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Private company

Nippon Columbia

Logo: NIPPON COLUMBIA CO., LTD., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Japanese record label

Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 日本コロムビア株式会社, Hepburn: Nippon Koromubia Kabushiki-faisha), often pronounced Korombia, operating internationally as Nipponophone, is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks (the "Magic Notes") in 1931. The company changed its name to Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. in 1946.2 It is part of Faith.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Oct 1, 1910Founded1
  • HeadquartersMinami-Aoyama1
  • Websitecolumbia.jp
  • Legal formkabushiki gaisha1

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Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 日本コロムビア株式会社, Hepburn: Nippon Koromubia Kabushiki-faisha), often pronounced Korombia, operating internationally as Nipponophone, is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United 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 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 kaisha). 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 the Denon brand name until 2001. In 2017, Concord Music acquired Savoy Label Group. Nippon Columbia also licensed Hanna-Barbera properties for consumer products in Japan until those rights were transferred to Turner Home Entertainment sometime in 1997. Currently, these rights are owned by Warner Bros. Japan LLC.2

Corporate structure

Nippon Columbia is part of a group headed by Faith. 4 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Faith M0
    • Nippon Columbia Minami-Aoyama
      • Dreamusic Subsidiary · Toranomon
      • TRIAD Subsidiary · Japan

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

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 known in Japan as Sony 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 British EMI group, of which the original Columbia Graphophone Co. was a part - the licensee for the British Columbia Graphophone Company was actually Toshiba Musical Industries (The EMI group was broken up in 2012; the current licensee for re-issues is Universal 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.

From Wikipedia’s article on Nippon Columbia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Subsidiaries

Divisions

  • Columbia House

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Oct 1, 1910Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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