Electrola Gesellschaft m.b.H.

German record company operating under this name between 1925 and 1972; also appears as: [i]Electrola GmbH[/I], [i]Electrola G.M.B.H[/i], [i]Electrola GES.M.B.H[/I], [i]Electrola Ges. mbH.[/I] and [i]Electrola Gesellschaft M.B.H. Köln[/I] .
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The company acted as a distributor / marketer for [l=Electrola] and [l=Die Stimme Seines Herrn], as well as for [l=Capitol Records], and other EMI owned labels (e.g. [l=Columbia] or [l=Odeon], [l=Imperial (2)], [l=Harvest]). Also distributed were [l=MGM Records] (until 1959), [l=Tamla Motown] and [l=Mercury].

It is the predecessor of the [l=EMI Electrola GmbH] and its trademark [l=EMI Electrola].

The Electrola Gesellschaft m.b.H. (Electrola GmbH) was founded on May 8th, 1925 in the outskirts of Berlin as the German subsidiary of [l=The Gramophone Co. Ltd.] and as a holding company for the [l=Electrola] label, the German equivalent to [l=His Master's Voice]. Due to the merge of The Gramophone Co. Ltd. and the [l=Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd.] to form Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI), Electrola Gesellschaft m.b.H. became ultimately owned by [l=Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.] in 1931.

It was now a sister company to larger manufacturer [l=Carl Lindström A.-G.]. Consequently in 1932 Electrola's own production facilities in Nowawes near Berlin were closed and Carl Lindström AG became the primary manufacturing arm.

World War II resulted in a near collapse of German record production, practically stopping by 1944. Despite large damages to their studios and production facilities during WW II, the Electrola Gesellschaft m.b.H. and her sister company [l=Carl Lindström GmbH], were able to reestablish the production of records in 1946.

In September 1953 it was decided to move the administration and production facilities to Cologne.
Electrola GmbH was responsible for A&R, marketing and distribution (while the Carl Lindström GmbH was responsible for the recording and manufacturing).

Electrola GmbH and Carl Lindström GmbH were merged by [l=EMI Ltd.] to form [l=EMI Electrola GmbH] on November 30, 1972.