Albert Music
Encyclopedia
Albert Music, formerly J Albert and Son is an Australia
n company with an estimated worth in 2009 of more than A$209 million. The company has major interests in music publishing and production and it currently earns significant royalties
through its subsidiary, Albert Productions
which manages the music catalogue of the Australian rock band AC/DC
. More recently Alberts has formed an alliance with Stuart & Sons to manufacture handcrafted piano
s.
in 1884 with his family. Jacques Albert established a clock
, watch
and occasional violin
repair business in Newtown, Sydney
the following year.
Albert and his son Frank began importing and selling a wider range of musical instrument
s including a Boomerang mouth organ
. The company trademarked the word 'boomerang' and stamped it on German manufactured mouth organs. The distinctive instruments were a run away success selling at a rate of 800 a week by 1897.
By 1902 J. Albert & Son diversified into music retail and publishing, opening a shopfront in King Street in central Sydney. Later still J. Albert & Son struck deals with American and British music publishers, purchasing the copyright
for songwriter
s such as Irving Berlin
and George Gershwin
. In 1926 J. Albert & Son co-founded the Australasian Performing Right Association
(APRA)
Frank Albert was a founding member and director of the Australian Broadcasting Company
, which ran the Commonwealth Government's eight nationalradio station
s. When the government resumed the licence three years later, Alberts used the proceeds to establish Radio Station 2UW. During the heyday of radio
, broadcasts of harmonica competitions were staged in town halls.
Frank's son Alexis, assumed the role of Managing Director of J.Albert & Son in 1931. Over the next 50 years the J. Albert & Son empire gradually acquired interests in a network of eight stations in what later became the Macquarie Radio Network
. The stations included 4BC in Brisbane
, 3DB in Melbourne
and 2CC in Canberra
. Later still in the 1950s the company became a major shareholder in ATV Channel Seven.
In 1964 the Albert family founded Albert Productions
, Australia's first independent record label devoted exclusively to signing and recording Australian pop artists. The 'Easybeats' are the most successful artists to sign to the recording label. The label was very successful during the 1970s when the stable of artists and in particular AC/DC
brought Australia to international prominence in popular music.
In 2007 Albert Music acquired the Origin Network Company which manage the copyrighted work and music catalogues of the Australian recording artists Lee Kernaghan
, Richard Clapton
, Rogue Traders
, Mike Brady
, Paul Grabowsky
, Joe Dolce
, Chris Neal
, Cezary Skubiszewski
, Parrish Muhoberac
, and Paul Wiltshire.
; and research and treatment through Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n company with an estimated worth in 2009 of more than A$209 million. The company has major interests in music publishing and production and it currently earns significant royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
through its subsidiary, Albert Productions
Albert Productions
Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australian record label to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964 by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian...
which manages the music catalogue of the Australian rock band AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
. More recently Alberts has formed an alliance with Stuart & Sons to manufacture handcrafted piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
s.
History
Swiss horologist Jacques Albert migrated to SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1884 with his family. Jacques Albert established a clock
Clock
A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...
, watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
and occasional violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
repair business in Newtown, Sydney
Newtown, New South Wales
Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the local government areas of the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
the following year.
Albert and his son Frank began importing and selling a wider range of musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s including a Boomerang mouth organ
Mouth organ
A mouth organ is a generic term for free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, and blowing or sucking air to create a...
. The company trademarked the word 'boomerang' and stamped it on German manufactured mouth organs. The distinctive instruments were a run away success selling at a rate of 800 a week by 1897.
By 1902 J. Albert & Son diversified into music retail and publishing, opening a shopfront in King Street in central Sydney. Later still J. Albert & Son struck deals with American and British music publishers, purchasing the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
for songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
s such as Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
and George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
. In 1926 J. Albert & Son co-founded the Australasian Performing Right Association
Australasian Performing Right Association
The Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
(APRA)
Frank Albert was a founding member and director of the Australian Broadcasting Company
Australian Broadcasting Company
The Australian Broadcasting Company was a consortium of entertainment interests formed in 1929 to supply radio programs for broadcast on the former "A-class" transmitters contracted to the Federal Government's National Broadcasting Service...
