Мелодия (Melodiya)

"Мелодия" ("Melodia") is a label that was founded in 1964 in Soviet Union and was a de facto record industry monopolist in USSR till 1984.

Since about 1975, Мелодия routinely uses the following catalog number templates:

TGS XXXXX YYY
TGS XXXXX-XX

where:

• T — Disc type:
  • С (U+0421 CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ES) — stereo (стерео);
  • М (U+041C CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER EM) — mono (моно);
  • Г (U+0413 CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER GHE) — flexible (гибкий) disc (usually singles or EPs);
  • СМ — stereo, used before 1980 to denote that the disc is suitable for both stereo and mono reproducers.
• G — Genre:
  • 0 — national anthems, documentary recordings, etc;
  • 1 — classic, symphonic music, operas, etc;
  • 2 — Russian folk music;
  • 3 — folk music of peoples of USSR;
  • 4 — dramatics, literature, poems (usually spoken vocals);
  • 5 — recordings for kids;
  • 6 — popular music, operettas, Soviet composer songs, etc;
  • 7 — educational records;
  • 8 — folk music of foreign countries;
  • 9 — other recordings.
• S — Disc size:
  • 0 — 12",
  • 1 — 10",
  • 2 — 7".
• XXXXX — 5-digit catalogue number. (Мелодия usually assigned a separate (sequential) catalog number for each side of the disc(s). For example, in a 2-disc release the first side may have catalogue number 16277, the seconds side would have number 16278, the third — 16279, the fourth — 16280.)
• XX — 2 last digits of the catalog number of the last side.
• YYY — 3-digit trade code (it's unclear what is it).

Release catalog number may include either 3-digit trade code, e. g.: С50 16277 007, or 2 last digits of the last size catalogue number, e. g.: С50 16277-80. The same release may carry both variants: catalog number with trade code be printed on the spine, while catalog number with 2 digits of the last side — on the back cover.

Usage of dashes, em-dashes and spaces between catalogue number parts seems to be random. Please enter these numbers as they are shown at the cover.