Columbia House Closes After 71 Years of Music Sales

After 71 years of selling music to customers through mail-order, Columbia House is finally shutting down. The news was first reported by the YouTube channel Channel 33 RPM and website Cord Cutters News.

The Columbia House website has announced that it will no longer be accepting new orders after September 15, 2026. However, customers can still purchase books using their credit card or credits as normal.

Columbia House was founded in 1955 as the Columbia Record Club, a direct-mail marketing program by CBS/Columbia Records. The club quickly gained popularity, with new members promised a free record for joining. This allowed customers to bypass a trip to the record store by ordering albums to be shipped to them at home.

## A Brief History of Columbia House

Columbia House got its start in 1955 and quickly became a popular way for people to buy music without having to visit a record store. The club was so successful that by 1963, it represented 10% of the music retail market.

As the club grew, Columbia set itself apart by licensing titles from other labels, giving members a larger catalog to choose from. In the early 1970s, the name of the club was changed to Columbia House.

## Decline and Sale

In 1991, Columbia's parent company Sony sold half of Columbia House to Time Warner, which merged the service with its own Time Life home video and music clubs. A merger with the online retailer CDNow in 1999 quickly fizzled out, and CDNow was soon purchased by Bertelsmann and partially absorbed into the BMG Music club under the name BeMusic.

As the market share for mail-order music clubs declined due to the rise of online and big-box retailers, Sony and AOL Time Warner sold 85% of Columbia House to the Blackstone Group. The company was later sold to its competitor BMG in 2005, and then to JMCK Corp. in 2008, rebranding as Direct Brands and shutting down music sales.

## Legacy

Columbia House was a pioneering force in the music retail market, offering customers a convenient way to buy music without having to visit a store. However, the company also faced criticism for its business tactics, including negative option billing, which allowed the company to automatically charge customers for new albums unless they opted out.

Despite its flaws, Columbia House remains a nostalgic memory for many people who grew up with the service. The company's legacy will live on through its impact on the music retail market and the memories of those who used its services.

| Year | Membership | Sales | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1963 | 10% of music retail market | - | | 1996 | 16 million members | - | | 2005 | - | Sold to BMG | | 2015 | - | American branch declared bankruptcy |