Regal (3)

US shellac label which ran from 1921 to 1932. For the The Gramophone Co. Ltd./EMI label please use Regal. Regal was introduced by the Emerson Phonograph Company Inc. in 1921 as a mid-priced (50¢) alternative to Emerson Records (2), which retailed for 85¢. These earliest issues drew on Emerson masters exclusively, but nearly all issues were pseudonymous. The label was an immediate success. While Regal succeeded, its parent company struggled financially. When the Emerson Phonograph Company Inc. went into receivership in early 1922, both Emerson and its Regal subsidiary were sold to Benjamin Abrams of the Plaza Music Company. The Regal Record Company, Inc. was reorganized and sold to the Scranton Button Company, an independent pressing plant. The Plaza Music Company remained as Regal's sales and marketing arm. No longer affiliated with Emerson, Regal licensed Paramount masters from The New York Recording Laboratories for most of 1922. However, by the end of the year most recording had been contracted to the Independent Recording Laboratories, and in 1924 Regal acquired IRL. The alliance between the Regal Record Company, Inc., the Plaza Music Company, the Independent Recording Laboratories and the Scranton Button Company lasted until 1929. Throughout the 1920s, the Regal and Banner catalogs were virtually identical, although couplings and pseudonyms often differed. In 1929, the Regal Record Company, Inc. was merged with the Cameo Record Corporation and the Scranton Button Company to form the American Record Corporation. After 1929 ARC slowly phased Regal out in favor of Banner. The last new issues were released in July 1931 and the label was discontinued in early 1932.