Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 22, 1889, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1991, its recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels: Epic Records, and former longtime rivals, RCA Records and Arista Records as the latter two were originally owned by BMG before its 2008 relaunch after Sony's acquisition alongside other BMG labels.
The original home of Columbia in Washington, D.C., in 1889; the company was named after the city.
A Columbia type AT cylinder graphophone produced in 1898
The American label of an electrically recorded Columbia disc by Art Gillham from the mid-1920s
The British label of an electrically recorded Columbia disc by Paul Whiteman
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of the Sony Music Group, with the other half being the publishing division, Sony Music Publishing.
Headquarters at 25 Madison Avenue, New York City
