10 oldest record labels in Music history: There were only a few methods to listen to music prior to the invention of recorded music: at church, on Broadway, or through sheet music.

In reality, selling sheet music was the songwriters’ primary source of income. Here are the 10 oldest record labels in Music History

S/N	RECORD NAME	YEAR
1.	Columbia Records	1889
2.	Domino recordings	1916
3.	Broadway Records	1920
4.	Rialto Records	1924
5.	Bell Records	1920
6.	Challenge Records label	1920
7.	Homestead Records	1920
8.	Flip Records	1950
9.	Cardinal Records	1920
10.	Gennett Records	1920

Table of Contents

1. Columbia Records

The first “record label” in principle was Edison Records, but in practice, it only referred to the cylinders and not a group of artists or anything like that.

Columbia Records was the second record company. the oldest record company still in business today!

The 10″ disc was created by Columbia, which had previously been a seller and distributor of Edison phonographs. In addition, Columbia also made the discs that came to be known as “double-faced” discs. As a result, the age of the cylinders went to an end, giving way to the more well-known discs of today.

Sony Music Entertainment, a branch of Sony Corporation of America, the North American arm of the Japanese multinational Sony, is the owner of the American record label Columbia Records. It was created by the American Graphophone Company, which was the Volta Graphophone Company’s successor, and was established on January 15, 1889. Columbia is the second-largest record-producing firm and the oldest brand name still in use in the recorded sound industry. To avoid confusion with EMI’s Columbia Graphophone Company, its records were issued outside of North America from 1961 to 1991 under the name CBS Records.

2. Domino recordings

Early phonograph recordings were made in the United States by Domino recordings. Empire Phonograph Corporation was the original name of the business, but in 1915 it changed its name to Domino Phonograph Corporation, presumably before launching any products. It first appeared in June 1916. They made vertically cut, two-sided, 7-inch records with a light-blue label and dark-blue writing. Domino claimed that the playing time of their discs was equivalent to a 10-inch disc. The actual playing time was about 2.5 minutes.

3. Broadway Records

In the 1920s and 1930s, an American record company went by the name of Broadway Records. Early in the 1920s, the Bridgeport Die and Machine Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, began producing Broadway records. The majority of the initial pressings came from masters created by Paramount Records. Broadway saw the masters from the Emerson and Banner beginning in 1924.

4. Rialto Records

In the 1920s, a record company called Rialto Records operated out of Chicago, Illinois. The Rialto Music House (330 S State St.), the owner, offered it for sale at discounts in their retail locations. Marsh Recording Laboratories (Suite 625 Kimball Building, 306 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Illinois) actually produced the albums.

Their most well-known recording is the sole known release of Jelly Roll Morton’s 1924 solo recording of “London Blues,” which is also the only one they ever made.

5. Bell Records

Around 1920, the Bell Records record company, based in the United States, began releasing music. The Standard Music Roll business of Orange, New Jersey, which also owned Arto Records, served as the label’s parent business. The Bell Record Corporation of Newark, New Jersey continued the label using masters produced by Emerson Records after Standard Music Roll exited the disc record industry in 1923. Bell masters were now sourced from Gennett Records as of 1927.

6. Challenge Records label

The Sears-Roebuck Company used to sell records under the Challenge Records label. In the late 1920s, releases were taken from various recordings on different labels, including Banner, Gennett, Paramount Records, and others. The identical recording of “Black Bottom” by Joe Candullo & his Everglades Orchestra was issued on both Sears’ Silvertone and Silvertone labels. Challenge and Silvertone were discontinued in 1929 and replaced by Conqueror Records. Because Challenge discs tended to have fewer songs demanding royalties and the company typically gave the artists pseudonyms, they typically sold for less money than Silvertone discs.

7. Homestead Records

In the 1920s and the first few years of the 1930s, Homestead Records operated in the United States. The Regal Record Company created the first pressings, which were based on the same content as Regal, Banner, and associated labels. The Scranton Button Company produced the pressings. Homestead Records was kept going under the ARC group of labels after Regal joined the ARC merger. Crown also provided masters in 1930.

8. Flip Records

A thriving American record company called Flip Records issued rhythm and blues and doo-wop music in the 1950s from singers including Richard Berry, The Six Teens, Donald Wood, the Elgins, and many more. In Los Angeles, California, Max and Lilian Feirtag ran the label and released songs under the Limax Songs moniker. Although it was merely a regional smash and The Six Teens’ “A Casual Look” was a far bigger national hit, Richard Berry’s initial rendition of his song “Louie, Louie,” which was released in 1957, was the most successful and longest-lasting.

9. Cardinal Records

The first recordings by Ethel Waters were released by Cardinal Records. A jazz record company that was established in New York in 1920. The following year, it started publishing music from Gennett Records’ back catalog.

10. Gennett Records

Gennett (pronounced “jennett”) was a successful record label and firm in the 1920s, located in Richmond, Indiana, in the United States. The earliest recordings of Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and Hoagy Carmichael were all created by Gennett. Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Gene Autry were included in the cast.

10 oldest record labels in Music history