RCA Records is one of the head labels under the company now known as Sony Music Entertainment. Since its inception in 1929, RCA has become one of the most successful record labels of all time, and was a pioneer in the release of 45 rpm (revolutions per minute) vinyl records as well as the 8-track cassette tape.
The advent of RCA Records would not have been possible without its mother company, the Radio Corporation of America, known simply as RCA. The enterprise began as an electronics company in 1919, actually an offshoot of the much larger company, General Electric, which hoped to see RCA monopolize the best of radio technology. During the 1920s, RCA mainly manufactured and marketed radio equipment, but, by 1926, the company dominated American radio airwaves after buying up several radio stations throughout the U.S.; these stations soon merged together to form the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).
The story of RCA Records begins in 1929, when RCA bought out the Victor Talking Machine Company, the biggest American producer of phonograph machines. Then known as RCA-Victor, the company released the first 33 1/3 rpm records that first year, which were commercially unsuccessful due to harsh economic climate of the Great Depression. It wasn't until 1949 that RCA-Victor finally released a commercially viable record, the 45 rpm, which quickly became the standard for pop music singles. In the 1950s, RCA began to release LP records to keep up with main competitor Columbia Records, who enjoyed considerable market success with that format. During this decade, the company signed Elvis Presley and created three specialty record labels. In the early 1960s, RCA started adding computer technology to its record production process in an effort to improve sound reproduction.
During the late 1960s, RCA introduced the first 8-track tape cassettes, though the company's main product remained vinyl records. RCA Records then bought 50 percent of Arista Records in the 1980s, creating a joint venture called RCA-Ariola International. In 1986, RCA was acquired by General Electric, and decided to re-sell its 50 percent share of RCA-Ariola to business partner Bertelsmann AG, who renamed RCA Records BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group). In 2004, BMG merged with Sony to form Sony BMG, and Bertelsmann's gave up its stake in the company in 2008, making way for a new music corporation known as Sony Music Entertainment.
At the very beginning of RCA Records, a red, diamond-shaped label with the words "RCA Red Label" written in white distinguished the company's vinyl records. Later, customers recognized the reliable RCA label on cassette tapes with the three encircled letters and a single lightning bolt. Since RCA's acquisition by Sony Music Entertainment, the record company's label appears on compact discs, records and DVDs simply as "Sony Music" with a red semi-circle above the name.