Record company formed in August 1929 incorporating the labels of the Plaza Music Company (Jewel,
Domino, Oriole, Banner, Regal), Pathe´ Phonograph
and Radio Corporation (Pathe´ Actuelle, Perfect), and
Cameo Record Corporation (Cameo, Romeo, Lincoln). All had been active in blues recording, though
only Pathe´ had the Race series (the Pathe´ 7500 and
Perfect 100 series, which had reached 7540/140 at the
time of the merger). The Perfect series was continued
and many issues, for example, 1930 sides by Big Bill
Broonzy as Sammy Sampson, appeared also on
Oriole and Romeo (sometimes also Banner and
Jewel) for different markets.
ARC was acquired in October 1930 by Consolidated Film Industries, which in December 1931 also
bought Brunswick from Warner Brothers. Though
formally distinct, ARC and Brunswick/Vocalion
became a single enterprise. In August 1934 the company acquired Columbia and OKeh, but soon discontinued these labels, terminating the OKeh 8000 Race
series at 8966 in April 1935. Blues issues henceforth
appeared mainly on Vocalion or on cheaper records
on the so-called dime-store labels, Perfect, Oriole,
Romeo, Banner, and Melotone, which used a coordinated system of issue numbers. The assumption
often consequently made by discographers that all
issues appeared on all of these labels throughout the
period of issue may well be false. Some artists, such as
Blind Boy Fuller and Robert Johnson, had records
issued in both the Vocalion and dime-store series;
others, such as Buddy Moss and Joshua White
(Pinewood Tom), appeared only on the dime-store
labels. ARC/Brunswick was purchased by the Columbia Broadcasting System in February 1938. CBS
dropped the dime-store labels in April 1938 and in
1940 discontinued the Brunswick and Vocalion labels
in favor of Columbia and OKeh. The ARC name
itself appeared only on record labels in a few special
series.
HOWARD RYE
Bibliography
DGR; Sutton
Allen, Walter, Perry Armagnac, and Carl Kendziora.
‘‘Plaza-A.R.C.: A Clarification.’’ Matrix 70 (1967): 4.
Dixon, Robert M. W., and John Godrich. Recording the
Blues. London: Studio Vista, 1970; reprinted in Paul
Oliver et al., Yonder Come the Blues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.