Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a management buy-out after the parent company went into receivership.
In 1925, it acquired a controlling interest in its American parent company to take advantage of a new electrical recording process. The British firm also controlled the US operations from 1925 until 1931. That year Columbia Graphophone in the UK merged with the Gramophone Company (which sold records under the His Master's Voice label) to form EMI. At the same time, Columbia divested itself of its American branch, which was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1938.
As Columbia Records, it became a successful British label in the 1950s and 1960s, and was eventually replaced by the newly created EMI Records, as part of a label consolidation. This in turn was absorbed by the Parlophone Records unit of Warner Music Group in 2013.
From about 1898 until 1922 the US parent company managed a UK subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company. Its headquarters and studios were established in Victorian warehouses at 102-108 Clerkenwell Road shortly before the First World War, and the buildings were a key location in the development of the British recording industry until the 1930s.[2] In 1917, the Columbia Graphophone Company was registered as a British company, with the shares being held by the American firm.[3] A general market downturn in 1921 affected the whole entertainment industry. Profits turned to losses, and in late 1922 the creditors of the US parent company filed a petition for involuntary bankruptcy: Columbia went into receivership. Seeking to raise cash, Columbia sold the British branch in December 1922 to a group of investors led by Columbia's General Manager in Britain, the American-born Louis Sterling (1879–1958).[4][5][6][7]
Columbia in the US emerged from receivership in February 1924 as the Columbia Phonograph Company Inc., but was immediately faced with another crisis, as booming radio sales reduced the firm's profitability.[4] The same year, Bell Labs-Western Electric had developed a new electrical recording system to replace the old acoustic recording methods, and was offering exclusive rights to Victor although its Chairman's illness had led to delays.[6] Louis Sterling as Managing Director had turned around the fortunes of UK Columbia, and persuaded Western Electric that granting a monopoly would be a grave mistake. Columbia had been making test electrical recordings since at least August 1924 with the Western Electrical system.[8] Although the Columbia Phonograph Company of New York could not afford the royalty payments, Sterling was in a position to buy out the US operation and, as an American company, to purchase the licence for the new Western Electric patents.[4] Satisfied with the progress of the test recordings, in March 1925, Louis Sterling (backed by J.P. Morgan & Co.), acquired a controlling interest in the parent company, Columbia US, for $2.5 million (about £500,000) in order to take advantage of Western Electric's patents.[9] The firm continued in business as the Columbia Graphophone Company in many countries as a British company.[10] Sterling, originally from New York, became chairman of the US operation.
On February 25, 1925, Columbia began recording with the licensed Western Electric recording process and was using it on a regular basis by April. The royalty payments were considerable, and in 1928 Columbia hired the English electronics engineer Alan Blumlein to work on an alternative. By late 1930, he had developed a recording system including a moving-coil microphone and a cutting head with linear characteristics which circumvented Western Electric's patents.[11] Columbia continued to use acoustic recording methods for the cheaper labels, and to release discs made with old acoustic masters on the Harmony and Velvet Tone labels until around 1929.[8]
The repercussions of the stock market Crash of 1929 led to huge losses in the recording industry and, in March 1931, J.P Morgan, the major shareholder, steered the Columbia Graphophone Company (along with Odeon Records and Parlophone, which it had owned since 1926) into a merger with the Gramophone Company (HMV) to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd (EMI).[12][13][14] By the time of the merger, the Gramophone Company had not fully developed an alternative to Western Electric's process and was still paying royalty fees, so it was a technically advantageous move.[11]
Since the Gramophone Company (HMV) was a wholly owned subsidiary of Victor, and Columbia in America was a subsidiary of UK Columbia, Victor now technically owned its largest rival in the US.[12] To avoid antitrust legislation, EMI had to sell off its US Columbia operation, which continued to release pressings of matrices made in the UK.[12] The American company was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (another of its former offshoots) in 1938.
As an EMI label
EMI continued to operate the Columbia record label in the UK until the early 1970s, and in all other territories except for the US, Canada, Spain and Japan, until it sold its remaining interest in the Columbia trademark to Sony Music Entertainment in 1990.
In the mid 1960s, UK Columbia added an audiophile imprint called Studio 2 Stereo. During that time, the Columbia Graphophone Company was absorbed into the Gramophone Company with the label maintaining its identity.[18][19]
EMI engaged in litigation with CBS regarding the importing of American records bearing the Columbia imprint into areas where EMI owned the Columbia name.[20]
Releases from the British Columbia Graphophone Company appeared in Japan under Nippon Columbia until 1962, when licensing was switched to Toshiba Musical Industries.
Phaseout of label by EMI and trade mark transfer
EMI decided to reserve the HMV label for classical repertoire and had transferred HMV's remaining pop acts to Columbia and Parlophone by 1967.[21] EMI began to replace the Columbia label with the eponymous EMI Records in January 1973.[22][23] The last Columbia single was issued in 1989.[24] EMI sold its remaining interest in the Columbia name in 1990 to Sony Music Entertainment (formerly CBS Records Group), which already owned Columbia Records in the U.S. and Canada. The formal reassignment of British registered trade marks from EMI, including the "magic notes" logo, took place in 1993.
