When you go around picking through junk to sell on
eBay,tou find all sorts of stuff.I have found m number
of tapes over the years,that I have sold.I can supply
sme names of companies,but no specifics about
history.There was Omegatape,who was initially set up
as a tape-only label.They put out a bunch of
titles,that were later issued on Lp.The ones I sold
were by Ataufo Arghenta,later released,by Omega on
Lp,and Art pepper,released by blue Note,on LP,in
1980.These tapes dated from 1957-58.There was also
Audiophile,who put out tapes of traditional/dixieland
jazz,early on.RCA,and Westminster,put out tapes,in
19556-56.These are easily spotted,as they have
different box designs,than the Lp covers.
I think the early history of this would be
facinating,where would you learn more about it ?
Roger Kulp
--- Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi All:
I'm trying to find out some history of the early
stereo hifi era, specifically the handful of
companies that sprang up to make and market stereo
tapes. This would be circa 1955-56, when the
first commercial mass-duped 2-tracks were out. What
was the business model for a company like
Livingston or Bel Canto? Were they basically run
like boutique record labels or differently? Aside
from those two and Stereotapes, who else was making
original recordings as opposed to licensing and
releasing stuff from major labels or European
sources?
Also, we talked about Emory Cook and I believe
there's someone on-list here who actually worked
with
Cook. Did he jump into stereo tapes or stick with
his two-cartridge grooved disks?
Finally, does anyone have any sales estimates on the
first generation of tapes? I know they were
priced a bit higher than mono LP records and the
playback decks were expensive by mid-50s standards,
so it was a niche market. But, reel to reel tape
obviously caught on enough that by the
quarter-track era (1958 or so onward), there was
enough demand to allow for a lot of catalog variety
and many duping operations around the country. By
the late 60's, I think it was down to Bel Canto,
Ampex Tapes and a handful of smaller dupers but I
might be wrong on that.
OK, thanks in advance for any facts anyone can
share.
-- Tom Fine
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