Whence Albums?

[Gjorp]

When and why did albums come about?

What confuses me is that albums were being produced before LPs were invented. They were several 78 RPM records put together into a booklet (hence the name, album).

I don’t get why there would have been a market for these. If the albums were just made up of separate records, why weren’t people just buying the separate records?

[Walloon]

The 78 rpm record, introduced in 1901, had a limited amount of recording time on it. To record an entire symphony, opera, or stage musical, you needed to place it on several 78 rpm records, and sell them together as an album.

[Gjorp]

Wow, Walloon, what a speedy answer, thank you.

But… What about the non-symphony albums. Like the ones we have today, where an artists makes so many 3-4 minute songs and makes an album out of them? Why did they make those? Did the symphony albums just get the custom started?

And, a question brought up from Walloon’s answer. If the (flat disk) record was invented in 1887, what speeds and sizes were used before 1901? Or was the record just in development for those 14 years while everybody just listened to the Edison (tube) phonographs which were already standardized?

[Walloon]

*Originally posted by Gjorp *
**If the albums were just made up of separate records, why weren’t people just buying the separate records? **

The answer is: people were buying the separate records too. In the era of the 33-1/3 rpm album, people still bought singles (i.e., 45s); so in the 78 rpm era people bought both albums and singles. It wasn’t a case of either/or.

By buying an album of a favorite artist, whether it was Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, or the Andrews Sisters, your cost per song was cheaper than if you bought the songs as singles.

[Walloon]

According to Steven E. Schoenherr the 78 rpm speed, although introduced by Victor in 1901, did not become standard among the major record companies until 1925:

In 1925, when electrical recording came into existence, a decision had to be made as to what speed would be used for recording. At that time, Victor was operating at 78 r/min, Edison was using 80 r/min for his disc, while some others were using 82. If Maxfield and Harrison wanted their system adopted by Victor, then 78 r/min was the speed to use. An honest and compelling reason was that Victor’s 78 r/min was the predominant speed and it was selected for maximum compatibility between the old and the new. In fact, 78 r/min was selected, but it turned out to be 78.2608 r/min because it was necessary to synchronize the recording turntable to the 60-hertz line and 78.2608 r/min was the only speed at which it could be done practically with a simple worm-gear drive.

As for cylinder phonographs,

Spring-wound motors were necessary before the cylinders could be reduced in size and operated at speeds first of 120 r/min and, later, at 160 r/min for good sound.