Check out this article that was originally printed in The Cash Box magazine in 1949. The Cash Box was a leading trade publication alongside Billboard, and Record World, and covered the nation’s hottest trends in coin operated amusement products like Skee Ball and especially juke boxes. They also published authoritative sales and radio research charts. In the time before record stores, a majority of record buyers were juke box operators who needed product for their routes. As you can see in the above article, Stone quickly developed a reputation as a leading independent record distributor in Florida.
Article: Henry Stone Opens New Distrib Firm
Outlet: The Cash Box
Date of Publication: October 22, 1949
Summary: “Henry Stone, well known in the disk business, this past week announced the formation of his firm, Stone Distributing, Inc., with headquarters in this city. Stone, formerly associated with Pan-American Distributors in Jacksonville and Miami, announced that he had already set up a roster of top record lines which he will distribute. Among those already set up are, Coral, Sensation, Sittin’ In and Regal Records. The new firm will cover the Florida territory it was learned.
From 1946 to 2014, Henry Stone ruled the Florida music industry with an iron fist, a brick of cash, and a warehouse full of vinyl. HSM is the last of over one hundred record labels he personally founded. The HSM record label includes works from every decade in his sixty-five year career right up until today. Licensing available for film, samples, advertising, movies, video games, and more. Family owned and operated.