His Master's Voice, today usually abbreviated to HMV, is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the Jack Russell Terrier dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone. In the original painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The origin of the trademark image The famous trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, A.R.A. and titled His… (More on Hmv)