{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/2804x5614t/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Now It Can Be Told: Uncovering the History of Little Wonder Records (and Bubble Books)"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/019/original/ARSC_Full_Logo_RGB_K.jpg?1605438091","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Merle Sprinzen (Presenter)","Gary Galo (Chair)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2010-05-22 (Created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["In 1914 the recording industry was a near monopoly controlled by Columbia, Edison and Victor. These companies owned all of the most important record-manufacturing patents, and used this market power to keep the prices of records quite high -- $.75 to $1.00 each (close to $20.00 in today's money). Enter Little Wonder records. These records made some compromises in quality -- measuring 5½ inches with tight grooves on a single side, playing only for a minute to two minutes, and not sold in sleeves -- but were priced at only 10¢. That price point, together with the popularity of the tunes that were recorded, made Little Wonders an immediate and extraordinary success. Millions and millions of these records were sold in the nine years the label was alive, more than 20 million from August 1914 through June 1916 alone – and the label revolutionized the popular recorded music industry with that success. But where could these records have come from given the monopoly? That mystery has plagued collectors – and, indeed, the record industry – throughout the label's history, and now it can be solved, thanks to newly discovered court papers. This talk will detail the behind-the-scenes drama between the record's founders – Henry Waterson and Victor Emerson – and their link to Columbia, as exposed by those papers.  It will also reveal some new discoveries about the artists that performed some of the tunes. And it will clear up some other, lesser questions, like why didn't the early records have paper labels?"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Association for Recorded Sound Collections"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright Association for Recorded Sound Collections"]}}],"summary":{"en":["In 1914 the recording industry was a near monopoly controlled by Columbia, Edison and Victor. These companies owned all of the most important record-manufacturing patents, and used this market power to keep the prices of records quite high -- $.75 to $1.00 each (close to $20.00 in today's money). Enter Little Wonder records. These records made some compromises in quality -- measuring 5½ inches with tight grooves on a single side, playing only for a minute to two minutes, and not sold in sleeves -- but were priced at only 10¢. That price point, together with the popularity of the tunes that were recorded, made Little Wonders an immediate and extraordinary success. Millions and millions of these records were sold in the nine years the label was alive, more than 20 million from August 1914 through June 1916 alone – and the label revolutionized the popular recorded music industry with that success. But where could these records have come from given the monopoly? That mystery has plagued collectors – and, indeed, the record industry – throughout the label's history, and now it can be solved, thanks to newly discovered court papers. This talk will detail the behind-the-scenes drama between the record's founders – Henry Waterson and Victor Emerson – and their link to Columbia, as exposed by those papers.  It will also reveal some new discoveries about the artists that performed some of the tunes. And it will clear up some other, lesser questions, like why didn't the early records have paper labels?"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright Association for Recorded Sound Collections"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Association for Recorded Sound Collections"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Association for Recorded Sound Collections"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/019/original/ARSC_Full_Logo_RGB_K.jpg?1605438091","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2670/collection_resources/128149/file/239791","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - ARSC_conf_2010_Sprinzen_audio.mp3"]},"duration":2021.59819,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2670/collection_resources/128149/file/239791/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2670/collection_resources/128149/file/239791/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-arsc.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/239/791/original/ARSC_conf_2010_Sprinzen_audio.mp3?1714149263","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2021.59819,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2670/collection_resources/128149/file/239791","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]}]}