| Main Pressing plants Pennyroyal Tea Test pressings Collection |
| Victor-JVC/ Universal Japan | |||||
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I do not know the exact name of this pressing plant, but the parent company is The Victor Company of Japan Ltd. (VCJ), so I refer to it simply as Victor. It seems to be run by Victor Entertainment, a subsidiary of VCJ. VCJ was founded in 1927 as a subsidiary of the United States' leading phonograph and record company, the Victor Talking Machine Company. In 1929 majority ownership was transferred to RCA-Victor. They started manufacturing of records in the 1930's. Matsushita, which also owned MCA Inc., held a majority stake in VCJ from 1953 to March 2007. They operated the MCA Victor record label in Japan as a part of the MCA umbrella. Today that label is Universal Music Japan. Foreign subsidiaries/ divisions of VCJ use the name JVC, as they are not allowed to use the Victor name outside of Japan. JVC operates a pressing plant in USA, JVC Disc America Co., which is a division of JVC Americas Corp., a fully-owned subsidiary of The Victor Company of Japan. The matrix codes are explained below, with the matrix from the first issue of Nevermind (MVCG 67) in 1991 as an example: MVCG-67-2 4M 2 5 V It starts with the catalog number. It is then followed by an alphanumeric code, first a number then a letter. Most singles and promo samplers have the number 1, while a Nevermind CD has been found with the number 14. It may be the number of times the disc has been mastered, the number of the MGM. It makes sense, as Nevermind is the most selling release. The following letter, which is A, C, F, M, P, T, or W on the Nirvana release found so far, may identify the LBR used to create the MGM. Later discs which have both this code and an LBR IFPI always have the same letter for a specific LBR IFPI, for example T for L236 and W for L244, so it makes sense. The 2 5, which is a 2 followed by a 5, and not 25, is added mechanically to a metal plate, to keep track of the various metal parts created from an MGM. The first number identifies the number of the mother created from the father, while the second identifies the number of the stamper created from the given mother. In this particular example, it is the fifth stamper created from the second mother. These numbers easily stand out from the rest of the matrix code. Last, the "V" in the matrix identifies a master done by Victor. Their matrix codes are similar to the American JVC plant which is also owned by VCJ, using very thick characters, easily recognized even without the "V" signature or IFPI 40. Victor aquired their IFPI 40 repertoire in late 1993 when IFPI codes were first introduced. It seems two of the first Nirvana discs to have one were the In Bloom single (MVCG-13002) and No Alternative compilation (BVCA-628). The most well-known Victor pressing is the Japanese Hormoaning CD, the most counterfeited Nirvana item. Follow the title link to read more. The Victor name for the pressing plant and the matrix style seems to have survived the reorganization of MCA in 1998. The four Universal logos which were added to the matrix code from 2005 or 2006 just show that they are pressing discs for Universal. Universal no longer owns the plant. |
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Thanks to Wikipedia. | |||||
| Main Pressing plants Pennyroyal Tea Test pressings Collection |
