Hello, all.
Because of some personal issues and technical problems (my ARSClist
subscription has been suspended, for an unknown reason), I could not manage
to see the replies I have got before.
It has been a while since I have posted my last email concerning my
progresses of the research I had worked on. I am now back in Korea, still
doing the research. So far, my research has been quite fruitful, thanks to
the help that numerous collectors, researchers, and record collectors gave
me with the various information. I have managed to discover 9 previously
unknown titles (each a unique copy) of Korean Victor recordings in various
institutes and collections in several countries, which was very helpful for
my research.
Now, here are some more big questions regarding these recordings.
1.
As far as I know, Victor and Gramophone company made an agreement regarding
the market division in the "Far East". I believe that around 1904, the two
companies made an agreement that the Victor would have China, and the
Gramophone company would have Japan. However, as far as I know, by 1906-7,
Victor got the Japanese market as well. I know this by firsthand experience
since I have seen copies of the exact same recordings of Japanese music on
both Victor and G&T pressing. Is there any documentations or other
correspondences in the Victor Archives or EMI Archive, or even anywhere in
the world that at least partially explains the reason for this? I was not
able to recover any documentation about this matter. Also, I know almost
nothing about the involvement of Zonophone regarding the Asian foreign
market; so I was wondering if there's any information about the reason for
their involvement for handling Victor products in Asia.
2.
As for the newly discovered records that I have found, all of the records
carries the big capital letter "M" on the blank side. I believe this is a
factory marking; and can anyone tell me the meaning of this?
3.
This is a relevant question regarding the Victor (or Zonophone)'s foreign
recording sessions in general. Did Victor pay the recording fees to the
artist directly for their efforts, or did they pay to the talent scout or
any "mediator/negotiator" figure that was involved between them? If so, how
much did they generally pay for them? Is there any documentary evidence
regarding this practice in Victor archives?
Sincerely,
Mark (Jihoon) Suk.
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