The Legacy of the Victor Talking Machine The Victor Talking Machine Company (1901 ~1929) was the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. The company was founded by Eldridge R. Johnson, who had previously made phonographs to play Emile Berliner's Berliner Gramophone records. Some sources claim Berliner as a co-founder; others say Berliner was never connected with the Victor company, though that may have been part of a ruse by Johnson to defeat the Zonophone lawsuits that had put Berliner Gramophone out of business in the US and threatened Johnson's phonograph business. Zonophone had used patent ruses to defeat Berliner, the inventor of disc records, whose technology Zonophone had copied. In any event, Victor ultimately acquired the remaining assets of Berliner Gramophone. It also acquired Zonophone after defeating it in court. From the start, Victor pioneered manufacturing processes and eventually gained notoriety by using artists. In 1901 Victor made a three-track puzzle record and in 1903, a three-step mother-stamper process to produce more stampers and records than previously possible. After increasing the quality of disc records and phonographs, Johnson began an ambitious project to have the most prestigious singers and musicians of the day record for Victor Records, with exclusive agreements where possible. Often these artists ...
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