Vintage Record Label of the Day - Grey Gull
Grey Gull was a record company founded in 1919 and which existed until September of 1930.
Despite it's rather short lifespan, Grey Gull was an interesting entrant into the record label business. Initially, their records were recorded with a very thin groove and in a vertical "hill and dale" style press; they could put nearly twice as much music on one side of a record than was typical of the day, and they often had two songs on each side instead of one which was standard. Unfortunately for Grey Gull, this was expensive, non standard, and did not catch on, so by 1920 they changed production to an industry standard horizontal, or "lateral," cut.
With this change came a change in pressing techniques. Grey Gull utilised a much more simple disc cutting technique than competitors which allowed it to lower it's costs; this, in turn, allowed it to lower it's prices to consumers. They also introduced a somewhat novel marketing scheme at the time, and had retailers display Grey Gull products in a rack as opposed to a shelf, or bin, and made them more visible.
Grey Gull did not continue past the 1930's. Undoubtedly they were harmed by the new "orthophonic" patents shared by Victor and Columbia which produced a much better sound, and they simply could no longer compete.
Previous Record Labels:
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Sometimes photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
Blind Skeleton
Online Radio: https://blindskeleton.one/radio/
Three Tune Tuesday Live Stream: 12:00pm (noon) EST
Frogs of War Games
Tidwick
The Feet Community
What I Learned Today
