Aretino Records
1907-1916
The Aretino Company was founded in June 1907 by Arthur O'Neill of the O'Neill-James Company of Chicago, in operation since 1904 making the Busy Bee line of phonographs and records (cylinders and, from 1906, discs) that utilized a tied-products, or Premium Scheme, marketing approach. In that arrangement, the records were designed so they could only be played on a phonograph that was either given away with them or sold at a discount so the buyer would have to stick with that brand for all future purchases. For cylinders the size of the mandrel was altered, which proved quite effective in deterring work-arounds. Discs were made with different size/shape spindle holes and, sometimes, additional lugs. However, these were easily defeated with adapters or by drilling larger holes in order to play them on competing machines. Aretino was an extreme attempt to stop this by utilizing a giant three-inch spindle hole that reduced the label area to a narrow band, which often made abbreviation or elimination of information necessary. However, knowing the source of those recordings can often fill in those holes. Yet, like in Columbia's case, the matrix and take information was often in the missing area, which makes complete identification elusive.

Until 1909 Hawthorne and Sheble manufactured the machines while the record pressings came from Leeds & Catlin. When the Patent Wars forced their closures that year, all production was turned over to Columbia until 1916. That's when all Premium Scheme labels were merged into the Consolidated Talking Machine Company, which itself only lasted two more years before the odd-sized spindle hole trend came to an end.
Encoded Speed: 192 Kbps

Bonnie, My Highland Lassie	Driving Home The Cows From Pasture
John E. Meyer	Frank Coombs and William H. Thompson
Aretino D715-A	Aretino D715-B
(Columbia) Matrix# 19625 (Take 1, 2 or 3)	(Columbia) Matrix# 19673 (Take 1, 2 or 3)
October 27, 1911	November 22, 1911
New York, New York	New York, New York

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