The Tale Of Two Victrola®
The Victor Talking Machine Co. and the Victrola® brand are New Jersey staples…and they’re here to stay!
By: Graham Alexander
The story of Victor’s ‘Victrola®’ brand is one of the greatest in the music industry and it all starts at the birth of the home entertainment industry here in Camden, NJ where i’m writing this article from. If you’ve been in stores lately you may have seen a surprising return of the ‘Victrola®’ brand to places like Walmart and other retailers - this, of course, is a result of a 100+ year battle in the home entertainment industry over one of the most valuable and recognizable brands of the music industry; Victrola®. That battle ended several years ago and it resulted in a major expansion of the phonograph industry - and as a result, an expansion of revenue from disk records (which are a much higher margin for touring bands, musicians, and artists - who have all but been drained of what used to be ‘download’ revenue from the conversion to music STREAMING…from music DOWNLOADS in the digital music era.
So…what does this have to do with The Victor Talking Machine Co? well….let me put this on record (did you get the pun…like vinyl?? haha. I really crack myself up.)
Some backstory:
The first place where Eldridge R. Johnson & Emile Berliner started building their invention ‘The Gramophone’ (Record Player) en masse - for the public. The Camden NJ garage was torn down in 1914
In 1906, Eldridge R. Johnson had been in business for a decade- making Victor Records and producing Victor Talking Machines (record players) at his operation in Camden, NJ (the recording studio at this time was in Philadelphia). Since The Victor Co.’s founders Emile Berliner & Eldridge R. Johnson had invented the disk record and record player (then called The Gramophone) - and improved them to the point of making them viable home entertainment concepts - Victor Talking Machine Co. was uniquely primed to dominate the industry of home entertainment (and the music industry) as a result of owning the critical patents of the early recording industry - and they had the wherewithal and money to do it.
A Victor Talking Machine Co. ‘Victrola®’ from Camden, NJ
Still, ‘recorded music on disk records’ was not entirely an American favorite past-time in 1906; so the company had a new idea about how to make the home entertainment system into something more. The idea, of course, was to create a luxury model record player that would HIDE the large acoustic HORN that projected sound. This move proved to be integral to making the ‘talking machine’ (record player) feel less like a rickety utility item…and more like a luxury that middle and upper class homes would be interested in. Housing this in a furniture sized fine wooden console type setup and branding the record player as Victor ‘Victrola®’ - was a move intended to direct consumer sentiment towards the record player being an INSTRUMENT unto itself by combining the term Victor with VIOLA…Victor succeeded in creating one of the earliest status pieces in home audio; Victor’s Victrola® brand would follow a long line of ultra popular music devices that radically changed how music lovers came to adore recorded sound; from Victrola® to Walkman® to iPod®…Victrola® is the alpha of the music industry - and the Victor Talking Machine Co.® is its creator.
Mid-story:
Sometimes FAME comes at a dear price! Victor’s ‘Victrola®’ line of phonographs continued to be made well into the 1970s - with various production moving around the country (and eventually) around the globe (though all Victrola® engineering was done in Camden County, NJ into the 1960s). The ‘Victrola®’ became so famous - it actually became synonymous with ALL record players… and this began to move the phrase itself into ‘generic territory’ legally as millions and millions and millions of units sold through the 20th century. After many years, The Victrola® brand changed hands as its parent company saw merger after merger and eventually, the brand found itself in the middle of a battle for its life.
The ‘Victrola’® brand was the first to introduce the 45 RPM Record - also developed in tandem in Camden, NJ at The Victor Labs.
The Now Story:
When I first entered the recording business in the 2000s, the vinyl ‘boom’ was still a glimmer in the eye of the Jack Whites of the world - and our small recording studio company merged with another (Radio Corporation of America- which we soon restored to Victor Talking Machine Co.) …and subsequently reacquired the Victrola® brand as both a record label and to produce electronics (as a means of supporting artists on the label) - …namely, Victor would again manufacture phonographs in the grand tradition of Camden County, NJ….which we started doing as early as 2011. Soon, we would bring back the families of the founders (Emile Berliner & Eldridge Johnson) and work our way towards building not just an electronics/phonograph company but a full blown music industry owned and operated by musicians and music fans for the benefit of MUSIC….which also had the goal of restoring the Victor legacy.