For the Columbia Records trade mark in the UK[25] and elsewhere, Sony Music now prefers the "walking eye" logo previously used by the old CBS Records, which is based on the Columbia Records logo introduced in the US and Canada in 1955. However, the "magic notes" logo is occasionally used, usually to give a 'retro' feel (such as on the 2016 vinyl reissues of Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets, and on Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind).
In Australia and Germany, EMI continued using the Columbia label throughout the 1970s and to at least 1980, but added the EMI label in 1973.
Current ownership
Through its ownership of the former Columbia/EMI catalogue, Parlophone Records' new owner Warner Music Group assumed Columbia's artist roster and catalogue.[29][30] New reissues bear the Parlophone imprint.[31] Columbia's reissues, and by extension, those from HMV's popular genres, are distributed by WMG's Rhino Entertainment in the United States.
Parlophone Records Limited is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
EMI was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its acquisition by Universal Music in 2012, it was the fourth largest business group and record label conglomerate in the music industry, and was one of the "Big Five" record companies. Its labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records, and Capitol Records, which are now referenced under Universal Music due to their acquisition with the exception of Parlophone, as it is now owned by Warner Music.
His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a dog named Nipper listening to a wind-up disc gramophone and tilting his head. In the original, unmodified 1898 painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The painting was also famously used as the trademark and logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later known as RCA Victor. The painting was originally offered to James Hough, manager of Edison-Bell in London, but he declined, saying "dogs don't listen to phonographs". Barraud subsequently visited The Gramophone Co. of Maiden Lane in London where the manager William Barry Owen offered to purchase the painting if it were revised to depict their latest Improved Gramophone model. Barraud obliged, and Owen bought the painting from Barraud for £100.
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1991, its recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels: Epic Records, and former longtime rivals, RCA Records and Arista Records as the latter two were originally owned by BMG before its 2008 relaunch after Sony's acquisition alongside other BMG labels.
Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969.
The Gramophone Company Limited , based in the United Kingdom and founded by Emil Berliner, was one of the early recording companies, the parent organisation for the His Master's Voice (HMV) label, and the European affiliate of the American Victor Talking Machine Company. Although the company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931 to form Electric and Musical Industries Limited (EMI), its name "The Gramophone Company Limited" continued in the UK into the 1970s.
American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company.
Regal Zonophone Records was a British record label formed in 1932, through a merger of the Regal and Zonophone labels. This followed the merger of those labels' respective parent companies – the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company – to form EMI. At the merger, those records from the Regal Records catalogue were prefixed 'MR' and those from the Zonophone Records catalogue were prefixed 'T'. Record releases after the merger continued using only the 'MR' prefix.
EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded music division became the EMI Music Group. Following the European Commission's approval of the takeover of EMI Music Group by Universal Music Group in September 2012, EMI Classics was listed for divestment. The label was sold to Warner Music Group, which absorbed EMI Classics into Warner Classics in 2013.
EMI Records is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia and Parlophone record labels. The label was later launched worldwide. It has a branch in India called EMI Records India, run by director Mohit Suri. In 2014, Universal Music Japan revived the label in Japan as the successor to EMI Records Japan. In June 2020, Universal revived the label as the successor to Virgin EMI, with Virgin Records now operating as an imprint of EMI Records. In February 2024, UMG Philippines relaunched EMI as a successor to the former EMI Philippines label after 22 years.
Odeon Records is a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. The label's name and logo come from the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris.
The Graphophone was the name and trademark of an improved version of the phonograph. It was invented at the Volta Laboratory established by Alexander Graham Bell in Washington, D.C., United States.
Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano.
Carl Lindström A.G. was a global record company founded in 1893 and based in Berlin, Germany.
Regal Recordings is a British record label functioning as an imprint of Parlophone Records.
CBS Records International was the international arm of the Columbia Records unit of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) formed in 1961 and launched in 1962. Previously, Columbia Records had licensed other record companies to manufacture and distribute Columbia recordings outside North America, such as Philips Records and its subsidiary Fontana in Europe.
The Columbia Grafonola is a brand of early 20th century American phonograph made by the Columbia Graphophone Company. Introduced in 1907, Grafonolas are internal horn alternatives to the same company's external horn Disc Graphophones.
This discography is an incomplete, chronological list of recordings originally released with the name British Symphony Orchestra on the label. The list also includes other recordings which fall outside this strict definition: either because they have been included in discographies of specific conductors ; or were never publicly released for general sale; or have been re-released as such on CD; or for comparison purposes only.
↑ Walworth, Julia (2005). "Sir Louis Sterling and his library". Jewish Historical Studies. Jewish Historical Society of England. 40: 161. JSTOR24027031.
↑ Pink Floyd recorded their first three albums for Columbia Graphophone, then switched to Harvest; some of their recordings for Harvest were leased to the CBS Columbia label.
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