From Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin and Michael Jackson, Columbia Records has discovered and nurtured a mind-boggling spectrum of talents and temperaments over the past 100-plus years. Now, with unprecedented access to the company's archives -- memos, personal correspondence, recording contracts, sales reports and job sheets, as well as rich musical and literary material excavated from the Teo Macero Collection -- The Label tells the never-before-told stories behind the groundbreaking music distributed by Columbia Records. More often than not, the music was created not just by the artists themselves but forged out of conflict with the men and women who handled them -- executives, producers, Artists and Repertoire men, arrangers, recording engineers, and, yes, even publicists. And at almost every narrative crossroads in The Label is an undercurrent of racial tension -- a tension that not only influenced twentieth century music, but also mirrored and at times prompted major changes in American culture. This vibrant account of Columbia Record's often tumultuous relationships with artists, businesspeople, and popular culture is sure to enlighten, entertain, and even shock.