Columbia Recordsis an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group, an American subsidiary of multinational conglomerate Sony.
Founded on January 15, 1889, Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records.
It is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels, along with Epic Records, former longtime rival RCA Records, and Arista Records. RCA and Arista were originally owned by BMG until Sony's acquisition at the end of their merger in 2008.
