From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
Dear Pekka,
I have only sampled the collection of Billboard made available for free from
GoogleBooks (or something similar), but I think it is a complete run from
1941-1980 (ca.). This will be an invaluable source for you, but searching is
a joke. The best results you get by leafing through, slowly, and it will be a
5-year project. Remember to use the magnifier button to increase readability.
Best wishes,
George
> I have been looking for data on record company market shares in the USA in
> the 1950s, but I am still puzzled. There is RIAA data on total sales, and
> a
> lot of (mostly anecdotal) detail on specific companies. Sanjek's books on
> the music business are helpful, but do not follow the development
> systematically. If I had access to all issues of Billboard from this
> period, that might be the solution, but I do not have them
>
> It seems likely that the three biggest companies in the USA during this
> decade were CBS, RCA Victor and Decca. There were hundreds of other
> companies, of various sizes. But which were the ten, or twenty, biggest
> ones? I am not speaking of shares of hits in the charts (this has been
> studied), but market shares - real or at least estimated?
>
> All suggestions would be useful.
>
> Pekka Gronow
> Helsinki
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