Columbia Records history

As was the custom of some of the regional phonograph companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own, and its catalogue of musical records in 1891 was 10 pages.

Small spring-driven cylinder phonographs suitable for the home were introduced in 1894, and Columbia moved quickly to supply this new market.

In 1895, freed from the constraints of the North American contract, Columbia opened its first office and studio outside the Washington area, in New York City.

By 1901, the Gram-O-Phone, an invention by Emile Berliner, which opted for flat discs with a lateral-cut track, had proven itself as the better quality, longer-lasting platform.

In 1902, Columbia introduced the "XP" record, a molded brown wax record, to use up old stock.

Columbia introduced black wax records in 1903.

The company contributed to the ragtime dance phenomenon with its 1911 release of "Alexander's Ragtime Band," by Irving Berlin.

By 1914, Columbia had stopped producing cylinders and had become the Columbia Graphophone Company.

By 1919, the record industry was worth $150 million, with Americans buying more than 25 million 78 rpm records a year.

On February 25, 1925, Columbia began recording with the electric recording process licensed from Western Electric. "Viva-tonal" records set a benchmark in tone and clarity unequaled on commercial discs during the 78-rpm era.

In 1926, Columbia acquired Okeh Records and its growing stable of jazz and blues artists, including Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams.

Columbia also had a successful "Hillbilly" series (15000-D). In 1928, Paul Whiteman, the nation's most popular orchestra leader, left Victor to record for Columbia.

In 1929, Ben Selvin became house bandleader and A. & R. director.

Alongside his significance as a discoverer, promoter, and producer of jazz, blues, and folk artists during the swing music era, Hammond had already been of great help to Columbia in 1932–33.

In 1934, the American Record Company-Brunswick Record Company (ARC-BRC) purchased Columbia and Okeh.

In 1935, Herbert M. Greenspon, an 18-year-old shipping clerk, led a committee to organize the first trade union shop at the main manufacturing factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The Columbia plant in Oakland, California, did Columbia's pressings for sale west of the Rockies and continued using the Royal Blue material for these until about mid-1936.

In 1938 CBS acquired the American Recording Corporation, which later became Columbia Records.

Columbia Phonograph Company of Canada did not survive the Great Depression, so CBS made a distribution deal with Sparton Records in 1939 to release Columbia records in Canada under the Columbia name.

Sinatra In Frank Sinatra: The Columbia yearsHis solo recording career for Columbia Records began in earnest in November 1944, when he compensated for lost time by recording dozens of sides within a three-month period.

One such record that helped set a new standard for music listeners was the 10" LP reissue of The Voice of Frank Sinatra, originally released on March 4, 1946, as an album of four 78 rpm records, which was the first pop album issued in the new LP format.

In 1947, the company was renamed Columbia Records Inc. and founded its Mexican record company, Discos Columbia de Mexico.

One can infer that Columbia was pressing the first LPs for distribution to their dealers for at least 3 months prior to the introduction of the LP on June 21, 1948.

Decca Records in the U.K. was the first to release LPs in Europe, beginning in 1949.

When it became clear that the LP was the preferred format for classical recordings, RCA Victor announced that the company would begin releasing its own LPs in January 1950.

In 1951, Columbia US began issuing records in the 45 rpm format RCA Victor had introduced two years earlier.

In 1953, Columbia formed a new subsidiary label Epic Records.

1954 saw Columbia end its distribution arrangement with Sparton Records and form Columbia Records of Canada.

In 1955, an executive at CBS Records formed a new division of Columbia Records, one of the record labels owned by CBS. The purpose of the new division, which was named the Columbia Record Club, was to test the idea of marketing music through the mail.

To provide sufficient space for the warehouse and shipping functions of the division, a sprawling distribution center, staffed with more than 100 employees, was established in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1956.

One of his first major successes was the original Broadway cast album of My Fair Lady, which sold over 5 million copies worldwide in 1957, becoming the most successful LP ever released up to that time.

Columbia Record Club rode the wave of the popularity, introducing rock 'n' roll records, listed under the less controversial "Teen Hits" category, in 1958.

Starting in the summer of 1959 with some of the albums released in August, they went to the "paste-over" front slick, which had the stereo information printed on the top and the mono information printed on the bottom.

