Black Swan
1921 - 1924 (USA)
Harry Pace launched the Black Swan label in 1921, and Pace Phonograph Corporation was the first successful black-owned and operated record company.
The label was named after Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, a 19th-century black performer who had been billed as "The Black Swan".
Pace retained Fletcher Henderson as recording director and chief accompanist and William Grant Still as musical director of his company. Black Swan issued many blues records by Ethel Waters, Trixie Smith and Alberta Hunter, as well as religious, standard, classical and operatic series.
Despite a diverse catalog and aggressive promotion, Black Swan encountered distribution problems and declining sales forced Pace to sell his rights to The New York Recording Laboratories, manufacturers of Paramount, in 1924.
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