The History of Vinyl

1930 Bing Crosby records his first solo record - "I Remember Dear"

1930 Widespread radio broadcast causes a decline in the manufacture of records as radio delivers free music

1931 Alan Blumlein develops the "binaural" (stereo) recording at Bell Telephone laboratories

1931 Thomas Edison the inventor of recorded sound dies

1931 EMI studio opens in Abbey Road and employs Alan Blumlein to install his stereo recording system

1934 Wurlitzer introduces multiple-selection juke boxes

1939 Invention of the magnetic tape .

If market forces affected the recording industry, the Great Crash of 1929 changed it irrevocably as leisure items such as electrical items becoming luxury goods. Thomas Edison's cylinders and discs ceased production entirely, while smaller independents were swallowed by new conglomerates that could weather the economic storm. In America Herbert Yates formed the American Record Company (ARC) while Europe saw the birth of Louis Sterling's Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI). For the first time business interests overtook artistic ones. While pandering to mass markets created a certain dumbing-down in the output, the effects of mass-production did result in a large drop in price of records.

One very significant part of the market did, however remain buoyant - the Juke-box. In 1933 Homer Capehart sold the Simplex, automatic record changer mechanism to Wurlitzer who, along with rivals Seeburg and Rock-Ola, proceeded to put their machines in taverns and diners all over America. By 1939 the number of juke-boxes installed had increased from 25,000 to 300,000 and the number one selection was Bing Crosby.

Meanwhile RCA Victor's merger had resulted in many record plants being converted to radio production. While radio remained pre-recorded music's major competitor it also promoted and developed new formats. European Classical music became popular on American shows, though live transmissions exceeded the fidelity of 78rpm records. By using the now redundant 16 inch 33 1/3rpm disc that had been utilised by the film industry of the previous decade, radio stations could record their own shows in good enough quality to pull out and use when it suited them. RCA developed and marketed a new recording material called Vitrolac and, although a few public pressings in 10 and 12 inch were made, it was generally neglected by the commercial companies. However it was picked up as a professional medium for radio transcription discs and the Library of Congress also used Vitrolac for talking books for the blind. Most importantly, Vitrolac was a form of plastic and so RCA could lay claim to producing the first true precursor to the vinyl 12 inch.