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Columbia Record

founded 1889

BiographyColumbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North 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. It was founded by Edward D. Easton and a group of investors and headquartered in the District of Columbia. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. In July 1912, Columbia decided to concentrate exclusively on disc records and stopped manufacturing cylinder phonographs, although they continued selling Indestructible's cylinders under the Columbia name for a year or two more. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players. Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation. In late 1922, Columbia entered receivership and was bought by its UK subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Company, in 1925. In 1926, Columbia acquired Okeh Records and its growing stable of jazz and blues artists. In 1931, J.P Morgan, the major shareholder, steered the Columbia Graphophone Company into a merger with the Gramophone Company ("His Master's Voice") to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd (EMI). To avoid antitrust legislation, EMI had to sell off its US Columbia operation. In December, 1931, the U.S. Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc. was acquired by the Grigsby-Grunow Company, the manufacturers of Majestic radios and refrigerators. When Grigsby-Grunow was declared bankrupt in November 1933, Columbia was placed in receivership, and in June 1934, the company was sold again. From 1938 until 1988 Columbia was owned by Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc after which was it was bought by Sony.

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