John Fletcher (10)

Fletcher began his career as a professional musician, but eventually turned to recording and production of records. As a trumpeter and cornetist, Fletcher claims to have played in the Edison Grand Concert Band, but by the early 1900s he had secured a position as a cornetist in Sousa's Band. He made at least two cylinders for Indestructible Record, but by the 1910s he had shifted his focus to improving sound recording methods. He developed a vertical-cut groove that was playable with ordinary steel needles, and in 1915, Fletcher launched the Operaphone label that used this universal cut method. Although Operaphone suspended operations at the end of 1920, Fletcher remained active in the record business. In 1921 he launched the Olympic Disc Record Corporation, which produced the Olympic (11) label, but that venture was also short-lived and the label folded within a year. However, in partnership Harry Pace and Michael Naughton, Fletcher re-acquired Olympic's assets and launched the Fletcher Record Company, Inc., which was the first integrated executive team to run an American record company. The Fletcher Record Company provided recording studios and pressing operations for Pace's Black Swan Records (2). During the 1920s, Fletcher would resurrect his Olympic label twice, once in association with the Capitol Roll And Record Company, but it never gained popularity and finally disappeared completely near the end of 1924.