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| Nippon Columbia | |
|---|---|
 Nippon Columbia uses the "Magic Notes" logo of its former owner,Columbia Records/Columbia Graphophone Company | |
| Parent company | Faith, Inc. [ja] |
| Founded | October 1, 1910; 115 years ago (1910-10-01) |
| Founder | Fredrick W. Horn |
| Distributor | Self-distributed (in Japan) |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Official website | columbia |
Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. (日本コロムビア株式会社,Nippon Koromubia Kabushiki Gaisha), often pronouncedKorombia, operating internationally asNipponophone Co., Ltd. (日本蓄音器商会,Nihon Chikuonki Shōkai), is a Japaneserecord label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with theColumbia Graphophone Company of theUnited Kingdom and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks (the "Magic Notes") 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 becameColumbia 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 kaisha).[1] On October 1, 2010, the company returned to its current name. Outside Japan, the company operated formerly as the Savoy Label Group, which releases recordings on the SLG,Savoy Jazz, and continues to operate as Denon. It also manufactured electronic products under theDenon brand name until 2001. In 2017, Concord Music acquired Savoy Label Group.[2] Nippon Columbia also licensedHanna-Barbera properties in Japan until those rights were transferred toTurner Home Entertainment sometime in 1997. Currently, these rights are owned byWarner Bros. Japan LLC.
Aside from common historical roots, the current Nippon Columbia label has no direct relation with either the AmericanColumbia Records (part of theSony Music group in the United States and known in Japan asSony Records International; Nippon Columbia was the licensee for the American Columbia Records up until 1968, when CBS/Sony (now Sony Music) was founded) or the BritishEMI group, of which the original Columbia Graphophone Co. was a part - the licensee for the BritishColumbia Graphophone Company was actuallyToshiba Musical Industries (TheEMI group was broken up in 2012; the current licensee for re-issues isUniversal Music Japan). 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.
In addition to music, Nippon Columbia also develops and publishes video games.[3][4] See List of game titles released by Nippon Columbiaja:日本コロムビア発売のゲームタイトル一覧
JapanesePeople's Honour Award-winning singerHibari Misora belonged to the label. This label is also known for droppingAyumi Hamasaki, the best-selling solo artist in JapaneseOricon history (since 1968), before her rise to fame. It happened after her first single "Nothing from Nothing" andalbum of the same name flopped, due to little or no promotion. She subsequently met her current producer,Max Matsuura, who is now President ofAvex.
Also included in the roster:
In February 2006 Columbia Music Entertainment CEOSadahiko Hirose hired Napster co-founderJordan Ritter as executive advisor to the CEO. In April 2006, Ritter became CTO[citation needed] and formed the Red Dove (R&D) division, focusing on reducing costs and improving efficiency of internal operations, while developing new spinout companies that proved better approaches to the most expensive aspects of CME's business.
In 2007, Ritter hiredEjovi Nuwere into CME, and together they began building a Japanese-based, competition-oriented promotional platform for new artists calledOtoRevo. The premise of the project was to prove a more cost- and time-efficient model for discovering viable artists to join the label. Despite the measurable successes of Otorevo,[5][6][7] the CME board of directors voted to terminate all R&D projects in March 2008.
A number of talented artists were discovered on the OtoRevo platform. Two artist received debuts but all were released after the shut down of the R&D division and went to other labels. The most well known is the group CREAM[8] who were originally named IYSE. They are currently one of the top selling new artists in Japan with more than 3M channel views on YouTube.[9]
Major investors includedFaith Inc. (31.20%),Daiichi Kosho Company (4.75%), Japan Securities Finance Co., Ltd. (2.13%),Sumitomo Trust and Banking (0.95%),Nomura Securities (0.75%),Rakuten Securities (0.64%) and Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Company (0.59%).
In 2017, Faith Inc. acquired the rest of Nippon Columbia stocks, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
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