Yes. The RIAA Curve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization) has been around since 1954. Before that there was an assortment of different compression strategies used by different record-player manufacturers. In the 1930s records made by one company often wouldn't sound correct on record players made by another company. The RIAA standardized this. Perhaps a more surprising note for the 1975 list would be "And the RIAA made contributions to the industry which benefitted consumers."