Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in recorded sound, being the second major record company to produce recorded records. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers, instrumentalists, and bands. From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label (for Columbia Broadcasting System, its parent from 1938 to 1988) before adopting the Columbia name internationally in 1990. It is one of Sony Music's three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records.