Columbia Records

CTL-E-6293 · Institution · label · 1889–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07479 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6293.

Columbia Records is an American record label, headquartered in New York City and owned today by Sony Music Entertainment. It was founded on January 15, 1889, as the Columbia Phonograph Company in Washington, D.C., taking its name from the District of Columbia, and it is described as the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded-sound business and one of Sony Music's flagship labels. On December 17, 1938, the American Record Corporation, including the U.S. Columbia label, was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under CBS the label recorded, among many others, Bessie Smith in an earlier Columbia era, and later Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Davis's Kind of Blue was released by Columbia on August 17, 1959, and Hancock's Head Hunters was released on Columbia on October 26, 1973. In 1988 Sony acquired the CBS Records Group, including Columbia; the parent division was renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991. Columbia remains in label and institution scope — a recording company and brand, not a genre or a catalog — consistent with the graph's Motown and Chess records.

The record

• Also known as: Columbia Phonograph Company, Columbia Recording Corporation, CBS Records

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (The Closer — 747 Program, Wave 13 final packet; a gap-closing packet built from the earlier packets' documented blocked edges). Gate A (2026-10-16): CLEAR — hand-checked against the live graph (3,910 entities): the only "Columbia" hit is Columbia, South Carolina (CTL-E-1514, a Locality), which is not the label; no Columbia Records entity homed. ID CTL-E-6293 free at staging. Typing follows the graph's label peers (Motown CTL-E-1639; Atlantic CTL-E-4279; Chess CTL-E-0165; Stax CTL-E-6033; RCA CTL-E-5784). Supply: 747 blocked-edge harvest — Columbia Records carries the most documented blocked edges of any candidate in the harvest: Kind of Blue (Scan Tail Wave 3), Head Hunters (Scan Tail Wave 1), and Bessie Smith (Scan Tail Wave 2), plus two further edges grounded in those same album relationships. SCOPE GATE: label endpoint harvested from documented blocked edges in merged packets; staged to close those edges, per the Closer brief. Vital status: ACTIVE — operating label. The opened Columbia Records entry (accessed 2026-10-16) presents Columbia in the present tense as a label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, headquartered in New York City, with columbiarecords.com as its official website. No dissolution or closure is reported. STATISTICS (counted, sourced, dated 2026-10-16): Founded January 15, 1889, Washington, D.C. (opened entry). Founding-era business: local monopoly on Edison phonograph and cylinder sales and service in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Delaware; Edison ties severed 1894. CBS acquisition: December 17, 1938, $700,000 (opened entry). Sony: CBS Records Group acquired 1988; division renamed Sony Music Entertainment 1991. Flagship count: four (Epic, RCA, Arista, Columbia) per the opened lead; some secondary summaries say three — the opened wording is followed. Bessie Smith tenure — CONFLICT SHOWN, NOT BLENDED: (a) 1923–1931 for Columbia proper — she "recorded 160 songs while with Columbia Records, until in 1931" (New World Encyclopedia), matching Scan Tail Wave 2's 1923–1931; (b) 1923–1933 for her whole recording career — 156 tracks for Columbia and 4 for subsidiary Okeh, last recordings Okeh, November 24, 1933 (discography summary). The spans reconcile only through the Columbia-proper/Okeh distinction, which is how they are recorded. Head Hunters date variant: one secondary result gives October 13, 1973; the opened entry and Discogs give October 26, 1973, which is followed. Method disclosure: Sources 1, 3, 4 and 5 were opened in full (Source 3 by the packet assembler, upgrading the research packet's search-result read); Sources 2 and 6 were read in search results, disclosed rather than concealed. MEDIA: map N/A (label); photo HELD with named candidate; chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6293-columbia-records.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map); audio HELD. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Institution (label) records carry no map slot in this packet.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 rows, checked by nam) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Referenced by

• Bessie Smith — recorded for → this record
• Head Hunters — released by → this record
• Herbie Hancock — recorded for → this record
• Kind of Blue — released by → this record
• Miles Davis — recorded for → this record

Sources

• Wikipedia, Columbia Records (opened: lead, infobox, history through the CBS takeover) (accessed 2026-10-16) — founded January 15, 1889, as Columbia Phonograph Company in Washington, D.C., name derived from the District of Columbia; oldest surviving brand name in the recorded-sound business; Edison phonograph/cylinder monopoly in DC/MD/DE, ties severed 1894; December 17, 1938 CBS acquisition of the American Record Corporation including U.S. Columbia for $700,000; parent CBS 1938–1988; one of Sony Music's four flagship labels per the opened lead; the entry's Sony-sale section was read via search-result revision view (method disclosed) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Records (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, Sony Music Entertainment (read in search results) (accessed 2026-10-16) — independent corroboration of the CBS and Sony dates: acquired by CBS in 1938 and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation; Sony bought the company in 1988 and renamed it SME in 1991; transaction detail as stated by a Scribd-carried history — agreement November 17, 1987, completed January 5, 1988, $2 billion — recorded as stated, not merged into the headline date — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Music_Entertainment (build store)
• Wikipedia, Bessie Smith (opened in full by the packet assembler, 2026-10-16) (accessed 2026-10-16) — signed to Columbia Records in 1923 by Frank Walker; first recording session February 15, 1923; 160 recordings for Columbia; final recordings November 24, 1933, for Okeh (acquired by Columbia in 1925) — corroborated on the 1931 Columbia-proper end-point by the New World Encyclopedia entry (read in search results) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Smith (build store)
• Wikipedia, Kind of Blue (opened in full) (accessed 2026-10-16) — released August 17, 1959, by Columbia Records; label Columbia; recorded March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio, New York City — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue (build store)
• Wikipedia, Head Hunters (opened in full) (accessed 2026-10-16) — released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records; label Columbia; Herbie Hancock's twelfth studio album; No. 13 Billboard 200 peak — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Hunters (build store)
• Wikipedia, Miles Davis (read in search results) (accessed 2026-10-16) — Davis signed a contract with Columbia in 1955 after George Avakian of Columbia Records heard him at Newport — https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miles_Davis&printable=yes (build store)

More institution records

• Deep Learning Indaba
• Delmark Records
• Diamond Records
• Digital Public Library of America
• District Six Museum
• DJ International Records

Browse the full directory: all entity records

Record CTL-E-6293 · Combined Graph record U-07479 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 6 sources · 5 mapped relationships.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

Black Chicago’s musical record, kept frame by frame. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.