RCA Victor Record Club

Not a label, nor a 'series'. Please add as distributed by or record company, as appropriate Please credit RCA Music Service beginning with releases from 1971 and later. Launched on January 1, 1958 as the "RCA Victor Society Of Great Music", it became known almost immediately as "RCA Victor Record Club", which shortly became its official name. Initially, RCA licensed its catalog for sale through the Club, which was owned and operated by Book-Of-The Month Club, but began licensing titles from other labels in 1960. In August, 1961, the Club was sold to Reader's Digest, which launched a new division, Readers Digest Music, Inc., to handle the business. By 1964, RCA had tired of working with third parties, and terminated the Reader's Digest deal, taking back the rights to the RCA Victor Record Club name and making it a fully-owned division of RCA Records. Informally referred to within the music industry as "RCA Record Club" as early as 1965, "Victor" was officially dropped in 1968 with the restructuring of parent corporation Radio Corporation Of America into RCA Corporation. With the rise in popularity of cassette and 8-track tape formats, the Club's name was changed again to RCA Music Service in mid-1971, with advertisements placed in all major U.S. magazine. For club-exclusive releases showing RCA Victor Club Record on labels, please credit RCA as the Label and RCA Victor Record Club as Record Company.