VEB Deutsche Schallplatten

The VEB German records Berlin was the sole producers of phonograms in the GDR. He went in 1954, founded by Ernst Busch 1947 Musikverlag song of the time record -Gesellschaft mbH produced and maintained its monopoly until 1990. The company was headquartered in East Berlin. It was subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of the GDR. His most notable labels were Eterna and Amiga.

History

The actor and singer Ernst Busch founded in 1947, a record company, the song of the time record -Gesellschaft mbH, to which in 1950 included a music publisher. The company was nationalized in 1954. In the same year record company and music publishing were separated. While the music publishing the name VEB song of the time was continuing music publisher, the record company changed its name from then as VEB German records Berlin. Among the six labels of the company, which specializes in e- music label Eterna took about 60 % of the total 8500 publications the most space. The largest share of sales was achieved with approximately half of the total sales of the Amiga label, which covered the area of ​​entertainment and dance music. A total of almost 97 million records were sold from 1955 to 1989.

The production of the record was made in the press shop in Potsdam- Babelsberg in the former facilities of pace Schallplatten GmbH. The production of music cassettes took place in Berlin -Johannisthal. Stereo sound recordings were first time in 1962 and produced from 1971 to permanently. The company included five studios, but you worked specifically in the 1980s also works closely with the broadcast of the GDR, who also produced music recordings in his studio.

The entire company policy was followed by the GDR cultural policy, from the selection of artists, songs and texts on the cover design to the definition of the graded according to size and labels unit prices.

After the fall (1990 ), the operation was transferred to the newly founded German GmbH Berlin records, which also took over the succession and some brands (eg literature ) further led, but also new brands brought forth, such as Musicando. In the course of 1991, however, the rights of many productions and some brands were sold - including the Bertelsmann Music Group and the noble music GmbH.

Labels

The VEB German records Berlin operated the following brands ( labels):

  • Amiga for contemporary popular music ( pop, rock, pop, folk music)
  • Literature for voice recordings (readings, radio plays, drama )
  • Eterna for the so -called cultural heritage (classical music, opera and operetta, folk songs ), now label of noble CLASSICS GmbH
  • Nova for New Music (contemporary "serious" music),
  • Aurora for workers' songs and productions by Ernst Busch,
  • Schola specially refurbished for educational purposes and expenditures of all genres

HO- echo

A curiosity is the brand HO- echo represents the mid-1950s, was designed for distribution in HO- shops and should use Amiga recordings, but never came to market. A few copies are circulating among collectors; with them it is probably pre-production sample. So far, about 55 different HO -echo plates were detected, all of which contain only dance and entertainment music. The order number is identical with the regular Amiga output of the 50 - series. Also the information about titles, artists and copyright holders are identical, only the reference to the publisher of the song time is missing. The matrices used are mainly of recordings from the period from 1949 until 1951. The output of the plates was carried out from 1952 to 1953, at a time when Ernst Busch still managing director of "Song of Time GmbH" was. Considering his strained relations with the governance, is probably a preferential delivery to officials (as is sometimes suggested ) rather excluded. Much closer, therefore, is the pure use as an advertising board in the shops of HO Trade Organization. A complete list is in the discography of Bernd Meyer- Oehme Rähnitz and Frank " The Eternal girlfriend " before.

Studios

The VEB German records Berlin decreed throughout its history numerous recording studios. These included:

  • Studio Reichstagufer, Berlin
  • Studio Fountain Street, Berlin
  • Studio Christ Church, Berlin
  • Studio Lukas Church, Dresden
  • Studio Paul -Gerhardt -Kirche, Leipzig
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