CBS Records International was the international arm of the

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

unit of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. ( CBS) formed in 1961 and launched in 1962. Previously, Columbia Records had licensed other record companies to manufacture and distribute Columbia recordings outside North America (excluding Canada by 1976), such as

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in ...

and its subsidiary Fontana (now part of the

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

) in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

Formation and history

In 1960, CBS acquired its Australian distributor since 1956, the Australian Record Company, and with it its

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

label Coronet Records. American Columbia material continued to be issued on the CBS Coronet Records label in Australia. The CBS label was launched in Australia in 1963. Also in 1960, CBS began negotiations with its European distributor

with the goal of the establishment of a CBS Records label in Europe. Philips' acquisition of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

paved the way for the formation of the CBS label in 1961 with Philips distributing the first batch of CBS recordings in Europe in 1962. Zamba de mi esperanza - Jorge Cafrune - Vinilo

Zamba de mi esperanza - Jorge Cafrune - Vinilo

The use of the CBS name was required because EMI owned another record label called Columbia, which operated in every market except North America,

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and Japan. In 1964, CBS acquired Oriole Records which gave CBS Records its own distribution in the UK, beginning in 1965. Initially, only American Columbia product was distributed alongside Oriole's own roster on the renamed CBS label. EMI, which had distributed American Columbia recordings on its Columbia label until the Philips deal in 1951, continued to distribute CBS's other American labels, such as

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

and Okeh, on that label. The distribution deal with EMI expired in 1968, at which point CBS began distributing all their labels directly. In Germany, the CBS label distributed

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

from 1963 to 1965.

Sale to Sony

CBS sold the record company in 1990 to

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

for $US 2 billion. In 1991, the CBS Records company was renamed

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

. The CBS Records label was renamed Columbia Records after Sony acquired the Columbia name and trade marks from EMI.

Presidents of CBS Records International

*Harvey Schein, 1962-1971 * Walter Yetnikoff, 1971–1975Billboard - Google Books
Books.google.com (1971-07-31). Retrieved on 2013-07-16. *

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, c. 1980 * Bob Summer, 1986–?

References

{{Authority control American record labels Columbia Records Record labels established in 1961 Record labels disestablished in 1990

Formation and history

Sale to Sony

Presidents of CBS Records International

See also

References