Traveling Entrepreneurs, Traveling Sounds: The Early Gramophone Business in India and China

Christina Lubinski, Andreas Steen

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    During the first global economy, roughly from Western industrialization to World War I, the gramophone, much like other consumer goods, circulated relatively freely around the world. This paper compares the market in India and China asking how gramophone companies established themselves there and focuses on the interaction between Western businesspeople and local partners. The article first shows how agents started exploring strategies for “localizing” music and, second, how in both countries their interaction with local partners was first shaped by curiosity and commercial interest, and later by traditionalism and nationalism, the latter of which paradoxically both inhibited and enabled Western business. Based on diaries, corporate files, trade journals, and consular reports, the paper shows that the highly localized and politicized demand for music made access to local knowledge a crucial competitive advantage.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalItinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction
    Volume41
    Issue number2
    Pages (from-to)275-303
    Number of pages29
    ISSN0165-1153
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • China
    • Gramophone industry
    • India
    • International business
    • Nationalism

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