the
Victor Talking Machine Company, then the world's largest manufacturer of
phonographs (including the famous "
Victrola") and
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 1931, RCA Victor's British affiliate, the
Gramophone Company, merged with the
Columbia Graphophone Company to form
EMI. This gave RCA head
David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33 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 33 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. 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. During this time, RCA Victor also produced
electrical transcriptions of music under the
RCA Thesaurus label at its RCA Recorded Program Services studio in New York City. These recordings were not offered for sale to the general public and were intended solely for use in broadcasts carried over leading radio networks. By 1936, RCA's extensive musical library of recordings was eventually consolidated with NBC's own transcription division. During the 1950s, it included popular music by noted musicians, such as
Sammy Kaye,
Freddie Martin,
Lawrence Welk and
John Serry Sr. RCA Victor Custom Record Division Besides manufacturing its own records, RCA's Custom Record Division was the leading record manufacturer for
independent labels. RCA Victor's immense
Midwestern manufacturing complex in
Indianapolis, included a record pressing plant located at 501 North LaSalle Street. The Custom Division notably pressed many record compilations for
The Reader's Digest Association.
EMI RCA sold its interest in
EMI in 1938, but EMI (acquired by
Universal Music Group) continued to distribute RCA Victor recordings in the UK and its territories on the
His Master's Voice label until 1957. RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV recordings on the RCA Victor and custom HMV labels in North America. By the time RCA Victor unveiled it, the 45 was now competing with the 10-inch and 12-inch 33 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. 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 "
extended play" (EP) 45s with playing times up to 7 minutes per side, primarily for vocal collections and light classical selections, as typified by an
Arthur Fiedler and the
Boston Pops Orchestra disc featuring
Tchaikovsky's
Marche Slave and
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.
RCA Victor Award of Merit The RCA Victor Award of Merit was the company's top citation to its employees. It was awarded from 1945 until at least 1957, with the recipients joining the RCA Victor Award of Merit Society, which held dinners for them. A maximum of 15 employees were recipients of the award each year, with this number awarded between 1946 and 1952. A Mr Watters, who had been assistant director of personnel at Camden, won an award in 1946. In 1952, Paul Barkmeier and David Finn won awards.
1950s Among the first RCA Victor LPs released in 1950 was
Gaîté Parisienne by
Jacques Offenbach, performed by
Arthur Fiedler and the
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. 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; 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
Columbia Records. A number of recordings were made with the
NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Arturo Toscanini; sometimes RCA Victor utilized recordings of broadcast concerts (Toscanini had been recording for the label since the days of
acoustic recordings, and RCA Victor had been recording the NBC Symphony since its creation in 1937). After Toscanini retired in the spring of 1954, the NBC Symphony was reorganized later that year as the
Symphony of the Air. The orchestra, while no longer connected to NBC, continued to record for RCA Victor, as well as other labels, usually conducted by
Leopold Stokowski. RCA Victor also released a number of recordings with the
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, which was usually drawn from either Philadelphia or New York musicians, as well as members of the Symphony of the Air, and the orchestra of the
Metropolitan Opera. By the late 1950s, RCA Victor had fewer high prestige orchestras under contract than Columbia had: RCA Victor recorded the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, whereas Columbia had the
Cleveland Orchestra, the
Philadelphia Orchestra, and the
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
George Enescu's
Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and the waltz from
Tchaikovsky's opera
Eugene Onegin. There were additional stereo tests in December, again in the Manhattan Center, this time with
Pierre Monteux conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In February 1954, RCA Victor made its first commercial stereophonic recordings, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
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. 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. 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. Following its purchase of
Capitol Records in January 1955, EMI/HMV ended its 55-year reciprocal distribution agreement with RCA Victor. Effective in 1957, Capitol became the main distributor for EMI recordings in the Western Hemisphere.
