, often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the

Columbia Graphophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest phonograph, gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Records, Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks (the "Magic Notes") in 1931. The company changed its name to Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. in 1946. It used the Nippon Columbia name until October 1, 2002, when it became . On October 1, 2010, the company returned to its current name. Outside Japan, the company operated formerly as the Savoy Label Group, which releases recordings on the SLG,

Savoy Jazz Savoy Records is an American record company and label established by Herman Lubinsky in 1942 in Newark, New Jersey. Savoy specialized in jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel music. In September 2017, Savoy was acquired by Concord Bicycle Music. ...

, and continues to operate as Denon. It also manufactured electronic products under the Denon brand name until 2001. In 2017, Concord Music acquired Savoy Label Group. Nippon Columbia also licensed

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

properties in Japan until those rights were transferred to

Turner Japan is a Japanese commercial television broadcasting company operated as a part of Warner Bros. Discovery through its International division. History The company was originally established as on May 8, 1997, as a joint venture between Itochu an ...

sometime in 1997. Currently, these rights are owned by Warner Bros. Japan LLC.

Other information

Aside from common historical roots, the current Nippon Columbia label has no direct relation with either the American

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 ...

(part of the

Sony Music 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 Entertainment ...

group in the United States and known in Japan as Sony Records International; Nippon Columbia was the licensee for the American Columbia Records up until 1968, when CBS/Sony (now Sony Music) was founded) or the British

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

group, of which the original Columbia Graphophone Co. was a part - the licensee for the British

was actually Toshiba Musical Industries (The

group was broken up in 2012; the current licensee for re-issues is

Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in the country regarding music distribution. The company is resp ...

). The label is notable, however, for continuing to use the historical Magic Notes logo, which has been associated with the Columbia name since the label's founding.

Artists

Japanese

People's Honour Award is one of the commendations bestowed by the Prime Minister of Japan on people in recognition of their accomplishments in sport, entertainment, and other fields. The award, not restricted to Japanese nationals, was created in 1977 by the then-Prime ...

-winning singer

Hibari Misora was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posth ...

belonged to the label. This label is also known for dropping

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

, the best-selling solo artist in Japanese

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

history (since 1968), before her rise to fame. It happened after her first single " Nothing from Nothing" and album of the same name flopped, due to little or no promotion. She subsequently met her current producer,

Max Matsuura , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese record producer and businessman. He is the founder of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars (most notably Ayumi Hamas ...

, who is now President of

Avex is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

. Also included in the roster: *

Ichirō Fujiyama , born , was a Japanese singer and composer, known for his contribution to Japanese popular music called '' ryūkōka'' by his Western classical music skills. He was born in Chūō, Tokyo, and graduated from the Tokyo Music School. Although h ...

Masao Koga was a Japanese composer, mandolinist, and guitarist of the Shōwa era who was dubbed "Japan's Irving Berlin" by Universal Press Syndicate. His melancholy style, based upon Nakayama Shimpei's '' yonanuki'' scale, was popularly known in Japan as ...

Tadaharu Nakano was a popular Japanese baritone singer of jazz and ryūkōka in Shōwa era Japan. Life and career Nakano was born in Ōzu, Ehime on May 27, 1909. His interest in music was sparked in early childhood by the sound of the organ at a local Christia ...

Shizuko Kasagi was a popular Japanese jazz singer and actress. At the peak of her fame in the immediate post-war era, she was known as the . Early life and career Shizuko Kasagi was born on 25 August 1914 in Ōkawa District, Kagawa, Japan. She originally too ...

Akiko Futaba was a Japanese popular music (''ryūkōka'') singer. At of the end of World War II, she was one of the most popular female singers in Japan, competing with Hamako Watanabe and Noriko Awaya. In addition, she took part in the ''Kōhaku Uta Gassen ...

Hisao Itō Hisao (written: 央生, 久生, 久雄, 寿雄, 寿夫, 尚雄, 尚久 or 尚勇) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese government official *, Japanese baseball player *, Japa ...

Noboru Kirishima Noboru (written: , , , , in hiragana or katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, official in the government of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture *, former professional sumo wrestler and current politician fr ...

Godiego are a Japanese rock band, consisting of keyboardist and composer Mickie Yoshino, vocalist Yukihide Takekawa, guitarist Takami Asano and Yoji Yoshizawa, bassist Steve Fox, and drummer Tommy Snyder. Over their 40-year career (with hiatuses), Go ...

* MADKID * ONEPIXCELL *

Kiyoshi Hikawa is a Japanese enka singer who was born on September 6, 1977 in Minami-ku, Fukuoka, Japan.Hikawa Kiyoshi: Pro ...

Kaela Kimura is a Japanese pop rock singer, lyricist, fashion model and television presenter. Career Born in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father, Kimura started working as a model in 2002 for the Japanese magazine '' Seventeen''. ...