The company, in a bid to attract audiophiles, introduced the Reel-To-Reel Club in 1960, offering recordings that could be played on reel-to-reel players.

In September 1961, CBS A&R manager John Hammond was producing the first Columbia album by folk singer Carolyn Hester, who invited a friend to accompany her on one of the recording sessions.

Dylan's self-titled debut album was released in March 1962 and sold only moderately.

By 1963, the division accounted for 10 percent of all the money spent on recorded music, achieving market share that forced traditional retailers to take notice.

During its four-season run, the series promoted Miller's "Singalong" albums, which sold over 20 million units, and received a 34% audience share when it was cancelled in 1964.

The duo subsequently had a Top 20 single, "A Hazy Shade of Winter", but progress slowed during 1966-67 as Simon struggled with writer's block and the demands of constant touring.

As a way of introducing them to the world with a splash, they released their debut album, along with five singles from the album, all on the same day, June 6, 1967, 23 years following D-Day.

In an effort to expand into the Asian market, CBS joined the Sony Corporation to form CBS/Sony in 1968.

Pop stereo LPs got into the high 9000s by 1970, when CBS Records revamped and unified its catalog numbering system across all its labels.

In 1972, Asher had turned the British division of CBS from loss to profit.

1975: Membership in the club exceeds three million.

In 1976, Columbia Records of Canada was renamed CBS Records Canada Ltd.

The recording studio operated under CBS until 1978.

On May 5, 1979, Columbia Masterworks began digital recording in a recording session of Stravinsky's Petrouchka by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in New York (using 3M's 32-channel multitrack digital recorder).

The structure of US Columbia remained the same until 1980, when it spun off the classical/Broadway unit, Columbia Masterworks Records, into a separate imprint, CBS Masterworks Records.

In 1981, the period of profound change began, touched off by the introduction of the CBS Video Library, which offered videos of old television shows and special interest programs to customers through the mail.

Sony, with help from CBS, introduced its compact disc in 1982.

Another important addition to the club's selection of merchandise occurred in 1986, when the company began offering compact discs (CDs), embracing a format that soon rendered vinyl discs obsolete.

The Japanese joined the fray in 1987, when Sony Corporation acquired CBS Records and its various labels, including Columbia, for $2 billion.

In 1988, Sony Corporation acquired the CBS Records Group.

The company shipped its one billionth record in 1990.

Membership in Columbia House exceeded ten million by the end of 1991.

The more mainstream appeal of Latin pop music, which gained widespread popularity from singers such as Gloria Estefan and Ricky Martin, prompted the company to introduce Club Musica Latina in 1992.

In 1994, Sony regrouped into four labels.

In 1995, the company fleshed out its North American presence and increased its commitment to Latin artists and customers by establishing Columbia House Mexico.

At the end of 1997, Columbia Records released Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute, a two-CD collection of recordings by some of the world's best known singers and groups.

In 1998, in a market saturated with new, high-priced musical products, the company adopted a new strategy: the "developing-artists retail program." With this approach, prices for albums by lesser-known, newer bands would be reduced until a certain quota were sold.

The two companies agreed to merge in mid-1999, recruiting a new chief executive officer, Scott Flanders, to lead the new company.

Flanders responded by initiating a restructuring program in 2000 that produced positive cash flow by the end of 2000.

By 2001, record clubs accounted for less than 8 percent of all CD sales, as the success of Internet-based retailers such as Amazon.com coupled with the sharply discounted prices offered by massive retail chains such as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. hobbled Columbia House's progress.

Acquisition by Blackstone Group in 2002

The system was later expanded with even more prefix letters (including R for Portrait, L for Sony Wonder, S for Sony Classical and B for 550 Music), which continued until 2005.

In December 2006, CBS Corporation revived the CBS Records name for a new minor label closely linked with its television properties (coincidentally, the new CBS Records is currently distributed by another Sony Music division, RED Distribution).

In 2009, during the re-consolidation of Sony Music, Columbia was partnered with its Epic Records sister to form the Columbia/Epic Label Group under which it operated as an imprint.

In July 2011, as part of further corporate restructuring, Epic was split from the Columbia/Epic Group as Epic took in multiple artists from Jive Records.