# Zonophone

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{{Short description|Record label founded in 1899}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2010}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Universal Talking Machine Company
| image       = 
| image_size  = 
| logo             = Zonophone logo.png
| type             = [Corporation](/source/Corporation)
| fate             = Acquired
| successor        = [Victor Talking Machine Company](/source/Victor_Talking_Machine_Company) (immediate)<br />[EMI](/source/EMI) (1931–2013)<br />[Warner Music Group](/source/Warner_Music_Group) (2013–present)
| foundation       = 1899
| founder          = Frank Seaman
| defunct          = 1903
| location_city    = [Camden, New Jersey](/source/Camden%2C_New_Jersey)
| location_country = U.S.
| industry         = [Recording industry](/source/Recording_industry)
| products         = [Phonograph](/source/Phonograph)s, [phonograph records](/source/phonograph_records)
| owner            = Seaman, [Eldridge R. Johnson](/source/Eldridge_R._Johnson), [EMI](/source/EMI), then [Warner Music Group](/source/Warner_Music_Group)
}}

'''Zonophone''' (early on also rendered as '''Zon-O-Phone''') was a [record label](/source/record_label) founded in 1899 in [Camden, New Jersey](/source/Camden%2C_New_Jersey), by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company but was applied to records and machines sold by Seaman's Universal Talking Machine Company from 1899 to 1903. The name was subsequently acquired by [Columbia Records](/source/Columbia_Records), the [Victor Talking Machine Company](/source/Victor_Talking_Machine_Company), and finally the [Gramophone Company](/source/Gramophone_Company)/[EMI Records](/source/EMI_Records).  It has been used for a number of record publishing labels by these companies.

==1899–1910s==
[Emile Berliner](/source/Emile_Berliner), the inventor of the lateral-groove disc record and the [Gramophone](/source/Gramophone_record), formed a partnership with machinist [Eldridge R. Johnson](/source/Eldridge_R._Johnson), who had improved Berliner's Gramophone to the point of marketability, and with former typewriter promoter Frank Seaman. Berliner was to hold the patents; Johnson had manufacturing rights; and Seaman had selling rights.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sutton|first=Allan|title=American Record Companies and Producers 1888-1950|publisher=Mainspring Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-9973333-3-6|pages=56–58}}</ref>

==1920s–1970s==
{{main|Regal Zonophone Records}}
thumb|261x261px|A Zon-O-Phone record
In [West Africa](/source/West_Africa) (primarily today's [Ghana](/source/Ghana) and [Nigeria](/source/Nigeria)) Zonophone was used as a label to record and produce [Sakara](/source/Sakara_music), [Juju](/source/Juju) and [Apala](/source/Apala) music on 78 rpm discs from 1928 to the early 1950s.<ref>[http://www.bolingo.org/audio/texts/fr122savanna.html PAUL VERNON. Savannaphone]. FolkRoots No.122.</ref><ref>John Collins. ''Musicmakers of West Africa''. [Lynne Rienner Publishers](/source/Lynne_Rienner_Publishers) (1985) {{ISBN|0-89410-075-0}}</ref>

==See also==
* [List of record labels](/source/List_of_record_labels)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* US Zonophone masters in the [http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/index?Matrix%5BCompany%5D=Zonophone Discography of American Historical Recordings]
* [http://www.discogs.com/label/Regal+Zonophone Regal Zonophone label profile]
* [http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/african.htm Highlife Piccadilly: "African Music on 45 rpm records in the UK, 1954–1981" (19 May 1999)]. Ray Templeton
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080816000848/http://www.normanfield.com/labels1b.htm Scans of British 78 rpm record labels]: includes a large number of Zonophone & Regal-Zonophone labels.
* [https://zonophone.net/ Zonophone – Old time radio mysteries & dramas, and 1900-1920’s music, Zonophone offers a time portal to the bygone era of classic radio, and even before there was radio.

{{Warner Music Group}}
{{Authority control}}

Category:Record labels established in 1899
Category:Record labels disestablished in 1903
Category:Record labels established in 2007
Category:Re-established companies
Category:British record labels
Category:EMI
Category:American record labels
Category:Parlophone subsidiaries
Category:1899 establishments in New Jersey
Category:1903 disestablishments in New Jersey

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zonophone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonophone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonophone?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.