By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
In what is being described as “the end of an era,” the ubiquitous record club Columbia House is taking its last orders on September 15, 2026. The company announced on August 19, 2026, that it was closing its doors for good after 71 years in business. This is after decades of operations in which it roped in customers with too-good-to-be-true deals on records and cassettes, CDs, and eventually DVDs.
The promise was 12 records or cassettes for a penny; as technology upgraded media, CDs and DVDs were added at the rate of six per dollar. This steal of a bargain automatically enrolled customers into the Columbia House Club, which required the purchase of more media at retail price. It was known for heavy-handed tactics in both its aggressive marketing and a collections department that bordered on harassment.
The Ancient Curse Has Been Lifted
Throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, commercials for the company were on every station, but it was also common knowledge and even a joke (the kind that would be an Internet meme these days) that ordering from Columbia House was an even more binding contract than signing one’s soul to the Devil. After the advent of music streaming, though, the Columbia House deal wasn’t as enticing; even a penny is too much when you can download entire albums for free. These days, a Spotify subscription costs less than buying one CD per month and allows people to listen to whatever they want for that price.
Columbia House did do one thing right, though. Despite being only slightly less pleasant than daily root canals, the company knew how to keep up with the times. When cassettes overtook 8-tracks, it changed its offerings to include them. When CDs were introduced, the company phased them in and started phasing out records. Eventually, it switched to disk format entirely, once the other formats became antiquated curiosities rather than standard. It knew what customers were buying and offered it cheaply to lure them, like Reese’s Pieces to ET.
However, now that everything is streaming, there is no motivation to purchase six DVDs for $1. Most streaming subscriptions cost about the same as one DVD, giving viewers access to thousands of movies and shows per service. Physical media is falling by the wayside, and a lot of companies are switching their media to a digital format. This has been both good and bad: while it gives audiences access to a wide range of songs, movies, shows, or games, it also results in a model that seems more like renting these media than buying them. At least Columbia House offered physical media that was actually owned by the people who bought it.
Those days are no more, as of September 15. The legendary music distributor that helped form the childhoods of Gen Xers and Millennials all over the country is joining the ranks of businesses made obsolete by the availability of media on the Internet. For better or worse, Columbia House will never again offer 12 cassettes for a penny.
