The
Music Corporation of America was founded in 1924 by Jules Stern, as a booking
agency.
MCA
entered the recorded music business in 1962 with the purchase of US Decca
Records, including US Coral Records and US Brunswick Records. As American
Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal
and made it into the top film studio in town. In 1966, MCA formed Uni Records,
and in 1967 they purchased US Kapp Records. In 1971, MCA consolidated its
labels into MCA Records.
In
Britain, the MCA label came on the scene in 1967. After an initial
eighteen months of independence, Decca started handling its manufacturing
and distribution. This arrangement lasted until the start of 1974,
when EMI took over. In the last year of the decade the company moved to
CBS.
Several
different numbering systems existed: MU-1000
and MUS-1000
in the independent and Decca years, with MK-5000
and MKS-5000
added from 1969-72. MK
denoted material of British origin, as opposed to American recordings,
while S in both
cases indicated that the record was stereophonic. |