, which ran the Commonwealth Government's eight nationalradio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s. When the government resumed the licence three years later, Alberts used the proceeds to establish Radio Station 2UW. During the heyday of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, broadcasts of harmonica competitions were staged in town halls.
Frank's son Alexis, assumed the role of Managing Director of J.Albert & Son in 1931. Over the next 50 years the J. Albert & Son empire gradually acquired interests in a network of eight stations in what later became the Macquarie Radio Network
Macquarie Radio Network
Macquarie Radio Network is the name of the company that owns and operates 2GB and 2CH in Sydney and MTR 1377 in Melbourne. It is a publicly listed company, majority owned by John Singleton. The Chief Executive is Angela Clarke....
. The stations included 4BC in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, 3DB in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and 2CC in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. Later still in the 1950s the company became a major shareholder in ATV Channel Seven.
In 1964 the Albert family founded Albert Productions
Albert Productions
Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australian record label to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964 by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian...
, Australia's first independent record label devoted exclusively to signing and recording Australian pop artists. The 'Easybeats' are the most successful artists to sign to the recording label. The label was very successful during the 1970s when the stable of artists and in particular AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
brought Australia to international prominence in popular music.
In 2007 Albert Music acquired the Origin Network Company which manage the copyrighted work and music catalogues of the Australian recording artists Lee Kernaghan
Lee Kernaghan
Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
, Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Sydney, New South Wales. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" and "I Am an Island"...
, Rogue Traders
Rogue Traders
Rogue Traders are an Australian electronic pop rock band fronted by Melinda "Mindi" Jackson with James Ash on keyboards, Tim Henwood on guitars and Peter Marin on drums. The group's original members met in London in 1989. Before forming Rogue Traders, Ash and Davis worked together on many...
, Mike Brady
Mike Brady (musician)
Mike Brady is an Australian musician most commonly associated with the Australian rules football anthems "Up There Cazaly", referring to 1920s and 30s St Kilda player Roy Cazaly and "One Day in September". "Up There Cazaly" topped the Australian singles charts in September 1979 and briefly held...
, Paul Grabowsky
Paul Grabowsky
-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...
, Joe Dolce
Joe Dolce
Joseph "Joe" Dolce is an American-born, Australian singer/songwriter who achieved fame with his multi-million-selling song, "Shaddap You Face", released under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, in 1980...
, Chris Neal
Chris Neal
Christopher Michael "Chris" Neal is an English footballer who plays as goalkeeper for Shrewsbury Town.-Career:...
, Cezary Skubiszewski
Cezary Skubiszewski
Cezary Skubiszewski, born 1949, Warsaw, Poland, is an Polish Australian composer for film, television and orchestra.Migrating from Poland to Australia in 1974, he studied the piano from the age of six. He currently lives in East St Kilda, Melbourne...
, Parrish Muhoberac
Parrish Muhoberac
Parrish Muhoberac is an American/Australian producer, guitarist, singer, bassist, drummer, pianist, violinist, violist, cellist, bass player, percussionist and audio engineer who has worked with a number of performers, including Paul Young, Jimmy Barnes, Keith Urban, Jeff Duff, Cantonese singer...
, and Paul Wiltshire.
Current activities
Alberts has longstanding community partnerships in the form of the McDonald’s Performing Arts Challenge; working with disadvantaged youth through Mission AustraliaMission Australia
Mission Australia is a provider of family and community services throughout Australia. The organisation has at least 3200 staff, 1,000 volunteers and 300 services in every state and territory of Australia, and is one of the largest community organisations in the nation. It is currently headed by...
; and research and treatment through Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia.