Component 3:Mainstream Record Labels

Columbia Records

• Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony.
• It was founded in 1887, 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 1990, Columbia 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, alongside former long-time rival RCA Records, as well as Arista Records and Epic Records.

• Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players.
• Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation.
• The British label of an electrically recorded Columbia disc by Paul Whiteman
• In late 1922, Columbia went into receivership.[10] The company was bought by its English subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1925 and the label, record numbering system, and recording process changed.
• On February 25, 1925, Columbia began recording with the electric recording process licensed from Western Electric. 

• Artists who have recorded for Columbia include Adele, Beyonce, Celine Dion, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones 

Parlopphone Records 

• Parlophone Records Limited was a German-British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon.
• The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as The Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label.
• On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI).
• George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant label manager, taking over as manager in 1955.
• Martin produced and released a mix of product, including recordings by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
• In 1962, Martin signed the Beatles, at the time a struggling band from Liverpool.
• During the 1960s, when Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer, the Fourmost, and the Hollies also signed, Parlophone became one of the world's most famous labels. For several years, Parlophone claimed the best-selling UK single, "She Loves You", and the best-selling UK album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, both by the Beatles.
• The label placed seven singles at No. 1 during 1964, when it claimed top spot on the UK Albums Chart for 40 weeks.
• On 28 September 2012, regulators approved Universal Music Group (UMG)'s planned acquisition of EMI on condition that its EMI Records group would be divested from the combined group.
• Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired Parlophone and PLG in 7 February 2013, making Parlophone their third flagship label alongside Warner and Atlantic.
• PLG was renamed Parlophone Records Limited in May 2013. Parlophone was the oldest of WMG's "flagship" record labels.
• On 7th February 2013, it was confirmed that Warner Music Group would acquire Parlophone Label Group for US$765 million.
• The deal was approved in May 2013 by the European Union, which saw no concerns about the deal because of WMG's smaller reach compared to the merged UMG and Sony.
• Warner Music closed the deal on July 1. Parlophone Label Group was the old EMI Record label that included both the Parlophone and the eponymous EMI labels.
• The EMI trademark was retained by Universal while the 'old' EMI Records became defunct and renamed 'Parlophone Records Ltd'