In the U.S. Phonogram artists were generally released on Mercury Records, but the label is independent from its U.K. counterpart.

In the United Kingdom, Phonogram was the holding company for Philips Records, which was established in 1953 and also launched the Fontana label in 1958.

After that time, Columbia U.S. set up their own marketing and production unit in the UK in Theobalds Road, London, having acquired Oriole Records and its record-pressing plant that had prospered in manufacturing discs for U.K. budget labels including Embassy, sold through Woolworths.

Phonogram president Robert Sherwood disputed Zappa's version of the story, insisting that they did not want to release a single without the support of a full-length album.

PolyGram continued until 1998, when the company was purchased by Seagram and merged with Universal Music Group.