Columbia House

About Columbia House

Columbia House, the mail order music and movie club, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 10, 2015. At its peak in the 1990s, Columbia House had 16 million members and 1.4 billion in revenue. The business model offered CDs or cassettes for a penny, then required customers to buy additional titles at full price. The model relied on negative option billing, where customers had to actively decline selections. The internet made this model obsolete. Filmmakers Communications acquired Columbia House in 2005 for 140 million. The company shifted to DVD clubs but could not compete with Netflix and streaming. Columbia House had been a cultural institution, introducing millions of young people to music. The brand was sold in bankruptcy and eventually disappeared.