Is Columbia Records the best record label of all time?
The legendary record label's story dates back to 1887
📻 Hello, thanks for tuning in. Today’s edition of Arpeggio is divided into two parts: quick profiles of music executives and established artists signed to Columbia Records, including their recent releases. Enjoy!
For an updated list of music from rising artists signed to Columbia, check out the playlist below.
Columbia Records: Weekly Mix
1887: The Story Begins
The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by a group of investors and Edward Easton. The name is derived from the original headquarters located in the district of Columbia. The company began selling disc records in 1891 and implemented the 45 rpm record, which would become the industry standard for the next 50 years. In 1926, the company purchased Okeh Record company and became a leader in Jazz and Blues. The label’s earliest catalog includes the New York Metropolitan Opera Stars and the New York Philharmonic.
What makes Columbia Records arguably the best of all time is their endurance. The label has a rich history, from barely surviving the Great Depression to becoming the biggest record label under Sony Music today.
The company has a long list of influential figures in the music industry. Perhaps most influential among them is former executive Clive Davis, who’s name is bestowed upon the prestigious New York University Clive Davis School of Music.
Executives
Clive Davis
Davis was appointed as the President of Columbia Records in 1967 after serving as administrative VP and GM of the label. Davis is credited for pushing Columbia into the forefront of Rock and Pop. He famously signed Janis Joplin after attending her performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. During his time at the helm of the record label, artists such as Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and Pink Floyd achieved massive success. Davis left his role as president in the mid-70s and currently holds the role of Chief Creative Officer at Sony Music Entertainment.
John Hammond
Hammond is well known for striving towards racial integration in the industry, and it shows in the talent he’s signed. After leaving the record label to serve in World War II, he returned in the late ‘50s to Columbia as a talent scout to discover key artists Aretha Franklin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and even signed Bob Dylan against the label executive’s goodwill.
Walter Yetnikoff
Following Davis’ departure from the record label, Yetnikoff took over as president at Columbia Records, which had its name changed in 1975 to CBS Records. Under his leadership, CBS Records’ revenue stream grew from $485 million to $2 billion. After playing an integral role in selling the record label to Sony in 1987, Yetnikoff left Columbia Records in 1990.
Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin is another legendary figure in the music industry. Rubin famously co-founded Def Jam Recordings with Russell Simmons, now owned by the Universal Music Group. LL Cool J’s “I Need a Beat” was one of Def Jam’s earliest releases.
This single release in 1984, along with music from the Beastie Boys, sold well and led to distribution deals with Columbia Records the following year. Rubin spent time as a Co-Chairman, Co-President, and executive producer before leaving the label in 2012.
More recently, Rubin has been leaning into interviews and podcasting. He has a series of interviews titled “Epic Conversations,” released by GQ on YouTube, as well as a podcast with NYT bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell called Broken Record.
Ron Perry
Perry serves as the current Chairman and CEO of Columbia Records, appointed to the position in January 2018. Perry has signed and overseen artists such as XXXTentacion, Lorde, Major Lazer, and The Weeknd. At 40 years old, he has spent two years on the Billboard Power 100 List.
In his short tenure as the record label’s CEO, Perry signed Lil Nas X as his rap-country song “Old Town Road,” which began to top the charts. Perry then recruited Billy Ray Cyrus for the remix and ultimately kept the song at #1 on the charts for a record-breaking 19 weeks, the longest-running #1 of all time. Since then, Lil Nas X has racked up six Grammy nominations, sharing a best new artist nod with fellow Columbia Records singer-songwriter Rosalía.
“It truly feels like the new chapter of Colmbia Records has just begun.” - Ron Perry
Artists
Prince
Prince is one of the most prolific, successful singer-songwriters of all time. He’s a 7x Grammy Award winner, an inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the R&B Music Singer-Songwriter Hall of Fame, was awarded the Billboard Icon Award and the BET Lifetime Achievement award. Even with all this success, it’s clear that he was an early voice in the movement for artists going independent, which is a much broader conversation today. This career, Prince grew strenuous relationships with record labels. As a mentor to Snoh Aalegra, who signed a contract with Sony Music as a teenager, Prince advocated for the rising artist to get out of her contract so the two of them could record an album together. Unfortunately, Prince passed away before this collaboration could happen.