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. RCA Victor issued several spoken word albums in the 1950s and 60s, notably the soundtracks of the films
Richard III,
A Man for All Seasons and
The Taming of the Shrew, as well as complete versions of the
National Theatre of Great Britain stage productions of
Othello (starring
Laurence Olivier) and
Much Ado About Nothing (starring
Maggie Smith, 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. 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
Lear Jet Corp. teamed up to release the first stereo 8-track tape music Cartridges (
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, the Radio Corporation of America, wishing to modernize its image, introduced what was then a futuristic-looking new 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 was restricted to the labels and album covers of RCA's standard popular record releases. RCA Victor record labels were changed to bright orange or yellow (becoming tan briefly late in 1974 thru mid-1976), replacing the traditional black label color in use for regular releases since 1901. The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark was seen only on the album covers of
RCA Red Seal Records. RCA Records introduced a thin, pliable, lightweight vinyl LP record known as
Dynaflex in late 1969. This very thin, flexible record claimed to overcome warping and other problems encountered with conventional thicker LP records and like Dynagroove, it soon developed a similarly controversial reputation, derided by some record collectors as "Dynawarp". RCA gradually phased out Dynaflex records and by the end of the 1970s had returned to manufacturing thicker vinyl records.
1970s '', 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's original matrix system) and released on
compact disc This included
Charles Gerhardt's acclaimed series of RCA Red Seal albums devoted to classic film scores by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold,
Alfred Newman,
Dimitri Tiomkin,
Max Steiner,
Franz Waxman, and others, performed by the
National Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded in London's
Kingsway Hall. 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 October 1976, the RCA Corporation announced the revival of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. In mid-1976, RCA Records began reinstating Nipper to most (Victor,
Victrola,
Red Seal and Special Products) record labels (in addition to returning to the traditional black label color for popular releases) in countries where RCA held the rights to the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. Nipper was once again widely used in RCA newspaper and magazine advertisements and sales literature, as well as store displays and promotional items such as
T-shirts caps, posters, coin banks, keychains, watches, coffee mugs and stuffed toys. The trademark was also restored to RCA stationery, shipping cartons and company vehicles.
1980s In 1983,
Arista Records owner
Bertelsmann sold 50% of Arista to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA Records formed a joint venture called RCA/Ariola International. In December 1985, the RCA Corporation was purchased by
General Electric (GE), with the acquisition completed in June, 1986. In 1987, GE sold its 50% interest in RCA Records to its partner Bertelsmann and the company was renamed
BMG Music for Bertelsmann Music Group. BMG soon began phasing out the current RCA logo, replacing it with the earlier 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" name 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
Kenny Rogers and
Diana Ross. In 1986, the label bought back $25 million in unsold albums and lost $35 million during the fiscal year 1987. As a partial corrective, a decentralized style of management which allowed RCA Records to function as a free-standing entrepreneurial business was implemented for 1988. Buziak drastically cut the RCA roster from around 40 artists to 11, and began to rebuild it with a focus on developing new artists, including artists acquired through marketing and distribution agreements with
Beggars Banquet Records, a British punk rock label, and
Jive Records, whose roster included
Schooly D,
Kool Moe Dee, and
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. By the end of the fiscal year 1988, RCA Records had gross revenue of $236 million in the United States, the most profitable year in the label's history. The album
The Way It Is by
Bruce Hornsby and the Range, sold more than three million copies, and the
soundtrack album from the film
Dirty Dancing, which cost RCA $200,000 to produce, sold 15.6 million copies in less than two years. Its follow-up,
More Dirty Dancing, composed of song tracks which had been left off of the first album, was produced for $80,000 and went on to sell more than 5.6 million. RCA's most successful artists during the 1980s included the
Eurythmics,
Love and Rockets,
Joshua Perahia,
Rick Astley,
Hall & Oates,
Dolly Parton,
Juice Newton, and
Bucks Fizz.
