Arc Records, owned by founder Phil G. Anderson through his Arc Sound holding company, was a record label based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. Some of the artists to have their work released on the label include the Abbey Tavern Singers,

Terry Black Terry Black (February 3, 1949 – June 28, 2009) was a Canadian pop singer and teen idol, born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Career Black's debut U.S. single, " Unless You Care", was released in 1964, when Black was 15. The song was writ ...

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

and

Marg Osburne Marg Osburne (December 29, 1927 – July 16, 1977) was a Canadian country, folk and gospel singer. She was a recipient (posthumously) of the ECMA Stompin' Tom Connors award. Early life She was born in Moncton, New Brunswick and received her voc ...

Background

Phil G. Anderson started the company's operations in April 1958, originally oriented to providing Canadian promotion, merchandising and distribution for other labels. Arc started manufacturing its own records in 1959. As of 1968, the president was Anderson and the vice-president was Bill Gilliland. That year the label announced its plans to enter the international market. In 1965, the label released a single called "The Klan". It contained the lyrics, "Now, he who travels with the Klan, he is a monster, not a man". It was announced in the June 12 issue of ''Billboard'' that prominent political figures, including

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

leader

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, were to receive copies of the single. There had been an effort to promote the single. The band behind this anti-Klan single was

The Brothers-in-Law The Brothers-in-Law was a Canadian satirical musical group that was active from 1963 to 1970. They recorded six albums and generated occasional controversy because of their subject matter. History The members were songwriter Alec Somerville on b ...

with their ''The Brothers-In-Law Strike Again'' album. In 1967, the label had an injunction brought against them restraining them from the manufacture and distribution of "This Land Is Your Land", which was a parody of the

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...

tune.''Billboard'' April 29, 1967
Page 52 International News Reports, Injunction Vs. Arc Sound
/ref> Besides the aforementioned artists, Arc Sound signed and produced many other top Canadian recording artists in the 1960s, such as

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

, Stitch In Tyme, Catherine McKinnon, Fred McKenna, Harry Hibbs,

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

, The Travellers and

the Ugly Ducklings The Ugly Ducklings were a Canadian five-piece garage rock group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, most notable during the mid-1960s. They released six singles in 1966 and 1967 on the Yorktown and Yorkville labels, and one album, ''Somewhere ...

. One of their biggest successes was the Canadian release of "We're Off to Dublin in the Green" by the Abbey Tavern Singers. The group was an Irish band but became enormously popular in Canada, as the song reached #2 on Canada's

CHUM Chart The CHUM Chart was a ranking of top 30 (and, until August 1968, the top 50) songs on Toronto, Ontario radio station CHUM AM, from 1957 to 1986, and was the longest-running Top 40 chart in the world produced by an individual radio station. On Janua ...

s and sold close to 150,000 copies in Canada within the first year of release. In the early 1970s, Arc Sound became a subsidiary of AHED (acronym for Arc Home Entertainment Diversified), a music technology company (main product line was the GBX amplifier) owned by Anderson. AHED, including Arc Records and Arc Sound, ceased operations in 1986 due to the slow Canadian economy and changes in the music industry.

References

{{Authority control Defunct record labels of Canada Budget record labels