Columbia Corporate History: The Columbia Label

Columbia Master Book, Volume I, Tim Brooks, ed.

Climax records continued to be produced throughout the first half of 1902. Although with the Victor settlement it was no longer necessary to be surreptitious, no changes were made at first. The company was preoccupied, perhaps, with the introduction of moulded cylinders to compete with Edison’s newest product.

By the summer the company had turned its attention to the disc trade, where Victor, through heavy advertising, was rapidly gaining ground. During 1902 Edison produced about four million cylinders, while Victor produced 1.7 million discs.¹⁴ Figures are not available for Columbia, but judging by the relative number of surviving copies the company trailed in both fields. Sometime in mid-1902 the decision was made to change the disc label name from Climax to Columbia. Matrix numbers had by this time reached the 800’s, and the same numbering system continued on the new label.

Due to limitations in technology, however, it was necessary to re-record virtually the entire catalog that had been built up during 1901-1902. This is one reason why so many early Columbia titles were recorded by two or more artists; the original artist may not have been available when the re-recording was made. In 1902 a significant new manufacturing process was introduced which drastically reduced the need for such re-recording. Under the old method only one stamper was made from each original wax master, which destroyed the master; the number of copies that could be pressed from the stamper was limited to about a thousand copies. After that the song had to be re-recorded to produce a new wax master. Under the new technology, introduced in 1902, multiple stampers could be made from a single master, multiplying many times over the number of copies that could be pressed from one original.¹⁵

The change in label name, combined with massive re-recording, resulted in considerable confusion in the studio and pressing plant. Discs have been found from this period announced as “Climax Quartette, Columbia Record” and there are numerous examples of the new Columbia labels pasted over pressings announced as Climax. The compiler has even seen a few examples of the reverse, masters announced as Columbia, but bearing (leftover?) Climax labels. A copy of no. 286 has been found which is announced as “Hager’s Orchestra,” but the label says Climax Orchestra, and identifies it as a Columbia record. Customers might be forgiven if they didn't know exactly what they were getting.

The highest master known to have been issued on the Climax label is no. 826, “The Flying Dutchman: Selections.” Leftover Climaxes appear to have been sold off through Columbia’s British affiliate, which issued an undated 16-page Climax catalog listing numbers up to no. 826.

By January 1903 business was booming. Thomas H. Macdonald claimed in that month that Columbia was manufacturing 20,000 cylinders and 10,000 discs per day, and that the factory was working day and night to keep up with the demand. If maintained throughout the year (assuming a five day week) this would work out to roughly five million cylinders and 2.5 million discs per year. This is probably high, as summers were slow for the record trade and Macdonald may have been exaggerating a bit, however it is probably not far off. Based on known production figures for Edison and Victor, Columbia probably produced four or five million cylinders and perhaps 1.5 million discs in 1903.¹⁶

Columbia’s growth was fueled in part by its rapidly expanding international operations. Columbia had been active in Europe since 1897, and began disc recording in England as early as 1902, using a special matrix series (25,000s). During 1903 additional series were assigned for records made in Italy (10,000s), Russia and Poland (35,000s), Germany (40,000s) and France (50,000s). A Mexico City laboratory was opened at the end of the year.¹⁷ Many of these foreign recordings were issued in the U.S. Less frequently seen in the U.S. were the products of a recording expedition to Shanghai in early 1903, and to Tokyo later in the year. The Shanghai and Tokyo recordings are numbered in the regular U.S. matrix series, in the ranges 1260-1350 and 2000-2999, respectively.

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The Columbia Master Book Discography, 4 Volumes, Complied by Brian Rust and Tim Brooks. Reprinted by permission.