1990s 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. Galante returned to head the RCA Nashville division and in March, 1995 was replaced by Bob Jamieson, the president of RCA's Canadian division. Jamieson overhauled RCA, streamlining middle management and retooling the label's marketing department. The A&R department was again restructured and the roster of artists further reduced. By the close of the decade, RCA Records had undergone what
Billboard described as a "remarkable turnaround" with the success of artists including
Britney Spears,
the Dave Matthews Band,
Natalie Imbruglia,
the Verve Pipe,
Robyn,
SWV,
Christina Aguilera,
NSYNC, and
Foo Fighters. A distribution deal with
Loud Records yielded hit records from urban artists including
Big Punisher,
Wu-Tang Clan and
Mobb Deep.
2000s In 2002, BMG fully acquired
J Records, which it had founded in 2000 as a joint venture with
Clive Davis. Davis was then named chairman of RCA Records and J Records under the auspices of a new entity, the
RCA Music Group, which included RCA Records, J, and
Arista Records. In 2004, Sony and BMG merged their music divisions to create
Sony BMG, and in 2007, the RCA Music Group was rebranded as the
BMG Label Group. 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
Barry Weiss was appointed chairman of the BMG Label Group, and Davis was named chief creative officer of Sony BMG worldwide. In October, Sony acquired BMG's 50% ownership and the
BMG Label Group was merged with the Jive Label Group to establish the
RCA/Jive Label Group. It included RCA, Jive, J, Arista, Polo Grounds,
LaFace Records,
Volcano Entertainment,
Hitz Committee,
Battery Records, and the
Verity Gospel Music Group. 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 number one hits on the
Billboard Hot 100 charts.
2010s In May 2011, former
Universal Music Group CEO
Doug Morris was appointed chairman of
Sony Music Entertainment. Focused on A&R, Morris named
Peter Edge, president of A&R at RCA and J Records, chairman and CEO of RCA Music Group.
Tom Corson was named president and COO. On the seventh of October of that year, the Jive, Arista and J imprints were altogether permanently merged into RCA. As a result, the RCA Music Group was then disbanded and RCA was reinstated as a standalone label under the
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. During the first half of the decade, RCA released platinum and multi-platinum records by artists including
A$AP Rocky,
ATEEZ,
Cage the Elephant,
Chris Brown,
Kelly Clarkson,
Miley Cyrus,
D'Angelo,
Dave Matthews Band,
Foo Fighters,
G-Eazy,
Jennifer Hudson,
R. Kelly,
Kesha,
Khalid,
Alicia Keys,
Kings of Leon,
Miguel,
Pentatonix,
P!nk,
Pitbull,
Shakira,
Sia,
Britney Spears,
Bryson Tiller,
Justin Timberlake,
T-Pain, and
Tinashe. Since 2012, the label has released music by artists including:
Kevin Abstract,
A$AP Ferg,
Becky G,
Bleachers,
Brockhampton,
Bryson Tiller,
Cam,
G-Eazy,
Childish Gambino,
Martin Garrix,
Bob Feldman,
H.E.R.,
Normani,
Kaytranada,
Khalid,
Kygo,
Tate McRae, and
Mark Ronson. In 2015, RCA Records reinstated the 1968 space-age 'RCA' logo after utilizing the lightning bolt logo since 1987. The lightning bolt logo is still used by RCA's Nashville division. John Fleckenstein and Joe Riccitelli were appointed as co-presidents of RCA Records in January 2018. Later that year, RCA named
Keith Naftaly president of A&R, and
Tunji Balogun executive VP of A&R.
2020s In addition to releasing successful albums by Bryson Tiller, Alicia Keys, Fousheé' and Pentatonix in 2020, RCA had number one 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, and singles by
Flo Milli and
Latto (formerly known as "Mulatto") were certified gold. 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. 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. SZA released the single "
Good Days" on December 25. In January 2021,
Mark Pitts was appointed president of RCA Records and John Fleckenstein was named chief operating officer. Jazmine Sullivan's
Heaux Tales hit number one on the
Billboard R&B albums chart. 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 number one on the
Billboard emerging artist chart. 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. On April 14, 2026, Pitts parted ways with RCA to launch a new management company. ==Broadway and Hollywood==