Columbia - Biography

Biography - Columbia

USA

U.S. record company, founded in January 1889 in Washington, DC. (label bio)

In Jan. 1889, The Columbia Phonograph Co. was incorporated in Washington, DC as the sole distributor of North American Phonograph Co. discs in the District of Columbia.

Only in Sept. 1901, though, did the company release its first records, using the label name Climax. In fall 1902, the label name changed to Columbia Disc Record. In late 1904, a new design listed the "Conditions of Sale". 1906 saw the introduction of the Grand Prize label, which featured the label name COLUMBIA RECORD.

In Sep. 1908, the Columbia Phonograph Co. Gen'l stunned the market when it announced double-sided records. They came with the new Magic Notes label and a new numbering system, with an A-prefix for domestic (American) releases, E for foreign-language "Ethnic" issues, and C for Spanish-language discs produced for export to Central and South America.

In Jan.1913, the company became the Columbia Graphophone Co.

In November 1916, the label received another facelift. The label now featured the name COLUMBIA in its center. Starting in 1917, a gold band emphasized the label name even more. Between late 1917 and 1921, the label also featured two-letter printing date codes.

In Oct. 1923, stock market manipulations forced Columbia into receivership. Reorganized as Columbia Phonograph Co., it issued discs on the Flag label with new prefixes: D for Domestic, F for Foreign-language releases.

In Mar. 1925, U.S. Columbia was acquired by what used to be its British branch, Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. From June 1925, Columbia used a simpler, black label (green for the F-Series). In Jan. 1927, it added the words Viva-tonal Recording - Electrical Process. In 1930, label size was reduced to 3". To promote sales during the Depression, Columbia introduced its Royal Blue shellacs in Dec. 1932, together with new blue labels. From 1936, when the blue shellac was discontinued, the label name appeared in all-caps.

Split again from its UK mother, Columbia was briefly owned by the Grigsby-Grunow Co., producers of the Majestic radio (1931-1934), then by the American Record Corporation (ARC, 1934-1938). In Dec. 1938, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) purchased ARC. Of the many minor labels CBS acquired from ARC in 1938, it continued at first only Vocalion and Conqueror (the latter produced for Sears Roebuck) as inexpensive outlets for Country music; in 1940, CBS replaced Vocalion with the revived OKeh label. For ARC's former flagship label, Columbia, CBS introduced the new CBS microphone logo, which it retained until the end of the 78rpm era in 1958. Popular releases now sported red labels, Classical releases (Masterworks Series) had first blue, then green labels. The red pop music series started with catalog number 35201. From August 1945, the pop music series also included Country & Western music, but in May 1948, this genre received its own series (as on Decca), and all 425 C&W releases issued since 1945 were reissued as 20001-20425; the C&W series was discontinued in 1956.

Columbia's CBS labels can roughly be dated by the number of lines of patent text under the name COLUMBIA. Three lines of patent text were used between 1940-1946; two lines from 1946 to 1948. Starting in 1948, the two lines of text become narrower because they stop listing patent nr. 1702564. In 1951, the label stock changes from glossy to matte red. From 1953 to 1958, there is only one line of patent text.

See also Tim Brooks' "Columbia Records (1901-1934) - A History."

Columbia Masterwork albums from M-1 to M-1100; includes the X, OP and S series:

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