| Nippon Columbia | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Joint Venture of Faith K.K. and Hitachi Ltd. |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Founder | Fredrick W. Horn |
| Distributor(s) | self-distributed (In Japan) Savoy Records (in United States) |
| Genre | various |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Official Website | http://columbia.jp/company/en/index.html |
Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. (日本コロムビア株式会社 Nippon Koromubia Kabushiki gaisha) (often pronunced Korombia) TYO: 6791 is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. (日本蓄音器商会 Nihon Chikuonki Shōkai). It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks 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 Columbia Music Entertainment, Inc. (コロムビアミュージックエンタテインメント株式会社 Koromubia Myūjikku Entateinmento Kabushiki gaisha). Since October 1, 2010, the company has returned to its current name. Outside Japan, the company operates as the Savoy Label Group which releases recordings on the SLG, Savoy Jazz and Denon labels. It also manufactured electronic products under the Denon brand name until 2001.
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Aside from common historical roots, the current Nippon Columbia label has no direct relation with either the American Columbia Records (part of the Sony Music group in the United States and operates in Japan as Sony Music Entertainment Japan) or the British EMI group, of which the original Columbia Graphophone Co. was a part, and operated in Japan as Toshiba-EMI. 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.
Japanese People's Honour Award-winning singer Hibari Misora belonged to the label. This label is also known for dropping Ayumi Hamasaki, the best-selling solo artist in Japanese Oricon 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, who is now President of Avex.
Also included in the roster:
Major investors include Faith K. K. (31.39%) and Hitachi Ltd. (18.21%) .
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