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was a Japanese
Miki Takahashi The label was also called the "Swallow Brand", because of their trademark artwork. Nitto was known as a prolific brand, with over 2,000 titles published in about five years. In 1925, they were recognized as one of the two major labels in Japan at that time.『蓄音機 芸人の争奪戦 経営百態』東京朝日新聞
(1925, Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) The label produced numerous records of traditional Japanese music and art such as Jōruri, as well as solo plays of western music and orchestra recordings, although the latter remained small in the share of their overall production. As more record companies with foreign capital entered the market, Nitto gradually lost its competitiveness, and was taken over by in 1935. After the takeover, Taihei renamed the newly merged company , while maintaining the "Swallow Brand - Nitto Records" along with other labels.
In one article of a long run series (1997–1999) celebrating the 120th anniversary of phonograph, the ''World and traditional music: East Asia
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
, originally published by the company established in Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
on March 20, 1920.近代沖縄における録音メディアの導入、Chapter 4: ニットーレコード設立と活動の変遷Miki Takahashi The label was also called the "Swallow Brand", because of their trademark artwork. Nitto was known as a prolific brand, with over 2,000 titles published in about five years. In 1925, they were recognized as one of the two major labels in Japan at that time.『蓄音機 芸人の争奪戦 経営百態』東京朝日新聞
(1925, Tokyo Asahi Shimbun) The label produced numerous records of traditional Japanese music and art such as Jōruri, as well as solo plays of western music and orchestra recordings, although the latter remained small in the share of their overall production. As more record companies with foreign capital entered the market, Nitto gradually lost its competitiveness, and was taken over by in 1935. After the takeover, Taihei renamed the newly merged company , while maintaining the "Swallow Brand - Nitto Records" along with other labels.
In one article of a long run series (1997–1999) celebrating the 120th anniversary of phonograph, the ''Kobe Shimbun
is a Japanese-language daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers c ...
'' wrote:
"The only company which could rival Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
head-to-head in the market... (Nitto was) so tightly focused on traditional arts which made them late in responding to rapidly growing demand for popular music. Moreover, it was the retirement of Morishita, who was driving Nitto's marketing strategy all alone, that determined the fate of Nitto."
The Swallow Nitto brand finally disappeared in 1942, when Dainippon Gramophone was absorbed by Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
, shareholder of King Records, to become only a production facility of the latter.
Musicians who worked for the label included pop and jazz composer Ryoichi Hattori. Artists signed to the label included Korean soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
Yun Sim-deok
Yun Sim-deok (; 25 July 1897 – 4 August 1926) was a Korean singer. She was the country's first professional soprano.
Life and career
Yun was born in Pyongyang in 1897. She studied at the Pyongyang Girls' Middle and High Schools, and gradu ...
.
The British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
Sound Archive holds several Nitto 78rpm discs of the ''nagauta
is a kind of traditional Japanese music played on the and used in kabuki theater, primarily to accompany dance and to provide reflective interludes.
History
It is uncertain when the was first integrated into kabuki, but it was sometime dur ...
'' genre in its collection.British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
.
See also
*List of record labels
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File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
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Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...
References
{{Authority control Japanese record labels Record labels established in 1920 Record labels disestablished in 1935