[3] International Talking Machine Company issued the Odeon label first in Germany in 1903 and applied for a U.S. trademark the same year.

[1][2] On 30 January 1904,[5] Odeon became a part of the Carl Lindström Company, which also owned Beka Records, Parlophone, Fonotipia, Lyrophon, Homophon and other labels.

However the outbreak of World War II, and the subsequent trade embargoes, meant that the company had to wind-up its operations in India.

[9][8] After World War II, the Odeon label continued as an EMI subsidiary in many non-English-speaking markets, such as West Germany, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Japan and Latin America.

[10] With the sale of most EMI properties to erstwhile rival Universal Music Group (UMG) in September 2012, Universal retained the right to reissue from namely Odeon's post-war Japanese, Latin American, German and select European catalogues, while another former competitor Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired the rights to the remainder of EMI in February 2013 and with that, reissues from Odeon's French, Scandinavian, Spanish and most other European releases, to comply with the European Commission's divestiture conditions.

[11][12][13][14][15] Universal Music Enterprises manages UMG's Odeon catalogue with Parlophone and WEA International handling WMG's own.

In October 2018, Universal Music Germany revived Odeon to release the brass pop band Querbeat's third album Randale & Hurra.