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Deutsche Grammophon is a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 classical record label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
, now part of the Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the Record industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Music industry....
. The company has long been known for its high standards of audio fidelity
High fidelity

High fidelity or hi-fi reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality sound reproduction or video that are very faithful to the original performance....
.

Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft was founded in 1898 by German-born United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 citizen Emile Berliner
Emile Berliner

Emile Berliner was a Germany-born United States inventor, best known for developing the gramophone record gramophone . He founded The Berliner Gramophone Company in 1895, The Gramophone Company in London, England, in 1897, Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover, Germany, in 1898 and Berliner Gramophone#Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Mon...
 as the German branch of his Berliner Gramophone
Berliner Gramophone

Berliner Gramophone was an early record label, the first company to produce disc "gramophone records" .Emile Berliner started marketing his disc records in 1889 in music....
 Company. Based in the city of Hannover (the founder's birthplace), the company had links with the U.S. Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an United States corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and gramophone record and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time....
 and the British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 Gramophone Company
Gramophone Company

The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early record company, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label....
, but those links were severed at the onset of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

In 1941 Deutsche Grammophon was purchased by the Siemens & Halske
Siemens AG

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest engineering Conglomerate . Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany....
 electronics company.

In 1945 as part of Germany's surrender terms ending World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, Deutsche Grammophon forfeited its rights to the His Master's Voice
HMV

His Master's Voice is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up phonograph....
 trademark to EMI
EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
.






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Encyclopedia


Deutsche Grammophon is a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 classical record label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
, now part of the Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the Record industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Music industry....
. The company has long been known for its high standards of audio fidelity
High fidelity

High fidelity or hi-fi reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality sound reproduction or video that are very faithful to the original performance....
.

History

The Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft was founded in 1898 by German-born United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 citizen Emile Berliner
Emile Berliner

Emile Berliner was a Germany-born United States inventor, best known for developing the gramophone record gramophone . He founded The Berliner Gramophone Company in 1895, The Gramophone Company in London, England, in 1897, Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover, Germany, in 1898 and Berliner Gramophone#Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Mon...
 as the German branch of his Berliner Gramophone
Berliner Gramophone

Berliner Gramophone was an early record label, the first company to produce disc "gramophone records" .Emile Berliner started marketing his disc records in 1889 in music....
 Company. Based in the city of Hannover (the founder's birthplace), the company had links with the U.S. Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an United States corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and gramophone record and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time....
 and the British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 Gramophone Company
Gramophone Company

The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early record company, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label....
, but those links were severed at the onset of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

In 1941 Deutsche Grammophon was purchased by the Siemens & Halske
Siemens AG

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest engineering Conglomerate . Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany....
 electronics company.

In 1945 as part of Germany's surrender terms ending World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, Deutsche Grammophon forfeited its rights to the His Master's Voice
HMV

His Master's Voice is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up phonograph....
 trademark to EMI
EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
. The dog and gramophone were replaced by the "crown of tulips", designed by Siemens advertising consultant Hans Domizlaff.

In 1962 Siemens formed a joint venture with Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 based Philips
Philips

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , usually known as Philips, is a Netherlands electronics company. It is one of the largest electronics companies in the world, founded and headquartered in the Netherlands....
 to create the DGG/PPI Record Group, which became The PolyGram
PolyGram

PolyGram was the name from 1972 in music of the major label recording company started by Philips as a holding company for its music interests in 1945....
 Group in 1972.

Deutsche Grammophon were owners of the Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
' first record label, Polydor Records
Polydor Records

Polydor Records is a record label currently headquartered in the United Kingdom, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group....
.

Deutsche Grammophon pioneered the introduction of the compact disc
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
 to the mass market, debuting classical music performed by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conducting, one of the most renowned 20th-century conductors. His obituary in The New York Times described him as "probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music." Karajan conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for thirty-five years....
 and the Berlin Philharmonic for sale in the new medium in 1983, the first recording being Richard Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie
Eine Alpensinfonie

Eine Alpensinfonie , Op. 64, is a large symphonic poem composed by Richard Strauss between 1911 and 1915. A typical performance entails upwards of forty-five minutes of continuous music....
. It should be noted that the first commercially available cd was 52nd St by Billy Joel. In 1987 Siemens sold off its interest in PolyGram, and Philips became the majority shareholder. In 1998 Seagram Company Ltd of Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 purchased Deutsche Grammophon and Polygram. Since then Deutsche Grammophon has been merged into the Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the Record industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Music industry....
, a division of Vivendi
Vivendi

Vivendi SA is an international, France media Conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games....
.

Deutsche Grammophon has a huge back catalogue of notable recordings. The company currently is reissuing a portion of it with the indication Originals. Originals compact disc
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
 releases are noted for their vinyl record stylized design. They are also releasing some of American Decca Records
Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
' albums from the 1940s and '50's, such as those that Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was a multi-Emmy-winning and Academy Award for Original Music Score nominated American Conductor , composer, author, music lecturer and Piano....
 made for Decca in 1953, and the classic Christmas
Christmas

Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts Twelve Days of Christmas....
 album which features Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman

Ronald Colman was an England Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor....
 starring in A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is a book by Charles Dickens that was first published on December 19, 1843 with illustrations by John Leech ....
 and Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton was an England Academy Award-winning Theatre and film actor, screenwriter, Film producer and one-time Film director.While best known for his historical roles in films, he started his career as a remarkable stage actor....
 narrating Mr. Pickwick's Christmas. Along with the American Decca Records classical music catalogue, Deutsche Grammophon also manages the classical music catalogue of ABC Records
ABC Records

ABC Records started in 1955 in music as ABC-Paramount Records, the record label of Am-Par Record Corporation , formed in New York City in 1955. In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent record producer and purchased regionally- released records for national distribution....
 including Westminster Records
Westminster Records

Westminster Records was an American classical music record label....
.

There never was a "PolyGram" label. The name PolyGram was a combo of POLYdor (the German parent company of the Deutsche Grammophon label) and PhonoGRAM (the Dutch owner of the Philips Classics, Mercury and other labels). PolyGram was the name invented to replace PPI, which wasn't terribly catchy as an entertainment-biz moniker. The name Phonogram never caught on in the US (Philips/Phonogram NL bought into the US market in the late 60s or early 70s by buying Chicago-based Mercury and its affiliated labels). And Polydor, while it WAS an actual label name, fizzled along in the US (as did Mercury, a well-established name) after the German Polydor bought into the US market by buying California-based MGM records and its distribution company and affiliated labels around the same time. The sibling classical labels -- DG and Philips Classics (which was unknown in the US until the buyup) -- did well in the US, especially DG, because it signed the Boston Symphony Orchestra and made an early (and interrupted) deal with the Metropolitan Opera, went on to record other US orchestras, etc.

The entrance of PolyGram's classical labels to the US market came at a time when the big US classical labels -- Columbia (Masterworks) and RCA (Red Seal and Victor) were caving in to the pop culture, dropping their 'unlucrative' classical artists, and making bad pressings. The fine quality both of recording and of pressings helped DGG especially succeed.

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