Columbia Records
On the 15th of January 1889, a stenographer named Edward D. Easton founded the Columbia Phonograph Company in Washington, D.C. The new firm held a local monopoly on sales and service for Edison phonographs within the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Delaware. Its first catalog of musical records spanned just ten pages in 1891. Columbia initially produced commercial cylinder recordings alongside its distribution duties. By 1902, the company introduced the XP record, a molded brown wax disc designed to clear out old inventory. They switched to black wax records in 1903 and continued molding brown waxes until 1904. In 1901, Columbia began selling disc records invented by Emile Berliner alongside their existing cylinder system. For a decade, the label competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and Victor Talking Machine Company discs as one of the top three names in American sound recording. The company contracted prominent singers from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to create a highly touted series of Grand Opera Records. Stars like Marcella Sembrich and Lillian Nordica appeared on these early releases. The technical standard of this opera series was not considered as high as results achieved during the pre-World War I period by rivals like His Master's Voice or Fonotipia Records. In 1908, Columbia commenced successful mass production of Double-Faced discs, which were 10-inch varieties selling for 65 cents each. The company also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the popular Victrola. During this era, Columbia adopted the Magic Notes logo, featuring two sixteenth notes inside a circle. This specific design remained largely unchanged overseas. By July 1912, Columbia decided to concentrate exclusively on disc records and ended production of cylinder phonographs.
The repercussions of the stock market crash of 1929 led to the near collapse of the entire recording industry. In March 1931, J.P. Morgan steered the Columbia Graphophone Company into a merger with the Gramophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. Since the Gramophone Company was now a wholly owned subsidiary of Victor, Victor technically owned its largest rival in the US. To avoid antitrust legislation, EMI had to sell off its US Columbia operation. In December 1931, the U.S. Columbia Phonograph Company was acquired by the Grigsby-Grunow Company. When Grigsby-Grunow declared bankruptcy in November 1933, Columbia was placed in receivership. In June 1934, the company was sold to Sacro Enterprises Inc for $70,000. Public documents do not contain any names for the buyers. Many suspect that it was a shell corporation set up by Consolidated Films Industries to hold the Columbia stock. On the 3rd of December 1931, CFI made a deal with Warner Brothers Pictures to lease Brunswick Record Corporation. This included the trademarks and masters of the Brunswick, Vocalion, and Melotone labels. CBS took over the American Record Corporation on the 17th of December 1938, for US$700,000. This price was ten times what ARC paid in 1934. The sale sparked lawsuits by disgruntled shareholders. William S. Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System acquired the label. Edward Wallerstein left RCA Victor to become president of the CBS phonograph subsidiary. He held this position for twelve years. By 1937-38, the record business in America was finally recovering from the near-death blow of the Great Depression. John Hammond joined Columbia as a talent scout in 1937. His work proved to be of incalculable historical and cultural importance. Hammond discovered and signed superstar artists including Charlie Christian, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In June 1948, Columbia introduced the Long Playing microgroove LP record format which rotated at 33 revolutions per minute. Ward Botsford wrote that Edward Wallerstein seized an idea whose time was ripe and cajoled men into bringing it to life. Dr. Peter Goldmark played a managerial role in the collaborative effort while engineer William Savory provided technical prowess. One such record that helped set a new standard was the 10 inch LP reissue of The Voice of Frank Sinatra originally released on the 4th of March 1946. This album was the first pop album issued in the new LP format. The first classical LP was the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein and Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic. This release carried the catalog number ML-4001 found in the Columbia Record Catalog for 1949 published in July 1948. By early 1950, RCA Victor announced that the company would begin releasing its own LPs after initially rejecting the format. Decca Records in the U.K. was the first to release LPs in Europe beginning in 1949. EMI would not fully adopt the LP format until 1955. An original cast recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific with Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin was recorded in 1949. Both conventional metal masters and tape were used in the sessions in New York City. For some reason, the taped version was not used until Sony released it as part of a set of CDs devoted to Columbia's Broadway albums. In 1957, the original Broadway cast album of My Fair Lady sold over 5 million copies worldwide becoming the most successful LP ever released up to that time. Lieberson convinced CBS president William S. Paley to become the sole backer of the production. The $500,000 investment subsequently earned the company some $32 million in profits.
