Columbia Records

=== Beginnings (1889–1929) ===
[[File:ColumbiaPhonographBldg1889.jpg|thumb|The original home of Columbia in [[Washington, D.C.]], in 1889; the company was named after the city.]]
[[File:Graphophone1901.jpg|thumb|A Columbia type AT cylinder [[graphophone]] produced in 1898<ref name="guide">{{cite book|last=Hazelcorn|first=Howard|title=A Collector's Guide to the Columbia Spring-Wound Cylinder Graphophone|publisher=Antique Phonograph Monthly|year=1976|edition=1|pages=10, 13}}</ref>]]
[[File:Columbia1116D.jpg|thumb|The American label of an electrically recorded Columbia disc by [[Art Gillham]] from the mid-1920s]]
The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded on January 15, 1889, by stenographer, lawyer, and [[New Jersey]] native [[Edward D. Easton]] (1856–1915) and a group of investors. It derived its name from the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], where it was headquartered.<ref name="IEEE Easton">{{cite web|title=Edward Easton|url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Edward_Easton |publisher=IEEE |access-date=January 22, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bilton|first=Lynn|title=Hail, Columbia: A fresh book at last gives Edward Easton and his Graphophone company their due|url=http://www.intertique.com/Hail%20Columbia.htm|access-date=January 22, 2014|year=1998}}</ref> At first it had a local monopoly on sales and service of Edison [[phonograph]]s and [[phonograph cylinder]]s in Washington, D.C., [[Maryland]], and [[Delaware]]. As was the custom of some of the regional phonograph companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own, and its catalogue of musical records in 1891 was 10 pages.

Columbia's ties to Edison were severed in 1894 with the [[North American Phonograph Company]]'s breakup. Thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the "XP" record, a molded brown wax record, to use up old stock. Columbia introduced black wax records in 1903. According to one source, they continued to mold brown waxes until 1904 with the highest number being 32601, "Heinie", which is a duet by [[Arthur Collins (singer)|Arthur Collins]] and [[Byron G. Harlan]]. The molded brown waxes may have been sold to [[Sears]] for distribution (possibly under Sears' Oxford trademark for Columbia products).<ref>{{cite web |last=Gracyk |first=Tim |url=http://www.gracyk.com/wax.shtml |title=Tim Gracyk's Phonographs, Singers, and Old Records – How Late Did Columbia Use Brown Wax? |publisher=Gracyk.com |date=October 11, 1904 |access-date=December 31, 2009 |archive-date=October 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001173001/http://www.gracyk.com/wax.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Columbia began selling [[gramophone record|disc records]], invented and patented by Victor Talking Machine Company's [[Emile Berliner]], and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their "Toy Graphophone" of 1899, which used small, vertically cut records. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the [[Edison Phonograph Company]] cylinders and the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound.

In order to add prestige to its early catalog of artists, Columbia contracted a number of [[New York Metropolitan Opera]] stars to make recordings (from 1903 onward). These stars included [[Marcella Sembrich]], [[Lillian Nordica]], [[Antonio Scotti]], and [[Edouard de Reszke]], but the technical standard of their recordings was not considered to be as high as the results achieved with classical singers during the pre–World War I period by Victor, Edison, England's [[His Master's Voice]] (The [[Gramophone Company]] Ltd.) or Italy's [[Fonotipia Records]]. After an abortive attempt in 1904 to manufacture discs with the recording grooves stamped into both sides of each disc—not just one—in 1908 Columbia commenced successful mass production of what they called their "Double-Faced" discs, the 10-inch variety initially selling for 65 cents apiece. The firm also introduced the internal-horn "'''[[Graphophone|Grafonola]]'''" to compete with the extremely popular "[[Victrola]]" sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company.

During this era, Columbia began to use the "Magic Notes" logo—a pair of sixteenth notes (semiquavers) in a circle—both in the United States and overseas (where this particular logo would never substantially change).

Columbia stopped recording and manufacturing wax cylinder records in 1908, after arranging to issue celluloid cylinder records made by the [[Indestructible Record Company]] of [[Albany, New York]], as "Columbia Indestructible Records". In July 1912, Columbia decided to concentrate exclusively on disc records and stopped manufacturing cylinder phonographs, although they continued selling Indestructible's cylinders under the Columbia name for a year or two more.
<!-- Started on a proper update of the various names in the company's history, but realised it would take rather longer than I thought. Left here to finish later, MinorProphet, 5 December 2022

In January 1913 the Columbia Phonograph Company was renamed the '''Columbia Graphophone Company''', in recognition of its main product, the [[Graphophone]]. Edward Easton remained as President.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Brook |editor-first=Tim |editor2-last=Rust |editor2-first=Brian |title=Columbia Master Book, Volume I |chapter=Columbia Corporate History: Columbia Demonstration Records |publisher=Greenwood Press |date=1999 |series=(online edition) |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/resources/detail/110}}</ref>

More info at discogs, but no refs...

https://www.discogs.com/label/138789-Columbia-Graphophone-Company

https://www.discogs.com/label/97841-Columbia-Graphophone-Company-Ltd -->
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|Dictaphone Corporation]].<ref name="IEEE Easton"/>