CBS Schallplatten GmbH

Please note: This page is for the German record company, usually denoted by ℗ & © statements. Please use the respective labels as found on the labels (e.g. CBS, Epic, etc.).

CBS Schallplatten GmbH was a German record company, established in March 1963 in Frankfurt (registered in June 1963). It represented the label CBS in Germany. Before, CBS releases were licensed in Germany by Bernhard Mikulski's "Schallplatten Import Dienst", which then became part of CBS Schallplatten GmbH with Mikulski as the managing director.

The company also signed a few German artists, mainly from Germany's Jazz scene.

Additionally, the company licensed the following US labels for the German market:
- Bell Records (1967-1970)
- Blue Horizon (1968-1969)
- Epic (from 1965)
- Motown (from 1967 to 1969 - before 1967, the titles were released on the CBS label).

In May 1991, the company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment (Germany) GmbH. In March 2001, the company was re-registered as Sony Music Entertainment (Germany) GmbH & Co. KG.

Since 1965, CBS Schallplatten GmbH also operated the 7" single vinyl pressing plant "Rhein-Main Schallplatten-Produktion GmbH" in Ober-Erlenbach/Bad Homburg near Frankfurt/Main (originally founded 1962 by Mikulski) until 1985.

Initially, LPs were pressed at Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft Pressing Plant. In 1969, all press activities were shifted to the CBS pressing plant in Haarlem, The Netherlands, then called Artone Holland. From 1970 on, only a few releases (mostly Classical Music) were still pressed in Germany, mostly by Teldec-Press GmbH.

Corporate choronology:
Registered: 27 June 1963 (Frankfurt am Main company number HRB 6353)
Name change: 16 May 1991 to 'Sony Music Entertainment (Germany) GmbH'
Re-registered: 8 June 2001 as 'Sony Music Entertainment (Germany) GmbH & Co. KG' (Frankfurt am Main partnership number HRA 30060)