But trouble was ahead; In 2014 or so, a company called ‘Innovative Electronics’ and our firm, The Victor Co. began to skirmish over the manufacturing rights of the ‘Victrola®’ brand. Our argument, of course, was that the brand wasn’t protectable in electronics of any kind since it had been utilized for several decades in a ‘generic’ manner by collectors, and aficionados of older Victor ‘Victrola®’ Phonographs etc….but was protectable as a music production/record label. The collectors communities were (and still are) very important to our world…and we went to bat for them (and ourselves) by informing Innovative that we would be asking ‘the lawyers’ to declare that the term ‘Victrola®’ was GENERIC when applied to electronics - thus allowing anyone to utilize it (or continue utilizing it in that fashion)….and striking a blow to their business model. They weren’t happy about it. None the less, the popularity of the ‘Victrola®’ brand in the 20th century made this a very very very real possibility; Victor had fought (up to this point) a battle of close to 100 years over distributors and retailers referring to Columbia® or Brunswick® brand record players and home entertainment systems as ‘Victrola® Record players (even when they weren’t). This led to a full blown advertising campaign by the Victor Co. that would last around 50+ years in which the company would declare ‘IF ITS NOT A VICTOR, ITS NOT A VICTROLA®’….in advertising…over and over and over again.
After some back and forth, our team (and the team at Innovative Electronics) agreed; generic status could be detrimental to the future of the brand…we both had a unique ability and duty to protect the brand from generic status by virtue of a cross agreement with both parties - so we formed the agreement to protect both of our interests in the ‘Victrola®’ brand - with the caveat that the record label remain exclusive to Victor; while the victrola® brand itself be able to be utilized by both parties on electronics…with a second caveat; only 1 of those products is a true Victor Talking Machine Co® of Camden, NJ product.
but…why?
The Victor Talking Machine Co. ‘Victrola®’ Voyager model circa 2017
The sheer amount of fandom surrounding The Victrola® brand would have put at risk many independent (mom and pop) makers of fan inspired Victor/Victrola® products - and it might have muddled the brand history by forever changing the way the english language (and media) treats the word ‘Victrola®’….and finally; Victor had fought a valiant 100+ year battle to maintain the brand….but a 30 year lull in production had created an ownership vacuum that risked collapsing the entire phonograph industry revival that was just then starting to occur. We understood the larger picture that… in order to help grow the entire phonograph industry…. and thus help MORE MUSICIANS to take back a piece of the music industry which had once made up a very solid base of critically needed revenue... we’d need partnerships to expand the availability of consumer home audio/phonographs….ultimately, we knew it was far better to license this brand for the good and growth of the entire vinyl/phonograph/gramophone industry….thus revving what the media now calls ‘the vinyl boom of the 2010s’ (which is still continuing)
More consumers means more records - means more musicians making more revenue - means more music.
While we didn’t (and don’t) agree with all of the ways in which the brand is utilized; we knew that had we pushed to pull the brand into declared ‘generic’ status…. a lesser brand might not have been as effective in drawing consumers to the disk record and record player……and by all means; there might be far less humans with phonographs and records at their homes right NOW. Today, the brand makes up a large majority of all consumer grade phonographs sold (including Victor’s own consumer lines)…and for this; more musicians are making more than ever from a growing field of phonograph record sales - and more music fans are enjoying their journey through music through vinyl.
For The Victor Talking Machine Co of Camden, NJ….and the families of the founders whom we’ve come to know and love as OUR family… the growth and widening community of music (and Victor) that we’ve formed is far more important to us than the exclusivity of a single brand - and our belief is that we are safe in taking fair credit for what was/is ultimately a required step in the restoration of the music industry; the consumer audio industry MUST be accessible to hobbyists and newcomers - and we are proud to be a part of that legacy as well.
A musician listening to a Victor Talking Machine Co. ‘Victrola®’ Vertiphone® Vertical Phonograph
All that said; OF COURSE….If its not a VICTOR…it’s not an authentic VICTROLA®; and it has been that way since at least 1910. If THAT is the cost of being ‘too well known….’ or ‘too well loved’…..than we’re quite proud of the origin of the phrase! Its important to remember; It is only when you buy a Victor Home Audio or Victor Victrola® product that you are supporting artists of the music industry directly - we are more than just a maker of home audio; we are the world’s first beneficial, vertically integrated music company - and our mission is far different from that of our partners.
Obviously, our aim is to provide a superior product - a better warrantied product - an American designed, assembled, and (depending on the item) built product with lineage is directly from the men (and women) that started it all in Camden, NJ in 1896…and im proud to say we do all of that! None the less; our largest mission is to act in the best interests of MUSIC and the MUSIC AT HOME INDUSTRY…..sometimes that means making hard decisions….even decisions that might actually increase competition. In 1900, Emile Berliner and Eldridge Reeves Johnson famously allowed the patents for their DISK RECORD and RECORD PLAYER to be cross licensed by cylinder maker; COLUMBIA RECORDS (whom could not make the DISK record or player prior to this move); their logic was much the same…..’The industry has room to grow…..and we need to make choices that grow (not stunt) competition in the RECORD INDUSTRY….by creating more opportunities for music fans to enter the field of the ‘talking machine’….we are proud to say that more ears have heard more records in the past decade because of The Victor Talking Machine Co. and its strategic partnerships; If you’re a fan of what we do - or what our musicians do - or our shows; just make sure your next Victrola® is a Victor Talking Machine Co. product if you’re interested in supporting the growth of not just music in homes….but musicians and artists worldwide.
