Melotone Records (US)

Melotone Records was a United States based record label. In late 1930, Warner/Brunswick Records introduced the Melotone label in the U.S. and Canada as a budget subsidiary issuing 78 rpm disc records. It then became part of the American Record Corporation collection of labels in 1932. The label was disestablished in 1938. In 2010, Melotone Records was refounded as a division of Melotone Music LLC.

During the Depression, Melotone Records was a common cheap priced label. Melotone issued popular dance tunes of the era (usually a group of studio musicians issued under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ralph Bennett and his Seven Aces (all eleven of 'em), Bob Causer and his Cornellians, Owen Fallon and his Orchestra, Sleepy Hall and his Collegians, Vic Irwin and his Orchestra, Chick Bullock and his Levee Loungers, Vincent Rose and his Orchestra, Paul Small and his Orchestra, etc.), together with a variety of jazz, country music, blues, Mexican music, Cajun music, and Hawaiian music. Artists whose recordings were issued on Melotone include Eddie Cantor, Annette Hanshaw, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Lead Belly, and Blind Boy Fuller. Audio fidelity was average for the era even though the shellac material was not quite as high quality as the more expensive labels (although a mint copy played with a good diamond stylus produces good-for-the-era sound).

See also

• List of record labels
• Melotone Records (Australia)