There’s only one organization that can claim to have had Canada’s first independent record pressing plant…and that was the Compo Company Ltd of Lachine, Quebec.
Compo was founded in 1921 by Emile Berliner’s eldest son, Herbert after a family dispute saw him leave the Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada (for… Read More
Phonodisc came late to the Canadian record industry. It was launched in April of 1956 by founder Don McKim as Canada’s newest independent record company, but by then, the Canadian scene was already crowded with most of the majors – Capitol, Columbia, Compo, RCA Victor and several others.
But Phonodisc… Read More
During the mid to late 1960’s, The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones were London Records of Canada’s best sellers. Nearly two decades before that, sales of London albums by Mantovani and his Orchestra were making cash registers across Canada sing. The book, “British Hit Singles and Albums” states that Mantovani… Read More
It’s hard to imagine that a gigantic, international organization such as RCA Victor Records (now a part of the Sony Music group) could have ever begun as a small independent.
But it did. And it’s all due to one man – German born inventor Emile Berliner.
Berliner immigrated to the… Read More
When Quality Records opened its doors in Canada in October of 1949, there were less than a handful of record companies north of the 49th parallel. All of those were branches of foreign companies.
Quality Records was the first Canadian record company wholly owned by Canadians. Founded by a group… Read More