Please don't use prior to 1978.
C.I.D.I.S..
'Industries' refers to cover and label printing, disc cutting, record pressing and cassette duplication.
'Messageries' refers to warehousing, distribution and logistics.
Polygram Industries Messageries operated two plants - one in Louviers and one in Antony.
Printing
Appears on sleeves as "Imp. Polygram Industries Messageries", please add Printed By - Polygram Industries Messageries
During 1984, it was replaced by "Imp. Polygram", please add Printed By Imp. Polygram in this case.
Those releases have usually also two "waves", non-ink stamped / embossed on the back cover. This 2 waves mark does not necessarily mean the cover was printed by Polygram Industries Messageries or Imp. Polygram, but they were likely involved. There are examples of covers with this 2 waves mark which were printed by Montreuil Offset.
Lacquer Disc Cutting
'380' in the vinyl runouts denotes a lacquer cut (in Louviers), please add Lacquer Cut At - Polygram Industries Messageries.
For 'Gravure POLYGRAM I.M' on the sleeves, please add Lacquer Cut At - Polygram Industries Messageries.
Engineers known to have worked in this department include Jean-Marie Guérin.
Record Pressing
When 'POLYGRAM' or 'POLYGRAM I.M.' is found in the runouts, please add Pressed By - Polygram Industries Messageries.
The Louviers plant made injection moulded 7" discs using an embossed printing system.
While Louviers pressed 12" discs during all those years, Antony pressed 12" discs only up to ca.1984.
However, it has been impossible to find criteria allowing to allocate a specific plant.
LPs pressed by Polygram Industries Messageries have a pressing ring of 20mm in diameter:
- black bare vinyl center ring (or black plastic center ring)
- or looking like 2 rings around the spindle hole (different from German narrow central ring)
- or also with a second embossed outer ring (from ca.1984, sometimes also with a faint elevation at 58 mm)
'Made in ' (or 'Fabriqué en ') on labels is frequent up to 1983 but rare later (especially for releases with "// 1 380 POLYGRAM" and ""// 2 380 POLYGRAM" in runouts)
Often, but not always, there are 3 characters in the runouts, identifying the customer, for instance (non exhaustive list): ADE = Adès, ADL=Adèle, ALA = Albatros, ATL = Atlantic, BAR = Barclay, CAR = Carrère, CBS = CBS, CHR = Chrysalis, COC = Cosmic Music, DEL = Delphine, ELE = Elektra, ERA = Erato, FON = Fontana, ISL = Island, MER = Mercury, PER = Pergola, PHI = Philips, POL = Polydor, RIE = Riviera, VER = Vertigo, VEV = Verve, VIR = Virgin, WAR = Warner Bros, etc.
Those 3 characters are sometimes replaced or complemented by numbers, for instance (non exhaustive list): 001 = Philips, 003 = Mercury, 012 = Island Records, 015 = Vertigo, 058 = ZTT/Island, 115 = A&M, 160 = Polydor, 180 = Verve, 222 = Barclay, 257 = Deram, 313 = Ibach, 450 = Vigathe, 603 = Polydor UK, 610 = Polydor Netherlands, 615 (may appear as G15) = Polydor / A&M , 996 = Buena Vista, etc...
Note: In rare cases, 'POLYGRAM' is found in runouts but LP has none of the 3 types of pressing rings described above (or 7" has no injection moulded labels). Please check profiles of other plants (PRS Baarn, ...) and / or ask a question in forums about those unusual cases.
Cassette Manufacturing
Both plants manufactured cassettes but it is not known how to detect and differentiate them.
However, Duplicated By Polygram Industries Messageries can be used where:
- 'Made in ' is on the cassette labels, AND
- 'POLYGRAM' is upside-down underneath the cassette window.
The Louviers plant was bought by Philips and Du Pont and renamed PDO, in August 1986.
It obviously took a while to change the pressing equipment, so POLYGRAM can still be found on releases until 1987.
In these cases, please use Pressed By - Polygram Industries Messageries.
