Capitol records
Please
note, many capitol records issues also carry an EMI logo. This is not a label
and EMI should not be added as a label; it instead indicates that Capitol
was part of the EMI Group. For LPs the label design may help identify the
era of release.
Label code: LC 0148/LC 00148.
The capitol records, inc. company was founded on april 8, 1942 in hollywood,
california as liberty records by the songwriters Johnny Mercer, Buddy G. De
Sylva and record store owner Glenn Wallichs.
On june 4 of the same year, the label is named capitol" to avoid a conflict
with the new yorker liberty music shops.
By 1946, capitol had sold 42 million records and was established as one of
the big six studios.
In january 1955, the british company electric & musical industries ltd.
(EMI) acquired capitol records, inc for $8.5 million. In 1979, Capitol was
made part of the EMI music worldwide division. In 2001, EMI group plc merged
capitol records label with the priority records label.
In the UK, europe and australasia EMI began releasing capitol product in january
1956 after the licenses with the decca record company limited and other licensees
expired.
In september 2012 capitol records was purchased by vivendi s.a. (owner of
the universal music group)
Capitol
records album prefix codes:
Catalog numbers are generally divided into a prefix (from 1 to 4 letters)
and a number. The number is the actual release number. Capitol started numbering
at 100, with some of their subsidiaries (like tower) starting at higher numbers
(such as 5000 for tower and 3350 for apple). By 1968, their regular issue
albums had reached 2999; 3000 to 9999 were reserved for subsidiaries so they
started over at 100. In 1972, album numbering reached 999 and catalog numbers
jumped ahead to 10000.
The
prefix is composed of letters.
• If the record is in stereo, then the first letter is S. If the first
letter is a D the record is in reprocessed stereo created from mono recordings
(= Duophonic).
No letter corresponds to a mono recording.
• The second letter is the price code. Beginning in the late 1950s,
T was the standard code for a full-price single Lp. Other letters, such as
W, M and K indicate a different list price.
• The third letter (if present) indicates the number of discs in the
album. A=single Lp, B=two Lps, C=3 Lps, etc.
• A fourth letter (if present) means there was some kind of special
packaging, such as a boxed set, gatefold cover, booklet, etc.