Sonet (Label)

From The Unofficial Discogs Wiki

Contents 1 Notes 2 Short History 3 Logos 4 Markets 4.1 Sweden 4.2 Denmark 4.3 Norway 4.4 Finland 4.5 UK 4.6 Germany 4.7 France 4.8 Italy 4.9 US 5 Label Designs 5.1 1960-1970 5.2 1970-(1986?) 5.3 1972-1974 5.4 1975-(1983?) 5.5 1985-1988 5.6 1988-1991 6 References

Notes

Label name: Sonet

Labelcode: LC 0346 / LC 00346

Page: Sonet

Short History

Sonet was founded in the mid-1950's in Sweden by Gunnar Bergström and Sven Lindholm. By the late 1950's they brought in a third partner, Dan Häggkvist, and his label Gazell. Almost immediately after founding, the label opened an office in Denmark as well. Sonet spread to Norway and Finland, and opened an office in the UK. The label's releases were distributed all over Europe.

A third of Sonet's income came through licensing deals with Island, Chrysalis and Polar. In the late 1980's PolyGram acquired Island and Polar, and EMI acquired Chrysalis, and they terminated their licensing deals with Sonet. This forced the company to downsize and restructure, and PolyGram acquired what was left of the company on October 15th, 1991.

In 1999, Seagram bought PolyGram and merged it with the MCA family of labels to form Universal Music Group, and this is how Sonet became the property of Universal. Currently Sonet continues in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, in one form or another.

Logos

Throughout its existence Sonet has had several logos. The most common one, and all the variations of it, contain two elements: a trumpet and the word "Sonet". In the mid-80's, the logo was redesigned (see picture 3 below), and the trumpet was omitted.

Currently the Swedish releases seem to use the logo 1 (example), and the Norwegian ones logo 3 (example). There are some Danish remasters from 2000 (example) that seem to use a variation of the logo 5 (without the trumpet), also similar to the logo presented on the Norwegian Sonet Distribusjon website.

These are the most common ones.

1

2

3

There are other variations of the logo as well.

4

5

6

Markets

Sweden

The name of the original company was Scandinavian Record Company, but it was renamed to Sonet Grammofon AB at some point. After PolyGram acquired Sonet, the Swedish company was the only one to continue under the old name. Currently Universal Music AB is the caretaker of Sonet in Sweden.

• Universal Music Sweden
• Sonet Grammofon AB in Discogs

Other companies:

• Sonet Music Ab (Music Publisher)

Denmark

In Denmark Sonet was managed by Anders Dyrup in the beginning. Soon Sonet joined Dansk Grammofonplade Forlag, an umbrella company for several other labels in Denmark. The company was renamed to Sonet/Dansk Grammofon A/S in 1972. Release series continued, and some releases were even reissued with the same catalog number and printed release year, but the center label design was new.

Sonet was bought by PolyGram in 1991. Shortly after Sonet/Dansk Grammofon A/S was disbanded. In 1999, PolyGram was sold to Seagram and merged with the MCA family of labels, which became Universal Music Group.

In July 2006 Universal Music Denmark restarted Sonet in Denmark.

• Sonet Denmark
• Sonet/Dansk Grammofon A/S in Discogs

Norway

The Norwegian company was called Sonet Grammofon AS.

Currently Sonet serves as a name for a distribution service, Sonet Distribusjon. It is part of Universal Music A/S in Norway.

• Sonet Distribusjon - Sonet Distribution website
• Sonet Grammofon AS in Discogs

Finland

In Finland, Scandia Musiikki Oy was the first company to release records on Sonet. Eventually the Finnish company, Oy Sonet Suomi Ab was founded. The company was disbanded in 1993, and PolyGram Finland Oy took over Sonet in Finland. In 1999 PolyGram Finland Oy was renamed to Universal Music Oy.

• Oy Sonet Suomi Ab in Discogs
• Oy Sonet-Polar Suomi Ab in Discogs

Catalog number forms: T-6###

UK

Companies:

• Sonet Productions Ltd. example

1. Address: 12 Needham Road, London W11 example
2. Address: 25 Berkeley House, Hay Hill, London W1 example

• Sonet Publishing Ltd. (Music Publishing)
• Sonet Records Ltd. example

Catalog numbers are usually formed: SNTF 000, SNKF 000

Germany

The German releases are usually manufactured and distributed by Intercord Tonträger GmbH, these releases are branded as Sonet releases. There are also license releases from the TELDEC companies and Metronome Records GmbH but they seem to be released rather on own imprints than on Sonet (example).

Catalog numbers are usually formed "INT. 000 000" example

France

The French releases are usually manufactured and distributed by Disques Vogue. These releases usually have a catalog number formed 000000. example

It looks like that in mid-1980's the Sonet records in France were released by Virgin France S.A. example

Italy

The Italian releases are often distributed by Dischi Ricordi S.P.A. example

US

There are a few releases with the mention of "Sonet Records USA" which would indicate an office in the US as well.

• Address: Sonet Records USA, P.O. Box 3233 Berkley, CA 94703. example

Label Designs

Here are some of the most common center label designs.

Please note that all the years are approximates. This information is gathered from the release images, so it may contain mistakes.

1960-1970

The following label layout came out at least in three different colors. The earliest reference to this so far is from 1960. The use was ended by 1970.

Countries: Sweden, Denmark

Black Label

Green Label

Red Label

1970-(1986?)

This label design, with small variations, can be found from releases dating from 1970 to 1986. The LP usage seems to be limited to 1970-1975/1976, but this design was also used (or so it seems) in 7" singles until 1986.

Countries: Sweden (example), Denmark (example), UK (example), Finland (example), Norway (example), Italy (example), France (example)

Variation 1

Variation 2

Variation 3

1972-1974

This label can be found from releases dating from 1972 to 1974.

Countries: Sweden (example)

1975-(1983?)

This label design under can be found from releases dating from 1975 to 1983.

Countries: Sweden (example), Norway (example), Finland (example), Germany (example), UK (example), Italy (example), France (example), US (example)

1985-1988

The following label design can be found from releases dating from 1985 to 1988.

Countries: Sweden (example), Norway (example), Denmark (example), Germany (example), UK (example)

1988-1991

This label design can be found from vinyl releases dating from 1988 to 1991. This is the last "generic" label design used. After this, the labels were more or less release or artist specific. The same design can be found also on CDs, the earliest are said to be from 1986. example

Countries: Sweden (example), Finland (example)

References

• Mike Hennessey & Thorbjørn Sjøgren. "The Storyville Story". [1]
• Daniel Hallencreutz and Per Lundequist. "Are they only in it for the money? – Subsidiary strategy and impact on local clusters in the recorded music industry: the case of Sweden". [2]
• Samuel Charters. "The Sonet Jazz Story - historien om en svensk jazzskatt". [3]
• "Pladeselskaber" [4]
• Jan-Olav Glette. "De små på Universal tar Sonet-navnet". [5]