His Master's Voice, today usually abbreviated to HMV, is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the Jack Russell Terrier dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone. Nipper ( 1884 - 1895) was a Dog that served as the model for a painting entitled His Master's Voice which later became identified with a The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded Sound from the 1870s through the 1980s In the original painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on phonograph cylinders.
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The origin of the trademark image
The famous trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, A.R.A. and titled His Master's Voice. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Francis James Barraud ( June 16, 1856 in Liverpool, England - August 29, 1924) was an English painter An Associate of the Royal Academy is a practising artist who has been elected as a member of the Royal Academy, an art institution based in London, England It was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly-formed Gramophone Company. The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog, a fox terrier called Nipper, had originally belonged to Barraud's brother Mark. Nipper ( 1884 - 1895) was a Dog that served as the model for a painting entitled His Master's Voice which later became identified with a When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited Nipper, along with a cylinder phonograph and a number of recordings of Mark's voice. The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on phonograph cylinders. Francis noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded voice of his late master emanating from the trumpet, and conceived the idea of committing the scene to canvas.
In early 1899 , Francis Barraud applied for copyright of the original painting using the descriptive working title Dog looking at and listening to a Phonograph. He was unable to sell the work to any cylinder phonograph company, but The Gramophone Company purchased it later that year, under the condition that Barraud modify it to show one of their disc machines. The image was first used on the company's publicity material in 1900 , and additional copies were subsequently commissioned from the artist for various corporate purposes. [1]
Later, at the request of the gramophone's inventor Emile Berliner, the American rights to the picture became owned by the Victor Talking Machine Company. Emile Berliner ( May 20, 1851 – August 3, 1929) was a German -born American Inventor, best known for developing Victrola redirects here For other uses see Victrola (disambiguation The Victor Talking Machine Company ( 1901 – 1929 Victor used the image more aggressively than its UK partner, and from 1902 on all Victor records had a simplified drawing of the dog and gramophone from Barraud's painting on their label. Magazine advertisements urged record buyers to "Look for the dog".
The Gramophone Company becomes "His Master's Voice"
In Commonwealth countries, the Gramophone Company did not use this design on its record labels until 1909 . The following year the Gramophone Company replaced the Recording Angel trademark in the upper half of the record labels by the famous picture painted by Frances Barraud, commonly referred to as Nipper or The Dog.
The company was never formally called "HMV" or His Master's Voice, but was identified by that term because of its use of the trademark. Records issued by the Company before February 1908 were generally referred to as "G&Ts", while those after that date are usually called "HMV" records.
This image continued to be used as a trademark by Victor in the USA, Canada and Latin America, and then by Victor's successor RCA. RCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986 In Commonwealth countries (except Canada) it was used by subsidiaries of the Gramophone Company, which ultimately became part of EMI. The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in
The trademark's ownership is divided among different companies in different countries, reducing its value in the globalised music market. Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones The name HMV is used by a chain of music shops owned by HMV Group plc, mainly in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.
In 1921 the Gramophone Company opened the first HMV shop in London. Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in London, England in the City of Westminster. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. In 1929 RCA bought Victor, and with it a major shareholding in the Gramophone Company which Victor had owned since 1920. Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar
In 1931 RCA was instrumental in the creation of EMI, which continued to own the "His Master's Voice" name and image in the UK. The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in In 1935 RCA sold its stake in EMI but continued to own Victor and the rights to His Master's Voice in the Americas.
World War II fragmented the ownership of the name still further, as RCA Victor's Japanese subsidiary The Victor Company of Japan (JVC) became independent, and today they still use the "Victor" brand and Nipper in Japan only[2]. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including ( usually referred to as JVC, is an International consumer and professional electronics Corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded Nipper continued to appear on RCA Victor records in America while EMI owned the His Master's Voice label in the UK until the 1980s, and the HMV shops until 1998. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar)
The globalised market for CDs pushed EMI into abandoning the HMV label in favour of "EMI Classics", a name they could use worldwide; however, it was revived in the 1990s for Morrissey recordings. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio Steven Patrick Morrissey (ˈmɒɹɪsiː born May 22, 1959) known primarily as Morrissey, is a British Singer and Lyricist The HMV trademark is now owned by the retail chain in the UK. The formal trade mark transfer from EMI took place in 2003. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. [1]
Meanwhile, RCA went into a financial decline. The dog and gramophone image, along with the RCA name, is now licensed by RCA Records and RCA Victor owner Sony BMG Music Entertainment from Thomson SA, which operates RCA's consumer electronics business (still promoted by Nipper the dog) that it bought from General Electric in 1986, after GE bought RCA[3]. RCA Records (originally The Victor Talking Machine Company, then RCA Victor is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is a diverse music and entertainment group Thomson SA (,) formerly known as Thomson Multimedia is an international provider of solutions for the creation management delivery and access of video for the The image of "His Master's Voice" now exists in the United States as a trademark only on radios and radios combined with phonographs, a trademark owned by Thomson subsidiary RCA Trademark Management SA.
