Northern Songs

Because George Martin felt EMI's Ardmore & Beechwood publishing company had done almost nothing to promote "Love Me Do", he advised Epstein to find a good publisher. He told Epstein about three publishers who, in Martin's opinion, would be fair and honest, which led Epstein to James. Epstein turned up at James' office with an acetate of "Please Please Me", but was reluctant to let James publish it without any proof of his publishing power. James immediately picked up the phone and called Philip Jones, the producer of the prestigious TV show, Thank Your Lucky Stars, playing him the acetate over the phone, and saying the song was "a guaranteed future hit". Jones agreed, and promised a spot on the show. Epstein, suitably amazed at the speed of the booking, decided that James was a man he could trust.

On 22 February 1963, James suggested to Epstein that forming a company with Lennon, McCartney and Epstein would earn more money in the long run. Lennon and McCartney thought they would own the whole company, but were given a 20 per cent share each, Epstein 10 per cent, and James and his partner, Charles Silver, owning 50 per cent. George Martin was offered a share in Northern Songs, as well, but he turned it down because his employment with EMI presented a conflict of interest. Another company, Maclen Music, which published Lennon and McCartney's music in the US, was also controlled by Northern Songs. Both Northern Songs and Maclen Music were administered by Dick James Music. Northern Songs also published George Harrison's early compositions, as well as Ringo Starr's.

McCartney later explained that they signed all the contracts Epstein presented to them without reading them first, with Lennon adding, "We had complete faith in him [Epstein] when he was running us. To us, he was the expert". The money gathered by Northern Songs was channelled into a second company, Lenmac Enterprises, owned by Lennon and McCartney at 40% each and NEMS (North End Music Stores) at 20%. The company collected profits from the UK only.

During 1965, to reduce the income tax burden, it was decided to make Northern Songs a public company. 1,250,000 shares were traded on the London Stock Exchange, which were worth 17 pence each ($0.28), but were offered at 66 pence ($1.09) each. Although the trade was scoffed at by various financial institutions, it was expected that the application lists would not remain open for more than 60 seconds, which is exactly what happened, because the lists were oversubscribed. After the offer closed, Lennon and McCartney owned 15% each, worth £195,200 ($320,000), NEMS a 7.5% interest, and James and Silver (who served as Northern Songs' chairmen), controlling 37.5%, with Harrison and Starr sharing 1.6%. The remaining shares were owned by various financial institutions. At the same time, Lennon and McCartney renewed their previous three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973. Harrison also signed with the company in 1965, for a period of three years. To protect his interests, James took out a life insurance policy of £500,000 on Lennon and McCartney. By the summer of 1966, 88 songs by Lennon and McCartney had been recorded and released, and there were 2,900 versions by different artists.

In September 1964, Harrison founded his own publishing company, Mornyork Ltd., changing the name to Harrisongs Ltd. in December. Following the expiration of his contract with Northern Songs in 1968, Harrison's songs were published by Harrisongs Ltd. Ringo Starr formed a publishing company for his songs, called Startling Music, in 1968.

Takeover of ACC

In the late 1970s, the parent company of ATV Music, by then known as Associated Communications Corporation (ACC) began experiencing financial difficulties. From 1978 to 1981, ACC's profits declined due to losses in its film division, and share prices dropped dramatically. In 1981, Grade entertained offers for Northern Songs, drawing interest from several bidders. McCartney, with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, offered £21 million but the offer was declined by Grade who decided not to sell Northern Songs separately after other suitors, including CBS Songs, EMI Music Publishing, Warner Communications, Paramount Pictures and the Entertainment Co. showed interest in buying ATV Music as a whole.

Meanwhile, Australian businessman Robert Holmes à Court had been acquiring shares of ACC and launched a takeover bid in earnest in January 1982. Grade resigned as chairman and was replaced by Holmes à Court who successfully acquired a controlling interest in the company. After Holmes à Court assumed control of ACC, ATV Music was no longer for sale.

During their collaboration on the song, "Say, Say, Say", McCartney informed Michael Jackson about the financial value of music publishing. According to McCartney, this was his response to Jackson asking him for business advice. McCartney showed Jackson a thick booklet displaying all the song and publishing rights he owned, from which he was then reportedly earning $40 million from songs written by others. Jackson became quite interested and inquired about the process of acquiring songs and how the songs were used. According to McCartney, Jackson said, "I'm going to get yours [Beatles' songs]", which McCartney thought was a joke, replying, "Ho ho, you, you're good".

In 1984 Holmes à Court put ATV Music up for sale. The only song in the Northern Songs catalogue that was excluded from the sale was "Penny Lane", the rights to which were gifted to Holmes à Court's teenage daughter Catherine, as it was her favourite Beatles song. According to Bert Reuter, who negotiated the sale for Holmes à Court, "We had given Paul McCartney first right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time". Jackson's attorney, John Branca, reportedly contacted an attorney for McCartney who said that McCartney would not be bidding for the catalogue because he thought it was "too pricey". Likewise, Ono was also contacted but did not enter the bidding.