ABSTRACT
A Newark, New Jersey, firm established in 1916. It advertised in that year a line of Ideal disc players, in eight models, selling from $12 to $85.
A Chicago firm, established in 1911 as a division of the Great Northern Manufacturing Co. Record players were sold under the Symphony name, and discs had the United label. The players had 1 1/2 inch spindles, to accommodate the extra large spindle holes that were cut into the discs (which were Columbia overstock records, relabeled by United). The firm seems to have been absorbed by the Consolidated Talking Machine Co. sometime before March 1918. [Fabrizio 1980.]
The Universal Music Group (UMG) was formed in 1996 as a successor to MCA Music Entertainment. Two years later, UMG’s owner, Seagram, purchased PolyGram and combined it with its other music holdings. In 1999 a number of both UMG’s and PolyGram’s less-profitable labels were either combined or closed, including the venerable A&M label, alarming industry watchers who felt new artists would have less chance to be signed. In 2000 Seagram sold its share of MCA, Inc., to French media giant Vivendi. UMG has continued to expand, expanding PolyGram’s previous 60 percent holding in Def Jam Records to full ownership, forming Universal Music Enterprises (UME) for catalog and special market recordings, and establishing Universal Music Publishing as a successor to the earlier MCA Music Publishing.
