Balkanton

Recording activities in Bulgaria begin in the first decade of the 20th century through representatives of large Western European companies Gramophon Company, Deutsche Gramophon, Pathe, Favorite and others, which are recorded by popular local soloists and ensembles ^[1] . In 1931, singer Albert Pinkas created the Lifa Record company ^[2] , which originally recorded music on matrices in Berlin or Bucharest , and duplicated gramophone records in Sofia with two hand presses. In 1934, the first Bulgarian graduated pilot, Major Simeon Petrov (1888-1950), founded the company Simonavia in Sofia (the name comes from the creative merger Simeon and Aviation) - Joint-Stock Company of Trade and Industry with the first closed-cycle plant for recording and production of gramophone records ^[3] . The recordings were made at the Royal and Modern Theater cinemas, the production base is located on 129 Hristo Botev Boulevard, and Orpheus is written on the labels.

At the end of World War II , there were four record companies in Bulgaria: Lifa Record (renamed the Balkan), Simonavia, and the rapidly growing popularity of Harp and Microphone. In 1947, the first two were nationalized and merged into the State Industrial Company Bulgaria, which continued to use the Orpheus label and launched new ones - Balkan and Melody.

Records are already being made in the first specialized studio in Bulgaria, created in 1945 by engineer Dimitar Kulev. In 1950, the Radio and Radio Information Administration established the RadioProm gramophone recording company. Records have already been made in the studios of the radio "Sofia", and the production was transferred to the underdeveloped enterprise "Voroshilov". In 1952, the entire recording industry was merged at the Balkanton plant, where there was a completely closed cycle of work: recording, galvanization, matrix, printing, envelope printing, etc. ^[four]

For almost 40 years, the Balkanton has remained the largest record monopoly in the domestic Bulgarian market. A huge library of folklore, jazz, classical, Bulgarian and foreign popular music, rock music, electronic music, theater, poetry, documentary and other records is accumulating.

By order of the Minister of Economics and Planning Ivan Tenev of March 20, 1990, Balkanton - Sofia (part of the Orpheus creative association) was transformed into the state-owned company Balkanton Music and Publishing House. The new company was registered by the decision of the Sofia City Court (SCC) of 05/08/1991. The aim of the activity is the creation, recording and printing of artistic, journalistic, scientific and other works of various sound carriers and the creation of printed works in the field of music, studio activities of the population, the activities of the impresario ^[5] .

By order of the Minister of Culture, Professor George Kostov, dated November 17, 1995, the state-owned company Balkanton Publishing House was transformed into the only joint-stock company with state ownership. Registration at the MIC “Balkanton” EAD was carried out by the Sofia City Court on April 5, 1996.

By Order No. 12 of March 19, 1998 of the Council of Ministers, the company became the property of the Ministry of Industry. On July 2, 1998, Minister of Industry Alexander Bozhkov changed the management bodies of the company and appointed Ventsislav Bozhinov as director.

By order of June 10, 1999, the company's capital was increased at the cost of land - the main site of the company on ul. Gaidushka Polyana, 6 (Krasno Selo district) with an area of ​​9,200 m².

In the case of company No. 6801/1999 of the Sofia City Court, a private joint-stock company, Balkanton-2000, was registered, among its shareholders are singers and supporters of the SDS, such as Bogdana Karadocheva and Ivaylo Krajcovski.

On November 24, 1999 Bozhkov sold a 75% stake in MIK Balkanton EAD in Balkanton 2000 AD for the amount of 135,000 US dollars . For comparison, in 2000, a 30-year-old two-room apartment in the panel building of the Mladost residential complex in Sofia could be bought for 13,000 US dollars.

October 22, 2001 another 20% were sold to persons under 5, al. 2 ZPPDOBP (i.e. the manager and members of the board of directors). On December 14, 2001, the last 5% of the shares were sold to Balkanton-2000 AD.

In accordance with the protocol of December 18, 2001, the general meeting of shareholders of Balkanton-2000 AD was included in the MIC Balkanton, and the share capital was increased to 282,792 registered shares with a nominal value of 1 lev .

• Melody (company)