Gravações Musidisc Ltda.

Nilo Sergio's primary record company, started operating at the end of 1952 as Musidisc simply, then under the trade name of Musidisc - Sociedade Comercial De Vêndas E Crédito Ltda. Gravações Musidisc Ltda. was established on 1 December 1954. The company immediately stood out as a specialist in the production of LPs: Gravações Musidisc was the first Brazilian company to only produce records in the new "Microgroove 33 RPM Long Playing" system and one of the first to release, in 1960, stereo recordings. It should incidentally be mentioned that the names of many artists, produced by Nilo Sérgio, were invented foreign names, which only existed on disc: behind them was a collective of studio musicians (among others Zé Menezes, Chiquinho do Acordeon, Abel Ferreira, Rubens Bassini; Zito Righi and Moacyr Silva behind Bob Fleming's nom de plume; Severino Araújo com a sua Orquestra Tabajara, Orquestra de Lírio Panicali and Radamés Gnattali e Orquestra, depending on the recording sessions, behind Orquestra Românticos de Cuba). Company's headquarters was originally located in Av. Rio Branco, 151 and, since September 1953, in rua Sete de Setembro, 66, Rio de Janeiro. The company, in order to produce its records, relied, in his first period of activity, on Radio Serviços, Propaganda LTDA. factory. In the spring of 1953, however, intending to set up his own factory, Nilo Sergio asked for a license to import presses. In 1955 six new presses were acquired for the production of 78 rpm, and a contract was signed, whereby RCA Victor would manufacture Musidisc LPs for ten years. In that period the recordings were made at Estudio Gravaçoes Reunidas. In spring 1955 "A Lojinha de Musica", the record shop of Nilo Sergio, located in Rio in rua Senador Dantas, was put up for sale, as Nilo intended to devote himself exclusively to his record company. In summer Musidisc established its offices in Rua Buenos Aires, 68 (the official inauguration of the new headquarters will take place, with a cocktail, in April 1956). At the end of 1955 the company launched the 78 rpm format, with two tracks per side, called “double play” (the production of 78 rpm will stop at the beginning of 1957) as well as a large number of LPs, some of which recorded with HI FI technology. A trip of Nilo Sergio to Europe, in the second half of 1956, marked an important moment of transition for the company. It must be said that Musidisc's early recordings weren't exactly of flawless quality. That’s why Sergio Nilo decided to set up his own registration facility and, in summer 1956, travelled to Europe, to procure high-fidelity recording equipment (as well as to promote his own label). After the trip to Europe, with new equipment available, Nilo began to record on his own, using a basketball stadium as a location, as he saw in Europe. In early 1956 the first 12-inch LPs with cover by Joselito (3) started being released. In the summer of 1957 Jorge Coutinho, at that time an engineer for the company, returned from a mission to the USA aimed at purchasing new technical equipment. In 1959 the company was launched in the US under the name of Musidisc International Inc. and acquired the right to represent in Brazil Grand Award, MGM Records, Pacific Jazz (to be released under HiFi Jazz label) and VOX (6). In that year Nilo Sérgio created the Orquestra Sinfônica da Musidisc with 60 artists selected from the Sinfônica Brasileira and the Orquestra do Municipal. The company, which has reached the maximum of its technical and organizational potential, stands out as one of the main players in the country's phonographic industry. In 1960 the company started printing a magazine, a sort of house organ, to advertise its products. In the same year agreements were signed in Capetown (with Record Hunter Dist. and/or Meteor Records, depending on the sources) for the distribution in South Africa of Musidisc's products. For info on distribution in South American countries, outside Brazil, see Musidisc (5). In 1961 began to press in Brazil the United Artists and Command Records labels. In November 1962 the company changed its legal name to Gravações Musidisc S.A. (Gravações Musidisc Ltda. came back to life for a short time in November 1969, when the decline of the company had already progressed). CGC 33.425.547