The inception of barcodes dates back to the 1940s, when Norman Joseph Woodland invented the barcode symbology. It was only after 3 decades that we started seeing what is now commonplace today – barcodes on products in retail stores. In 1974, a packet of Wrigley’s chewing gum was the first with a bar code ever to be scanned in a retail store. But almost another decade had passed until the music industry gradually implemented the usage of bar codes.
Some record labels were faster than others and started putting barcodes on the LP and CD covers of their artists, whereas other record labels went without it. This may have been due to costs but were especially due to the fact that albums could be sold in cardboard long boxes or plastic blister packs which would have the retail barcode printed on the back. There was even controversy and annoyance amongst some artists who were unhappy about barcode images ruining the design of their album covers – Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen to name a few.
Barcodes on LPs
It was in the US that the first LPs were sold with barcodes. According to some, though it is not certain, Elvis Costello – Armed Forces was the first LP released with a barcode; this was in the year 1979. More and more record label companies joined in on the barcode revolution and barcoded their album releases from that year on. Some labels, CBS for example, went back and added barcodes to most of their albums that were still in print. This is one of the ways you’re able to spot the original releases – they will not have barcodes on the album cover. Wish You Were Here, The Stranger or Journey’s Infinity are prime examples of cover designs which do not have barcodes on the albums that were released before the 1980s.
CBS also introduced the barcode to the 45 rpm (vinyl format) label in early 1983 with Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) by Journey. That at first was an exception, but near the end of 1983 of the CBS 45s had barcodes on the label design. WEA labels added barcodes several years later, as did the PolyGram labels. A&M didn’t have a bar code on the label until 1990. Some record companies such as MCA’s and RCA/BMG didn’t have barcodes on the 45s until well into the 1990s.
Barcodes on CDs
The first CD ever released was ABBA’s The Visitors in 1981 and was one of the first records ever to be recorded and mixed digitally. Again, the release in 1981 did not include a barcode on the album, so it’s easy to spot issues that were remastered and remixed. Barcoded CD production was only really introduced in 1983, and here it was Sony and Polygram record companies who headed up the process. At the time, CDs were still seen as expensive, and record label companies were unsure of whether the public would be willing to make the change from vinyl. Of course, their fears were unnecessary – by the year 2007, over 200 billion CDs had been sold across the world. Now in 2015, it’s possible that CDs, just like LPs and even cassettes, will in time become rare collectables and things of the past.
It’s clear that throughout the years, different technologies emerged in an attempt to make listening to music a simpler and more authentic experience. With each invention, sounds became clearer in tracks, and people were better equipped to recreate the sense of the band or artist being right there in the room with you. Barcodes however, ever since its implementation in retail and various other sectors, have always been just perfect in its purpose. A simple symbology allowing users to scan, and track products has never gone out of trend or become predated by a “better” barcode.
