Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston. In practice, by the mid-1970s, the roster had become dominated with releases from the former Beatles.
Allen Klein ran the label in 1969. It was then run by Neil Aspinall on behalf of the four Beatles and their heirs. He retired in 2007 and was replaced by Jeff Jones.
Apple Records was founded in 1968 as part of the Beatles' Apple Corps project. At this time, the Beatles were contracted to Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Capitol Records in the United States. In a new recording deal, EMI and Capitol agreed to distribute Apple Records until 1975. Apple owned the rights to records by artists they signed, while EMI retained ownership of the Beatles' records, issuing them on the Apple label but with Parlophone R-prefixed catalogue numbers. Apple Records owns the rights to all of the Beatles' videos and movie clips.
During the 1974 proceedings dissolving the Beatles as an entity, a court ruling decreed that eighty percent of all profits from Beatles albums (as a group) would accrue to Apple Records, and five percent would go to each of the four members. The label consistently made a profit through 1984, mostly through continued issues of old Beatles records, then lost money for several years.
Standard Apple album and single labels displayed a bright green Granny Smithapple on the A-side, while the flipside displayed the apple cut in half. The bright green apple returned for Beatles CDs releases in the 1990s, following initial CD releases on Parlophone.
Original U.K. versions of all standard Beatles albums were released worldwide on CD in 1987 on the Parlophone label with no Apple logo, even including albums originally released on Apple. Previously, "Abbey Road" had been issued on CD by the EMI-Odeon label in Japan in the early 1980s. Although this was a legitimate release, it was not authorized by the Beatles, the main EMI company or Apple Corps. As a result, very few were made. It was not until the BBC sessions and the Anthology series that Apple labels started appearing on the CDs. Subsequent releases have either been the familiar Apple label or at least had the Apple logo.
In 2006 the label was again newsworthy, as the long-running dispute between Apple Records' parent company and Apple Inc. went to the High Court (see Apple Corps v Apple Computer). In 2007, the company settled a dispute with EMI over royalties, and announced that long term chief executive Neil Aspinall had retired and been replaced by American music industry executive Jeff Jones.[2] These changes lead to speculation that the Apple Records catalogue ? and most importantly The Beatles discography ? would soon appear on Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music store,[3] and that a remastering and reissue program of The Beatles' CDs might be forthcoming (Jones having worked on reissues at Sony).[2]
Zapple Records, an Apple Records subsidiary run by Barry Miles, a friend and ultimately biographer of Paul McCartney, was intended as an outlet for the release of spoken word and avant garde records. It was active from October 1968 until June 1969, and only two albums were released on the label, one by John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Unfinished Music No.2: Life With The Lions) and one by George Harrison (Electronic Sound). An album of readings by Richard Brautigan was planned for release as Zapple 3, and acetate copies were pressed, but, said Miles, "The Zapple label was folded by Klein before the record could be released. The first two Zapple records did come out. We just didn't have [Brautigan's record] ready in time before Klein closed it down. None of the Beatles ever heard it."[4] Brautigan's record was eventually released as Listening To Richard Brautigan on Harvest Records, a subsidiary of Apple distributor EMI, in the US only.[4] According to Miles, a spoken word album by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which had been recorded and edited, would have been Zapple 4, and a spoken word album by Michael McClure had also been recorded.[4] A planned Zapple release of a UK appearance by comedian Lenny Bruce was never completed. As noted above, Zapple was shut down in June 1969 by Klein, apparently with the backing of John Lennon.[5]
Artists who were to appear on the label, but didn't make it, include:
McGough and McGear, whose self-titled album was due to be released on Apple, but it was released on Parlophone Records, to which both were signed, as members of The Scaffold;
Grapefruit, whose single "Dear Delilah" was issued on RCA Records with Apple Records publishing credit;
Focal Point were the first band signed by Apple Publishing. Their single, "Sycamore Sid" was issued on Deram Records with credit to Apple Publishing on the label.
Slow Dog (Wheels) who were a Cambridge based rock band headed up by Scottish singer/guitarist Dave Kelly. They were the winners of the Apple Records sponsored national talent contest early 1969, organized by Apple A & R head Peter Asher prior to his departure for the USA. The winner of the talent contest was promised a record contract with Apple Records, but the band only recorded demo tracks, due to Asher's departure. However, on the recommendation from Beatles' roadie Mal Evans, Warner Brothers Records in London, headed up by Ian Ralfini, signed Slow Dog to a record contract, changing their name to Wheels.
See also Zapple Records section for cancelled releases.
Badfinger (originally known as The Iveys) - Signed to Apple after several demo tapes were brought in by Mal Evans, after getting approval from McCartney, Harrison and Lennon.
Black Dyke Mills Band (as John Foster & Sons Ltd. Black Dyke Mills Band) - Paul McCartney employed them for the one-off "Thingummybob" / "Yellow Submarine" single which he recorded on location near Bradford.
Brute Force (Stephen Friedland) - George Harrison attempted to have his single, "King of Fuh" released through Apple. EMI refused to handle it due to its references to "the Fuh king". Apple manufactured a small number of promotional copies.
Elephant's Memory - Recruited as backing band for John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and also released material separately.
(Focal Point) A Liverpool band who were going to be managed by Brian Epstein before he died were signed to Apple after chasing Paul McCartney around Hyde Park. John Lennon and Brian Epstein signed them to Apple.
Chris Hodge - Discovered by Ringo Starr; they shared an interest in UFOs.
Mary Hopkin - Early recordings produced by Paul McCartney, including the Lennon-McCartney original "Goodbye" and her hit recording of "Those Were the Days".
Hot Chocolate (as Hot Chocolate Band) - Released one single, "Give Peace A Chance" after John Lennon heard and liked it. Their post-Apple releases as Hot Chocolate were more commercially successful.
Jackie Lomax - Liverpudlian singer known via his Brian Epstein connections, he recorded with Harrison, McCartney and Starr at various times. His first single "Sour Milk Sea" features all three and was written by Harrison.
Yoko Ono - Recorded extensively with John Lennon and released several singles and albums herself, with Lennon usually performing, and directing the band.
David Peel and the Lower East Side - Political folk singer brought to the label by John Lennon.
Billy Preston - Brought in to work with the Beatles in January 1969 on their "Get Back" / "Let It Be" sessions, and signed as a solo artist. George Harrison worked on some of Preston's recordings.
Ronnie Spector - Married to Phil Spector, who separately worked with the Beatles and solo Beatles around 1970. George Harrison and John Lennon appear on her only Apple single "Try Some Buy Some".
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