As a part of his survey study on cylinder record preservation, Bill Klinger assembled a spreadsheet of the major commercial cylinder recording outfits and estimated survival rates by series.
This kind of survey shows clearly and concisely how many of the major cylinder recordings are believed to exist, and contrasts it with the number known to have been published. This is the best presentation I can think of for this data, even if it excludes many minor publishing outfits (see 3.3). I'm glad he didn't let the exceptions prevent him from documenting the larger trends.
This simple presentation belies a rare expertise and an exhausting research process. He only briefly mentions his methodology, including contacting private and organizational collections and archives and following online auctions.
I'd love to see a similar study for acoustical-era disc recordings, but I don't have the time, resources or connections to make it happen. I also know too little about the early European recording companies (i.e. Gramophone Co., Fonotipia, Odeon) to even assemble a respectable "Company" column.
Coming from more of a science (than music) background, I'm very interested to see objective studies like this one regarding the state of early recordings. It would be a fun project to see how far I could get, even within a limited scope, even if my methodology was a discography, a pen, and youtube. Just kidding. Food for thought.
See also - "Only in America..." and "The State of Recorded Sound Preservation".
