Columbia

Columbia began in Washington, D.C., in January 1889 as the Columbia Phonograph Co., founded by Edward D. Easton. It entered recorded music through the sale of phonograph cylinders before moving into disc records, a shift that placed the company at the centre of the recording industry's early commercial development. Its long history has left the Columbia name with different ownership stories in different territories, particularly across North America, Britain, Europe and Japan.

A British Columbia operation was established soon after the company's beginnings, then sold to its management in 1922. The resulting Columbia Graphophone Company acquired its former parent in 1925 and later merged with The Gramophone Co. Ltd. as part of Electric & Musical Industries Ltd., or EMI, in 1931. Antitrust rules required EMI to divest its United States interests that same year. In the United States and Canada, Columbia came under CBS ownership, while the Columbia trademark followed separate paths elsewhere.

That division is especially apparent in Japan. The Columbia name was introduced there in 1931 through Nippon Phonograph Co., an EMI subsidiary. After EMI sold its stake in 1935, the Japanese company retained the Columbia trademark. It later became part of Nippon Columbia, which continues to operate the Columbia name in Japan independently of Sony's international Columbia operation.

In North America, Columbia became part of CBS Records, the CBS music division formed in 1961. Sony Corporation bought CBS's recording music and label group in 1989, and Sony's acquisition of Columbia Records and affiliated labels was completed in 1991. CBS Records was subsequently renamed Sony Music Entertainment. Sony also acquired international rights to the Columbia trademark from EMI, giving the company control of the brand in much of the world, though not in Japan.

Columbia is now one of Sony Music Entertainment's flagship labels outside Japan. Its contemporary roster spans mainstream pop, electronic music, rock and hip-hop, with artists including Calvin Harris, Bruce Springsteen, The Chainsmokers, HoodBlaq, TopOppGen, Aspen Kartier and VonOff1700. That range reflects a label whose identity has been shaped not by a single style, but by its place within the major-label world and its unusually long connection to recorded sound.