Columbia House — yes, it still exists — is going out of business

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — Columbia House, a pioneer of subscription music before streaming, is shutting down after seven decades in business.

A widely reported statement appeared on its website saying the company is closing on September 15 has been removed, but a customer service representative confirmed to CNN by phone that it is soon ceasing operations.

Columbia House became a household name in the 1980s and 1990s for offering monthly deliveries of records, tapes, CDs and later DVDs each month.

The company was famous for ads promising “Any 11 tapes or records – $1” or “12 CDs for 1 cent” by sending customers bills each month until they opted out.

At its peak in 1996, the company said it was bringing in revenues of about $1.4 billion.

Its fortunes dwindled, however, thanks in part to the rise of the internet and digital music services like iTunes. Columbia House tried pivoting to streaming, but the company struggled to land licensing agreements that could compete with larger competitors.

In 2015, Columbia House’s parent company filed for bankruptcy and current owner Edge Line Ventures bought the brand.

The current iteration of the website is a shell of itself, selling only a dozen DVD titles, like the second season of the AMC series “Dark Winds” and the 2023 “Blackberry,” a film about another tech product that was similarly bypassed by later competitors.

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