Source: Soundcharts, What Music Streaming Services Pay Per Stream
Prince wasn’t a big fan of the business models in streaming, yet he seemingly gave Jay Z his goodwill by releasing his 2015 album “HitNRun” exclusively on Tidal. The company is Jay Z’s brainchild and has a reputation for compensating artists with a higher than average streaming payout in contrast with other platforms like Spotify or YouTube.
David Turner, the writer of the music blog Penny Fractions, makes the case for streaming companies being a benevolent force in the music industry. In his article “Streaming Saved the Record Biz, Not Artists,” he gives a brief background of how, slowly but surely, the industry has rebounded from its lows of the early 2000s thanks to streaming services.
Adele
Adele inked a deal with Columbia Records for distribution in 2008, and in 2016 signed with Sony, giving the major label exclusive release rights worldwide. Adele is one of the few truly generational artists. Her last two albums, 21 and 25 have sold a combined 50 million units. She famously signed the largest contract ever for a female artist and a Brtish artist, valued at $130 million.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé signed to Columbia Records at the age of 15 years old with the group named Girls Tyme in 1996. The group changed their name to Destiny’s Child shortly after signing with the label. Beyoncé is extremely business savvy, buying the rights from her 2018 headline performance from Coachella and selling it in the form of a documentary to Netflix for $20 million. The deal is the first of three Netflix projects valued at $60 million in total. Beyoncé also curated the recent Lion King soundtrack.
Solange Knowles as been writing music for her sister Beyoncé, and in 2016 released a full-length album A Seat at the Table through Columbia Records.
Pharrell Williams & Daft Punk
Pharrell signed with Columbia in 2013 alongside Daft Punk. Before signing with Columbia, Pharrell formed the Neptunes with Chad Hugo, signing to Virgin Records. In 2003, the production duo was responsible for 43% of songs played on U.S. radio. Pharrell released albums Girl and No One Ever Really Dies with Columbia in recent years, which both included top-charting songs “Come Get it Bae” and “Lemon.” All of Daft Punk’s previous recordings were also released with EMI’s Virgin Records.
The electronic duo’s fourth studio album Random Access Memories released with Columbia in 2013, paying tribute to the late 1970s and early 1980s music, particularly from LA. Pharrell and Daft Punk’s single “Get Lucky” topped the charts in more than 30 countries and became one of the best selling digital singles of all time. The album received critical acclaim and was named the best of 2013 by Pitchfork.
“It's an album rooted in a now-ancient aesthetic: '70s staples, like crisply recorded California studio music, or the kind of deceptively sophisticated New York disco that Nile Rogers, one of the album's key guest artists, popularized with Chic.”–Resident Advisor
Russ
Much like Prince, Russ is a huge advocate of the independent artist route, as well as artists having full control of their projects. This tweet by Hip Hop Numbers says it all.
Alicia Keys
Similar to Beyoncé, Alicia Keys signed to Columbia at 15 years old, yet she never released a record with the label. She was scouted by Clive Davis, who bought out her contract. Subsequently, she released her debut album Songs in A Minor with Davis’ label J Records. Keys was honored at the 2019 iHeartRadio Awards and hosted the 61st and 62nd Grammy Awards shows the last two years, one of the few artists to host the awards show back-to-back. She gracefully handled the responsibility of shooting the 2020 Awards show, which weighed heavily with the passing Kobe Bryant and the ousting of the Grammy’s first-ever female CEO, Deborah Dugan, less than a week before the show. Kobe’s life was honored by Keys and Boyz II Men among other performers during an emotional Grammy night.
If you’d like to listen to more from the label’s catalog, I’ve created the playlist below:
Columbia Records: Past & Present
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- Jimmy Seykot
Felt like I learned a lot, thanks Jimmy!
No prob!