[78-L] US Columbia in the UK

[David Lennick]

English Columbia bought US Columbia specifically so it could get at Western 
Electric's electrical process.

dl

Harold Aherne wrote:
> I don't know exactly when Columbia Graphophone set up the UK branch (1900, I
> think I remember seeing), but from that point until 1951-52, US and UK Columbia
> were closely linked. Nonetheless, the corporate relationship did not remain the
> same during those 50-odd years. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of
> these rather fine points.
> Â 
> Until about 1922, UK Columbia was a subsidiary of US Columbia. The American 
> branch went through some financial turmoil in 1922-1923 and sold the British firm,
> which by 1925 bought the American branch (so *that* was now technically the subsidiary). 
> That arrangement continued until the EMI merger in 1931. American Columbia (and OKeh)
> could not be included because of US anti-trust laws (e.g., EMI would own Columbia and 
> have a large stake in Victor because of the HMV connection), so US Columbia was sold
> to the Grisby-Grunow company, makers of Majestic radios. They sold it to ARC in 1934, 
> which was in turn bought by CBS in late 1938. They revived the Columbia label several
> months later; all through this time and up to the early 50s US Columbia releases generally
> appeared on UK Columbia (AFAIK). 
> Â 
> After the CBS-EMI relationship ended, Columbia releases appeared on Phillips until 1961
> and then, of course, on CBS (because EMI owned the rights to the Columbia name in most
> of the eastern hemisphere). EMI retired its Columbia label in 1972 (at least in Britain, I don’t
> know about the rest of Europe or India) and in the early 1990s relinquished its rights to the 
> Columbia name back to Sony (by now the owner of the American Columbia catalogue).
> 
> Â 
> I think.
> Â 
> -Harold
> 
> 
> Â 
> From: agp <agp2176 at verizon.net>
> Subject: [78-L] US Columbia in the UK
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Sunday, April 19, 2009, 10:57 AM
> 
> The discussion of about Jonathan and Darlene got me to thinking about 
> the fortunes of US Columbia in the UK prior to the birth of the CBS 
> label there.
> 
> I am not sure what happened with US Columbia releases in the 40s --- 
> did they end up on HMV?
> 
> But - as my main interest is the 50s (what I'll call the US Columbia 
> lp era, knowing that it started in th late 40s) and beyond, I wonder 
> about the cross pollination cross the Atlantic. Are these facts correct:
> 
> 1950s (lp era) US Columbia (and Okeh) releases ended up on Philips
> Later 50s US Columbia releases were on Philips, Epic releases (and 
> some Okeh) where on Fontana.
> Likewise, UK Philips and Fontana domestic releases came out on 
> Columbia and Epic in the USA.
> 
> Is this mostly true
> 
> Tony
> 
> 
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