Columbia Graphophone Company

The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the first gramophone companies in the United Kingdom.

Early history

1922 sold the U.S. Columbia Phonograph Company (later Columbia Records) its British offshoot Columbia Graphophone. However, in 1925 bought Columbia Graphophone its former parent company for $ 2.5 million on themselves. 1926 were acquired Odeon Records and Parlophone Records. On April 21, 1931 merged the Gramophone Company and the British Columbia Graphophone Company and formed a new company - Electric and Musical Industries ( EMI). However, the U.S. competition laws forced EMI to its American companies to sell. This ran then independently as Columbia Records, had, however, until the 1970s, still occasional distribution agreement with EMI, so that EMI partly Columbia publications in the UK and Europe sales, while Columbia reversed did this with EMI releases in the United States.

With the establishment of the EMI in 1931 they went in a bond with the established 1910 Japanese Nippon Phonograph Company, which then the name and trademark of the British Columbia Records took over, but otherwise remained independent. 1946 Named one in Nippon Columbia Company Limited to operating since 2002 as Columbia Music Entertainment, with no relationship to the U.S. Columbia label, whose products are now marketed in Japan under the name of Sony Music.

Columbia as EMI sub- label

EMI Columbia business outside the United States, Canada and Japan until the early 1970s continues as a record label.

Under the EMI Columbia releases were first principal of licensed editions of recordings from Columbia Records. This changed in 1951, when Columbia ( U.S.) changed for the UK Distributor for Philips Records. Columbia ( EMI) but sales still continue until the 1960s into sister label of Columbia ( U.S.) (including Okeh and Epic ). The former parent company of Columbia ( U.S.), CBS, but then it turned to the distribution of all their record label to the newly founded label CBS Records, whereupon Columbia ( EMI) had to change and promote their own artists. The Columbia (EMI ) in the aftermath himself built artists and bands included Russ Conway, Cliff Richard, The Shadows, Helen Shapiro, Frank Ifield, Rolf Harris, Freddie & the Dreamers, The Dave Clark Five, The Animals, Herman 's Hermits, Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Seekers, Pink Floyd and The Yardbirds. Led by legendary A & R man Norrie Paramor was one of the label in the UK 's most successful labels of the early rock era before the " Beat Boom" so-called.

Setting of the label through EMI and transfer of trademark

The EMI decided to reserve the HMV label for their classic repertoire and therefore transferred to 1967 all remaining pop artists from HMV for Columbia sublabel. This was replaced in 1972 by the newly formed, for the first time itself named after the company name label EMI Records. The remaining rights to the label name Columbia was sold in 1990 to Sony Music, who had two years earlier, and thus acquired the North American Columbia Records CBS. The formal transfer of the registered in the UK Columbia trademarks, including the "magic touch " logo, was completed in 1993. Nowadays SonyBMG preferred for Columbia Records but also in the UK and Europe, the so-called "Walking Eye" logo, which was previously used for the former label CBS.

Columbia outside the UK / Europe

The history of the Columbia record labels outside the UK or Europe is shown in more detail in the articles on Columbia Records.

• British music label
• Former company (United Kingdom)