I finally tracked down Geoff Wheeler.  His book on Columbia takes a somewhat 
different viewpoint.  I'm taking the liberty of reproducing it here.

This is his publicity release:


IS COLUMBIA RECORDS A FRAUD?

Available now: The only book ever published that tells the full, true story 
of Columbia Records, and how CBS acquired its predecessor, Columbia 
Phonograph, and built it into a billion-dollar empire. The end result may be 
one of the biggest cases of corporate fraud in U.S. history!


Columbia Records:
America’s Oldest Record Company 1886 to the Present

Written and Compiled by Geoffrey Wheeler
As a signed, Limited Edition published by Hillbrook Press

This unprecedented book comes in two volumes:
• Volume I (518 pages): The chronological history of Columbia Records, 
including how the
company may be based on fraud.
• Volume 2 (240 pages): The documents that prove what Volume I details.

Previously undisclosed company documents acquired by the author in 1997 peel 
away the layers of non-disclosure, falsehoods, and cover-up. Nobody else has 
likely seen these documents in decades. They may, in fact, no longer exist! 
The documents detail serious breaches in corporate ethics and accountability 
that have been concealed from Board members, business partners, 
shareholders, the government, and the public for more than 70 years.

Read the astonishing history as told through best possible evidence—more 
than 360 authentic sources: court records, contracts, incorporation papers, 
amendments, bankruptcy papers, dissolutions, contracts, financial reports, 
letters, patents, telegrams, press releases, corporate chronologies, memos, 
label discographies, business law, and appendices, plus letters from the 
author and the author’s counsel to Sony and Viacom attorneys, directors, and 
shareholder-relations. Information CBS received with substantiating court 
documents from a Chicago attorney in 1974 makes unequivocally clear that CBS 
did not and could not possibly own Columbia Phonograph, which CBS used as 
the “legal” basis from which Columbia Records grew!

Price for the two-volume set: $95.00 (shipping extra). The text is published 
in two 8-1/2x11 comb-bound volumes that lie flat for easy reading and 
reference.

TO ORDER:
Contact IAJRC member Fred Cohen, Jazz Record Center, 236 West 26th, #804, 
New York, NY 10001; Phone: (212) 675-4480. E-mail: 
[log in to unmask] Or order directly from the author at 
[log in to unmask]

Other Books From Hillbrook Press
You can also order any of these additional signed, limited-edition Hillbrook 
Press titles:
• Jazz By Mail: Record Clubs & Record Labels, 1936-1958 ($60)
•  Dial Records: West Coast Jazz and the Be-Bop Era ($75)
•  Collectors Guide to Jazz on Bootleg & Reissue 78 R.P.M. Records 1932 to 
1952, featuring     2500 Rarities on More Than 60 Labels ($60)