His Master's Voice was a British

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

established in 1909. Whilst mainly releasing in the United Kingdom, the label also released in select European and African territories. Sister labels were also created, such as an Indian version, that lasted until 2003. "

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

" was a trademark of the Gramophone Company Limited (later part of EMI). In 1909, the Gramophone Company replaced the "Recording Angel" trademark with the image of

Nipper Nipper ( – September 1895) was a British dog. He is best known as the subject of ''His Master's Voice'' (1898), painted posthumously by his second owner, Francis Barraud. The painting became a worldwide entertainment trademark, with Nip ...

the dog, listening to "His Master's Voice" on their record labels; thereafter, the records were commonly referred to as "His Master's Voice" (or HMV) records, due to the prominence of that phrase along the upper rim of the labels. The "His Master's Voice" trademark was used worldwide by The Gramophone Company/EMI and affiliated labels, except for most of the Western Hemisphere and Japan, where the rights to the trademark were owned by the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

and the Victor Company of Japan/ JVC, respectively. In 1973, HMV became a sub-label of

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

as a result of a corporate restructuring. From 1990, the His Master's Voice label began being phased out in favour for the newly-established EMI Classics label. The final British His Master's Voice release was

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

's live album, '' Beethoven Was Deaf'', in May 1993. In 2003, EMI divested the "His Master's Voice" intellectual property to

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

, the retail business it had previously spun-off in 1998.

History

His Master's Voice was founded as a classical label. From December 1899, the predecessor to EMI, the

Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...

, had purchased the ''

'' painting from

Francis Barraud Francis James Barraud (16 June 1856 – 29 August 1924) was an English painter. He is best known for his painting ''His Master's Voice'', one of the most famous commercial logos in the world, having been adopted as a recording industry trademark ...

, and, from 1909, began using the phrase "His Master's Voice" and likeness of

on its releases. In 1921, the Gramophone Company established His Master's Voice as a music retail chain. In 1931, the Gramophone Company merged with

Columbia Graphophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a managem ...

to form EMI, with Gramophone Company continuing as a label, and His Master's Voice continuing as a sub-label, under EMI. In 1952, the label entered the

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

genre, and used a POP number prefix. It also signed American talent such as

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

for British distribution. This continued until 1967, when its domestic pop artists moved to either Columbia Graphophone or

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

, and American performers were moved to Stateside Records, reserving His Master's Voice for classical recordings. In July 1973, the Gramophone Company became

, with His Master's Voice continuing as a sub-label. From 1990, His Master's Voice began to be phased out as a record label, and gradually replaced for EMI Classics. The final His Master's Voice release was

's '' Beethoven Was Deaf'', a live album released in May 1993. In 1998, EMI spun off its

retail business, becoming its own entity, and in 2003, divested the "His Master's Voice" intellectual property to the retail business.

His Master's Voice POP artist list (1952 to 1967)

* The Ames Brothers *

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

* Eddy Arnold *

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American singer, actor and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including Record ...

* The Blue-Belles * Bernard Bresslaw * Al Caiola *

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

* Alma Cogan * Jerry Colonna *

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

* Danny and the Juniors * Dion * Fabian * Ferrante and Teicher * Eddie Fisher *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

* Eydie Gorme * The Highwaymen * The Impressions *

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment wer ...

* Johnny Kidd and the Pirates *

Eartha Kitt Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby" ...

* Julius LaRosa * Steve Lawrence * John Leyton *

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two l ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

* Mickey & Sylvia * Jaye P. Morgan * The Olympics *

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

* The Poni-Tails * Perez Prado *

Lloyd Price Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American R&B and rock 'n' roll singer, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality (Lloyd Price song), Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a ...

* Tommy Roe * Soupy Sales *

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...

* Jimmy Smith * Kay Starr * The Swinging Blue Jeans * Philip Upchurch Combo * Danny Williams * Hugo Winterhalter

References

External links

HMV singles discography including POP series

HMV POP
45worlds.com {{Use British English, date=April 2025 1909 establishments in the United Kingdom 1993 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Record labels established in 1909 Record labels disestablished in 1993 Classical music record labels EMI Pop record labels