Jan Hosťák:
Production of grapmophones and gramophone records in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s – new findings

Abstract

In 1945, the gramophone companies carrying on business in Czechoslovakia were first put under state control and then nationalised. After the communist seizure of power in 1948 the previously fragmented manufacturing facilities were centralised in two production plants – record production in Loděnice near Prague and gramophone production in Litovel. The clash of the economic interests of Gramofonové závody (Gramophone Works) with the ideology of the Communist Party and the requirements of the audience constitutes an extremely interesting topic. Although strongly promoted and marketed, records featuring songs for the masses and builders of socialism sold quite poorly. The gradual easing of the social situation following the deaths of Klement Gottwald and J. V. Stalin thus facilitated the return of jazz.

Language: czech

Keywords: gramophone industry in Czechoslovakia; Tesla Litovel records; gramophones; official music industry; Gramofonové závody n. p.