His Master's Voice is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone. In the original painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph.
The famous trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, A.R.A. and titled His Master's Voice. The original title of the...
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His Master's Voice is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone. In the original painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph.
The famous trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, A.R.A. and titled His Master's Voice. The original title of the painting was "His Late Master's Voice" (and this phrase appears on many of the original RCA Victor labels), but the concept was considered too depressing for most of the public's tastes, and certainly for an image used as a means to put the consumer in the mood to buy. It was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly-formed Gramophone Company. According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog, a fox terrier called Nipper, had originally belonged to Barraud's brother Mark. When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited...
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