The Early Record Industry in Australia – Part 5

When acoustic recording was replaced by the superior technology of electrical recording, the record companies around the world had more or less unsaleable mechanical recordings in stock. It was estimated that alone in the U.S. approximately two hundred million acoustic discs were on the market. To get rid of the obsolete recordings the record companies sold them at cost price or less through jobbers to specific outlets, which normally did not offer records for sale. In Australia, importers made a profit by selling the outdated recordings with a new label to department stores and other outlets such as drapers and petrol stations. However, the profit margins soon attracted firms which have never previously been in the phonograh business before. Thus, the Australian market was flooded with cheap records by several importers which alarmed those record companies still manufacturing records in Australia. They feared that the cheap imports would cannabilize their regular domestic sales and started an ‘anti-dumping’ campaign.

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