![]() Nearly all the releases contain at least one song that Mank penned or co-authored.Īnother company listed in Billboard’s 1952 directory, the Inter-City Recording Service of Moline was primarily recording transcription discs and acetates for radio broadcasts. Mank would continue to release records on Blue Ribbon and other labels for the next four decades. By the late 1940’s Mank formed the Blue Ribbon record label as another means of publishing and promoting his songs. ![]() In the 1940’s, Mank’s Blue Ribbon Music Company began publishing songs and sheet music, many of which he wrote or collaborated on. In the 1930’s Mank formed his own orchestra, the Blue Ribbon Dance Band, which he continued to lead for over 50 years. Mank reportedly received more than 10,000 letters a year, belonged to over 200 fan clubs and claimed to only sleep three hours a night. He was a songwriter, silent film organist, bandleader, author, publisher, pen pal, Hollywood fan club pioneer and record label owner just to name a few of his interests and talents. Mank was truly an extraordinary character. These labels however often lacked the music industry connections to secure proper distribution or the means to get their singles on the airwaves outside their home market. Other times they were started by the musicians themselves, hoping to have more control over their output and career. Sometimes it was an entrepreneur hoping to cash in on the latest musical fad or a local business planning to use the records as promotional items. Record labels not affiliated with a studio did exist downstate as well. These records would be pressed in batches of 200 to 1,000 copies at a time, often depending on what the artist was willing to pay for. By the mid-1950’s singles were almost exclusively being pressed on 7” vinyl and played at 45 rpm. While some of these studios did produce albums, most produced singles only. Typically studios would handle the business of getting a release manufactured by working with the few pressing plants in the country that would process small run custom pressings. As a result, most singles had little chance of getting on the radio or becoming a hit outside of their hometown. Instead it was usually the artist’s responsibility to promote and distribute their own release. These labels often did not operate in the traditional sense as separate companies that were building a roster of artists which they would help market. With nearly all of the studios there was a “house” record label for commercial releases which was typically little more than the studio’s name printed on the release. In doing so each studio developed its own sound, sometimes crude but often quite professional. It was a process of trial and error that required a basic understanding of electronics and acoustics and more than a little bit of luck. The men and women that build these studios did so by piecing together the necessary electronics, component by component, and often made them work in a space that was never intended to be a sound studio. Nor was there a place you could simply buy all the equipment you needed as a unit, off the shelf or out of a catalog. It is important to note that there was no handbook or manual for building a recording studio in this era. A handful of these studios did evolve into legitimate businesses but the majority were short-lived, labors of love. Others catered to local musicians hoping to record a demo or produce a single. Some studios focused on producing commercials for radio or background music for local businesses. In fact, most downstate recording studios of this era were modest, one or two person operations with beginnings in a basement or a garage of a home. Still, recording studios and record labels did exist downstate, albeit on a much smaller scale and often isolated from the larger music industry. ![]() By that time each city had its own respective “record row” where independent record labels and recording studios could be found in close proximity to song publishing houses, record distributors and radio stations. Jan / Feb 2020 issue of Illinois Heritageįor downstate Illinois musicians hoping to make a record in the 1950’s or early 1960’s it often meant travelling to Chicago or even Nashville.
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