With that exception, the "His Master's Voice" dog and gramophone image is in the public domain in the USA, its United States trademark registrations having expired in 1989 (Sound recordings and phonograph cabinets), 1992 (television sets, television-radio combination sets), and 1994 (sound recording and reproducing machines, needles, and records).
Additional Notes
The "His Master's Voice" logo was used around the world, and the motto became well-known in different languages. In Europe these include "La Voix de son Maître" (France), "La Voce del Padrone" (Italy) and "Die Stimme Seines Herrn" (Germany).
On 1 April, 2007, HMV Group announced that Gromit, the animated dog of Wallace and Gromit fame, would stand in for Nipper for a three month period, promoting children's DVDs in its UK stores. [4]
The 1958 LP album "Elvis' Golden Records" shows pictures of various RCA 45s with Nipper on their labels. On the British version, these images were blacked out, for obvious copyright reasons. This editing took place with many other RCA releases in England.
The latest Superman movie, "Superman Returns" (2005) has a scene early on set in Kansas, in which a "His Master's Voice" radio is clearly shown. HMV radios have never been sold in the USA, due to RCA holding the "Nipper" copyright. The movie was made in Australia, and the nearest "prop" was obviously used.
Homage is played to the iconic dog and gramophone image in the 1999 feature film 'Wild Wild West' where in the 43rd minute a dog resembling Nipper runs to the side of a recently departed character and looks into an ear horn. The film however, is set in 1869, 30 years before Barraud created his work.
HMV Group plc
The name HMV is still used by the chain of entertainment shops founded by Gramophone Company in the UK and Canada, which continued to expand internationally through the 1990s. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 In 1998 HMV Media was created as a separate company leaving EMI with a 43% stake. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) The firm bought the Waterstone's chain of bookshops and merged them with Dillons. Waterstone's is a United Kingdom –based chain of bookshops. For the CTN stores see Tesco and TN Retail Dillons was a bookshop and subsequently a bookselling chain based in In 2002 it floated on the London Stock Exchange as HMV Group plc, leaving EMI with only a token holding. The London Stock Exchange or LSE is a Stock exchange located in London, England. HMV shops in Australia, Ireland and the UK also use Nipper. Nipper ( 1884 - 1895) was a Dog that served as the model for a painting entitled His Master's Voice which later became identified with a As of August 2006, there are over 400 HMV stores worldwide, plus the website hmv. August 2006 was a month with thirty-one days On August 10, an alleged plot to detonate ten Airliners over the Atlantic Ocean was revealed to co. uk,[5]which is operated by HMV Guernsey. The Bailiwick of Guernsey (Bailliage de Guernesey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
See also
References
- ^ The Nipper Saga. Victrola redirects here For other uses see Victrola (disambiguation The Victor Talking Machine Company ( 1901 – 1929 The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in RCA Records (originally The Victor Talking Machine Company, then RCA Victor is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. This is a list of notable Record labels Due to the large number of entries the list has been divided by the first character of the label's name See also Nipper ( 1884 - 1895) was a Dog that served as the model for a painting entitled His Master's Voice which later became identified with a The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" Retrieved on 2006-05-27. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed
- ^ HMV shops in Canada and Japan are still not allowed to use Nipper for these reasons; nor did the shops HMV operated in the United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
- ^ Thomson SA bought the RCA trademarks, including Nipper in the Americas, from GE in 2003.
- ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gromit steps into HMV logo role
- ^ HMV Adds Gaming. Marketnews. ca. 28 August 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2006.
External links
- HMV Official Website
- Lots more about Nipper
- Musée des ondes Emile Berlliner
- http://www.oojai.com OOJAI Official Website]
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