Disc-O-Logue in the making

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The success of Disc-O-Logue was greatly determined by careful and systematic organization, as can be seen in the following pictorial outline. As an example of the creation process, we have used Diane Tell's first album released in 1978.

1. Record companies would supply record release information to Madame Lamothe in a variety of ways. It could take the form of "release sheets," of a work order for the production of the disc, of a photocopy of the record jacket, or of a simple memo. Sometimes, she had to request information after seeing it in a magazine or spotting a new recording in a record store before she received anything. In this case, a photocopy of the record jacket usually sufficed.

2. Using this information, a 'Formule No. 100' was produced for each recording. The 'Formule No. 100' was Louise Lamothe's way of systematically preparing the information for her copyright analysis. One can see on this example the anotation "P M" (paroles et musique: words and music), in this case composed by Diane Tell, an indication that there were no other copyrights involved. On many other examples there were notes indicating who owned the copyrights, the rights agency involved, and the percentage of the copyright assigned to that particular agency. (See the example from Starmania.)

3. Once Louise Lamothe had her own document of the new record's information, she transferred the data onto index cards, one card for each song on an LP plus additional cards for each song title released as a "single." These cards were filed alphabetically by song title. (No computerized database programs or speedy mechanisms for sorting information were available when this work was done!) The copyright information was also transferred onto the cards for quick reference. The two examples below show the cards for Diane Tell's song "Je n'en peux plus." One card shows the entry for the LP version of the song, the other for the 45-rpm version of the song. The "date received" is marked on the bottom and the date in small characters in the corner usually indicates the month and year the information appeared in a Disc-O-Logue update.

4. An edited version of the card-catalogue data was used in the published Disc-O-Logue. The normal publication pattern was an annual compilation followed by periodic updates, sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly. A song continued to be listed in each subsequent annual edition until notice was received from the record company that the recording was being withdrawn from its catalogue. "Annulé" and the relevant date would then be marked on the card in question, and the card would be placed in another section of the card catalogue. (For an example of a card marked "Annulé", see the Séguin example.) Reproduced here is a page from the April 1978 "New Releases" listing showing "Je n'en peux plus" as being available on 33- and 45-rpm discs. The asterisk (*) indicates that it is a new release.

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