Record Labels - Brunswick Records

Hover over each image for information about each individual label.

Brunswick Records

Brunswick Records was founded by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company in 1916 to accompany their line of phonographs, though they introduced their laterally cut records in 1920. The Brunswick label was extremely successful and soon came to rival Victor and Columbia. In 1930, the label was sold to Warner Brothers, who in turn leased production to the American Record Corporation (ARC), who continued to produce Brunswick until their purchase by the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1939.

In the early 1940s, the Brunswick name was revived by Decca Records for reissues of classic music from the 1920s and 1930s, released during the recording ban in 1943.

An acoustically recorded Brunswick label in the initial style used from 1920 to 1925, coming in several color schemes. This example dates to 1923.

A purple variant of the previous type of label. This example dates to 1923.

A pre-ARC Brunswick release with the gold 'filigree' label, produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. The 'filigree' label began with the change to electric recording in 1925. The line under the catalog number indiactes this is side A, this system was also used by Melotone. This example dates to 1930.

The same style of label produced during the short Warner Bros. era, with the maker's mark 'Brunswick Radio Corporation, A Subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures.' This example dates to 1931.

An ARC era Brunswick release with the same style of label produced by the Brunswick Record Corporation. This label style was produced until around 1937 This example dates to 1934.

An intermediate design between the 'filigree' label and the final silver label, used from about 1936-193. Note the similarity in the design to the 'Viva-tonal' Columbia label, these were produced after ARC had bought-out Columbia. This example dates to 1936.

The final 'silver' label design, produced from around 1937 until Brunswick's demise. This example dates to 1938.

A post-war Brunswick label style released by Decca. This example dates to 1953.

Special/Other Brunswick Labels

A Brunswick 'New Hall of Fame Popular Series' label, these were operatic releases in the mid-1920s. This recording dates to 1923, but the label styling would place the release date in the electrical era, post-1925 (please pardon the writing on the label).

Brunswick's 'lightning bolt' label, used for country and western and race records. This example dates to 1928.

A 1943 Decca reissue of a Brunwick recording from 1931. Note the framing of the word Brunswick's resemblance to the Decca label, especially the 'script' label, which was soon to be released at this time.

A late 1930s British issue Brunsiwck. This was recorded in the United States by Decca in 1938. Please pardon the damage.

Picture Labels

Several pictures labels were issued by Brunswick Records, and even more by Brunswick in the UK.

A Brunswick Horace Heidt picture label from 1938.

A British picture label featuring Bing Crosby from his 1937 film 'Double or Nothing'.

The flip side of the same British record from 1937.

Another British Brunswick picture label promoting Carmen Miranda in 'That Night In Rio'. This one dates to 1941.

Melotone

Melotone Records was started by Warner/Brunswick in 1930 as a budget label, its production was picked up by ARC in 1932 along with the Brunswick label. It was quite successful as a budget label during the Great Depression, and released various genres of music including jazz and hillbilly, until it was shut down along with ARC's other budget labels in 1938.

A later Melotone label in green and bronze with the later style of catalog number, in 1935, the ARC catalog numbering system changed to one indicating the year, month, and release number (i.e. 6-03-01 being the first release of March 1936.

An even later Melotone, showing the addition of the phrase 'Full-Range Recording', as was added to many labels in the mid-late 1930s. This example dates to 1937.

Other Labels by Brunswick

Brunswick took over Sears' Supertone from Gennett for a brief period around 1931, mostly reissuing earlier Brunswick content. This example was recorded in 1929.

Custom Pressings by Brunswick

Sleeves

A Brunswick sleeve from the first half of the 1920s.

A Brunswick sleeve from the later 1920s.

A Brunswick sleeve dating around 1930 or slightly earlier.

An ARC Brunswick sleeve from the early to mid 1930s.

A Brunswick sleeve from the mid to late 1930s.

A Melotone sleeve with the NRA (National Recovery Administration) logo, dating it to the 1933-1935 period.

A Melotone sleeve from the later part of the 1930s.

All images on this page created by R. Connor Montgomery, please do not reproduce without permission.