Columbia became the most vital label to the general public appreciation and understanding of jazz through prolific liner notes by producer George Avakian. The label released a series of LPs by Louis Armstrong while signing long-term contracts for Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis. Time Out by the Brubeck Quartet and Kind of Blue by the Davis Sextet remain among the best-selling jazz albums by any label more than sixty years later. Kind of Blue appeared as number 12 in Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time in 2003. Teo Macero became a significant figure in Miles Davis career from an explorer of modal jazz to innovator of jazz fusion. In 1954, Columbia embraced small-group modern jazz by signing the Dave Brubeck Quartet which resulted in the release of Jazz Goes to College. This was the on-location best-selling jazz album up to this time. A Time magazine cover story featured the phenomenon of Brubeck's success on college campuses. Duke Ellington also appeared on the cover of Time following his success at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. These three jazz giants were all Columbia artists. Thelonious Monk received the same honor in the early 1960s. In September 1961, CBS A&R manager John Hammond produced the first Columbia album by folk singer Carolyn Hester. It was here that Hammond first met Bob Dylan whom he signed to the label initially as a harmonica player. Dylan's self-titled debut album was released in March 1962 and sold only moderately. Some executives dubbed Dylan Hammond's folly and suggested dropping him from the label. Johnny Cash defended Dylan who over the next four years became one of Columbia's highest earning acts. His controversial decision to go electric in 1965 catapulted him to greater commercial success with the hit single Like a Rolling Stone.
When Mitch Miller retired in 1965, Columbia was at a turning point. Sales of Broadway soundtracks and singalong series were waning while pretax earnings flattened to about $5 million annually. Brooklyn-born lawyer Clive Davis became president of Columbia in 1967. Following this appointment, the label became more of a rock music label thanks mainly to Davis's fortuitous decision to attend the Monterey International Pop Festival. He spotted and signed several leading acts including Janis Joplin. Joplin led the way for several generations of female rock and rollers. Barbra Streisand remained with the label after releasing her first solo album on Columbia in 1963. A San Francisco group called Moby Grape was signed by Davis in 1967. They released their debut album along with five singles from the album all on the same day the 6th of June 1967. The album hit No. 24 on the Billboard 200 but the singles barely made a dent in the charts. Simon & Garfunkel scored a surprise No. 1 hit in 1965 after producer Tom Wilson added drums and bass to The Sound of Silence without their knowledge or approval. Their fifth studio album Bridge over Troubled Water reached number one in the US album charts in January 1970. It became one of the most successful albums of all time. Hoyt Axton and Tom Rush were lured to Columbia in 1969 and given what was known as the pop treatment. Axton eventually left to join Capitol Records while Rush returned to his usual sound.
In 1975, Walter Yetnikoff was promoted to become president of Columbia Records. His personality transformed into something wild and menacing according to colleagues. He shattered glassware and had people physically ejected from the CBS building. In 1979, CBS had pre-tax income of $51 million and sales of over $1 billion. The label laid off hundreds of employees to deal with financial decline. Dick Asher was promoted to deputy president to cut costs and restore profits. He discovered that hiring independent promoters called The Network was costing CBS alone as much as $10 million per year. Music historian Fredric Dannen estimates that by 1980 major labels paid anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 per song to these promoters. This operation could well be linked to organized crime. In 1988, the CBS Records Group including the Columbia unit was acquired by Sony. Sony re-christened the parent division Sony Music Entertainment in 1991. As Sony only had a temporary license on the CBS Records name, it then acquired rights to the Columbia trademarks outside the U.S., Canada, Spain, and Japan from EMI. The CBS Records label was officially renamed Columbia Records on the 1st of January 1991 worldwide except for specific regions. CBS Masterworks Records was renamed Sony Classical Records. In December 2006, CBS Corporation revived the CBS Records name for a new minor label closely linked with its television properties.
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Common questions
When was Columbia Records founded and by whom?
Edward D. Easton founded the Columbia Phonograph Company on the 15th of January 1889 in Washington, D.C.
What major record format did Columbia introduce in June 1948?
Columbia introduced the Long Playing microgroove LP record format which rotated at 33 revolutions per minute in June 1948.
Who signed Bob Dylan to Columbia Records and when?
John Hammond produced the first Columbia album by folk singer Carolyn Hester in September 1961 where he met and signed Bob Dylan who released his self-titled debut album in March 1962.
Which jazz albums by Columbia artists remain among the best-selling more than sixty years later?
Time Out by the Brubeck Quartet and Kind of Blue by the Davis Sextet remain among the best-selling jazz albums by any label more than sixty years later.
When did Sony acquire CBS Records Group including Columbia?
In 1988 the CBS Records Group including the Columbia unit was acquired by Sony before being renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991.