The story
Founded by The Beatles in 1968, in London.1
History
1967–1969: early years
Apple Corps Ltd was conceived by the Beatles in 1967 after the death of their manager Brian Epstein. It was intended to be a small group of companies (Apple Retail, Apple Publishing, Apple Electronics, and so on) as part of Epstein's plan to create a tax-effective business structure. The first project that the band released after forming the company was their film Magical Mystery Tour, which was produced under the Apple Films division. Apple Records was officially founded by the group after their return from India in 1968 as another sub-division of Apple Corps.
At this time, the Beatles were contracted to EMI. In a new distribution deal, EMI and its US subsidiary Capitol Records agreed to distribute Apple Records until 1976, while EMI retained ownership of their recordings. Beatles recordings issued in the United Kingdom on the Apple label carried Parlophone catalogue numbers, while US issues carried Capitol catalogue numbers. Apple Records owns the rights to all of the Beatles' videos and movie clips, and the rights to recordings of other artists signed to the label. The first Apple catalogue number 1 was a single pressing of Frank Sinatra singing "Maureen Is a Champ" (with lyrics by Sammy Cahn) to the melody of "The Lady Is a Tramp" as a surprise gift for the 21st birthday of Ringo Starr's wife Maureen.
Apple Records and Apple Publishing signed a number of acts whom the Beatles personally discovered or supported, and one or more of the Beatles would be involved in the recording sessions in most cases. Several notable artists were signed in the first year, including James Taylor, Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston, the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Iveys (who became Badfinger), Doris Troy, and former Liverpool singer Jackie Lomax who recorded George Harrison's "Sour Milk Sea".
1969–1973: Klein era
In 1969, the Beatles were in need of financial and managerial direction, and John Lennon was approached by Allen Klein, manager of The Rolling Stones. When Klein went on to manage Apple, three of the Beatles supported him with Paul McCartney being the only group member opposed to his involvement. McCartney had suggested his father-in-law Lee Eastman for the job.
Klein took control of Apple and shut down several sub-divisions, including Apple Electronics, and he dropped some of Apple Records' artistic roster. New signings to the label were not so numerous afterward and tended to arrive through the individual actions of the former Beatles. For example, Elephant's Memory were recruited through Lennon and Ravi Shankar through Harrison. McCartney had little input into Apple Records' roster after 1970. Klein managed Apple Corps until March 1973, when his contract expired. The Beatles' entire pre-Apple catalogue on the Capitol label was re-issued on the Apple label in May 1971, including the singles from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "Lady Madonna", and the albums from Meet the Beatles! to Magical Mystery Tour. The album covers remained unchanged with the Capitol logos.
1973–2007: Aspinall era, Beatles reissues
After Klein's departure, Apple was managed by Neil Aspinall on behalf of the four Beatles and their heirs. Apple Records' distribution contract with EMI expired in 1976, when control of the Beatles' catalogue—including solo recordings to date by George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr—reverted to EMI (Paul McCartney had acquired ownership of his solo recordings when he re-signed with Capitol in 1975).
The original UK versions of the Beatles' albums were released worldwide by EMI on compact disc in 1987 and 1988 on the Parlophone label. Previously, Abbey Road had been issued in Japan on CD in 1983 on the Toshiba-EMI label. Although this was a legitimate release, it was not authorised by the Beatles, EMI or Apple Corps. Following the settlement of Apple's ten-year lawsuit against EMI in 1989, new projects began to move forward, including the Live at the BBC album and The Beatles Anthology series. It was after the Anthology project (spearheaded by Neil Aspinall) that the company resumed making significantly large profits again and began its revival.
The label was again newsworthy in 2006, as the long-running dispute between Apple Records' parent company and Apple Inc. went to the High Court (see Apple Corps v Apple Computer).
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2007–present: Jones era, iTunes reissues
In 2007, longtime chief executive Neil Aspinall retired and was replaced by American music industry executive Jeff Jones. The Beatles' catalog was remastered and re-issued in September 2009 and was made available on iTunes in November 2010. In June 2009, Apple Records published their last album, Let it Roll: Songs by George Harrison. When Universal Music Group acquired EMI and the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, Calderstone Productions was formed in 2012 to administer the Beatles' catalogue.
In October 2024 it was announced that Jeff Jones would be stepping down as CEO of Apple.
Origin
During the sixties, Paul McCartney discovered the work of Belgian surrealist René Magritte. As an admirer, McCartney started to collect paintings of the artist.
In 1967, a friend bought “Le Jeu De Mourre” for Paul McCartney. The work represents a green apple with the text Au Revoir placed on top. When McCartney saw it for the first time, he was impressed by the iconic look of the image. The big green apple later became the inspiration for the Apple Records company logo. To this day, McCartney still owns the 1966 painting.
From Wikipedia’s article on Apple Records, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4