Ulrik Munther Jens ''Ulrik'' Munther (born 18 February 1994) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, actor and multi-instrumentalist signed to Universal Music Sweden. His debut studio album ''Ulrik Munther'', was released on 24 August 2011 and peaked to number 1 in Sw ...

(Japan only) * not yet *

Yoshiki Yoshiki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yoshiki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義樹, "justice, tree" *義基, "justice, foundation" *義機, "justice, opportu ...

Laboum Laboum (; stylized as LABOUM) is a South Korean girl group currently under Interpark Music Plus. They debuted in 2014 under NH Media and Nega Network's joint venture Global H. Their name is taken from the French term meaning "The Party". His ...

* ATEEZ *

Mayuka Thaïs Mayuka Thaïs (born September 25, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, voice over artist, art educator, and edutainer. She is known for her role as a bilingual singer and actress on the popular television program Shimajiro. Early ...

Kunimi Andrea Kunimi Andrea (born April 27, 1977) is an American singer, actress, voice over artist and edutainer. Andrea is known for her role as the main singer, actress on a popular children's television show Shimajiro for ''Playtime for Toddlers''. Earl ...

Teri Suzanne Teri Suzanne (born August 18, 1948) is an American bilingual actress, freehand cut paper artist, author, children's songwriter, and creator of the first bilingual family theatre program and theatre group Performing Arts Group (P.A.G) at the Ao ...

Lovely Summer Chan , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer and songwriter. From 2014 to 2015, she was the lead vocalist of the band For Tracy Hyde. Career 2013-2015: Early music career In high school, Lovely Summer Chan was part of her high school's lig ...

Labels

* Animex * B-C (pronounced B to C) * CME Records * Columbia House * Columbia International * Columbia Japan * Columbia*readymade (originally stylized as ''********* records,tokyo'' and/or ''readymade records,tokyo'' on CD artwork, later changing to ''columbia*readymade'' after Nippon Columbia rebranded to Columbia Music Entertainment) * Columbia Records (unrelated to the USA-based label, which is under

) * Denon * Forte Music Entertainment (stylized as ''Forte Music E.'') * Heat Wave * Hug Columbia * M-Train * Nexstar Records * Passion * Triad

OtoRevo

In February 2006 Columbia Music Entertainment CEO

Sadahiko Hirose is the president of Columbia Music Entertainment. He received both undergraduate and master's degrees from Keio University. Mr. Hirose, who was formerly CEO and President of NetHome, became the CEO of Columbia as of January 1, 2004. Sadahiko Hir ...

hired Napster co-founder

Jordan Ritter Jordan Ritter (born February 1, 1978) is an American serial entrepreneur, software architect and angel investor. He is best known for his work at Napster, the file-sharing service he co-founded along with Shawn Fanning and others. His time at N ...

as executive advisor to the CEO. In April 2006, Ritter became CTO and formed the Red Dove (R&D) division, focusing on reducing costs and improving efficiency of internal operations, while developing new spinout companies that proved better approaches to the most expensive aspects of CME's business. In 2007, Ritter hired

Ejovi Nuwere Ejovi Nuwere (born 1980 is an American security engineer and entrepreneur. He was the co-founder of Google funded wireless company Fon and Microsoft funded analytics company Ivy Softworks. Early life Nuwere's early life is documented in his a ...

into CME, and together they began building a Japanese-based, competition-oriented promotional platform for new artists called OtoRevo. The premise of the project was to prove a more cost- and time-efficient model for discovering viable artists to join the label. Despite the measurable successes of Otorevo, the CME board of directors voted to terminate all R&D projects in March 2008.

OtoRevo Artists

A number of talented artists were discovered on the OtoRevo platform. Two artist received debuts but all were released after the shut down of the R&D division and went to other labels. The most well known is the group CREAM who were originally named IYSE. They are currently one of the top selling new artists in Japan with more than 3M channel views on YouTube.Cream - hip-hop group
Jpopasia.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-16.

Major investors

Major investors include
Faith Inc.
(31.20%),

Daiichi Kosho Company is a Japanese electronics and aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Tokyo. As an electronics manufacturer the company specializes in karaoke equipment. History Between about 1992 and 2003 the company branched i ...

(4.75%), Japan Securities Finance Co., Ltd. (2.13%),

Sumitomo Trust and Banking , formerly Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Inc., is a Japanese financial holding company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It provides an assortment of financial products to retail and wholesale customers, with a focus on asset management, financial b ...

(0.95%),

Nomura Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NHI), which forms part of the Nomura Group. It plays a central role in the securities business, the Group's core business. Nomura is a financial services group and global investment bank. Bas ...

(0.75%), Rakuten Securities (0.64%) and Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Company (0.59%). In 2017, Faith Inc. acquired the rest of Nippon Columbia stocks, making it a wholly owned subsidiary,

External links

*
Official Centennial Website
*

References

{{Authority control Japanese record labels Record labels established in 1910 Mass media companies of Japan Jazz record labels