Apple Corps
Encyclopedia
Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation
founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles
to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate
. Its name is a pun
. Its chief division is Apple Records
, which was launched in the same year. Other divisions included Apple Electronics, Apple Films, Apple Publishing, and Apple Retail, whose most notable venture was the ill-fated Apple Boutique
in London
. Apple's headquarters, in the late-1960s, was on 94 Baker Street
, after was at 3 Savile Row
in London, known as the Apple Building, which was also home to the Apple Studio.
From 1970–2007, Apple's chief executive was former Beatles' road manager Neil Aspinall
, though he did not officially bear that title until Allen Klein
had left the company. The current CEO is Jeff Jones
. In 2010, Apple Corps ranked #2 on the Fast Company
magazine's list of the world's most innovative companies in the music industry, thanks to the release of The Beatles: Rock Band
video game and the remastering of The Beatles' catalogue.
, because corporate/business taxes were lower than their individual tax bills. According to Peter Brown
, personal assistant to Beatles' manager Brian Epstein
, activities to find tax shelters for the income that The Beatles generated began as early as 1963–64, when Dr Walter Strach was put in charge of such operations. First steps into that direction were the foundation of Beatles, Ltd. and in early 1967, Beatles and Co.
The Beatles' publicist, Derek Taylor
, remembered that Paul McCartney
had the name for the new company when he was visited Taylor's company flat in London: "We're starting a brand new form of business. So, what is the first thing that a child is taught when he begins to grow up? A is for Apple". McCartney then suggested the addition of Apple Core, but they could not register the name, so they used "Corps" (having the same pronunciation). McCartney later revealed that he had been inspired by René Magritte's
painting, Le Jeu de Mourre, featuring an apple with the words "Au revoir" painted on it. Harriet Vyner’s 1999 book about the late lamented charismatic London art dealer Robert Fraser, "Groovy Bob" contains this anecdote by Paul McCartney
about the first time he laid eyes on the painting that would inspire the company logo in 1967:
commented: "Our accountant came up and said 'We got this amount of money. Do you want to give it to the government or do something with it?' So we decided to play businessmen for a bit because we've got to run our own affairs now. So we've got this thing called 'Apple' which is going to be records, films, and electronics – which all tie up".
Stefan Granados wrote in Those Were the Days: An Unofficial History of the "Beatles" Apple Organization 1967–2001, on the various processes that lead to the formation of Apple Corps:
Now that a new business structure was found with a lower tax rate, Epstein mused what to do with it in order to justify it to the authorities, and originally thought of it mostly as a merchandising company, as according to Lennon's first wife, Cynthia
: "The idea Brian came up with was a company called Apple. His idea was to plough their money into a chain of shops not unlike Woolworth's in concept: Apple boutiques, Apple posters, Apple records. Brian needed an outlet for his boundless energy". Personal assistant to Epstein, Alistair Taylor
remembered:
In the middle of setting up the new company, manager Epstein died unexpectedly in what seemed an accidental sleeping pills overdose on 27 August 1967, which pressed The Beatles to accelerate their plans to gain control of their own financial affairs. In addition to providing an umbrella to cover The Beatles' own financial and business affairs, Apple was intended to provide a means of financial support to anyone in the wider world struggling to get 'worthwhile' artistic projects off the ground. According to Granados, this idea probably first originated with Paul McCartney as the Beatle most engaged in London's local avant-garde scene, "McCartney was among the best-known exponents of swinging London". Ringo
was quoted as saying of the venture:
McCartney at first had obviously intended to use Epstein's music publishing company NEMS Enterprises for these plans, but after Epstein's death it was learned that Australian Robert Stigwood
was trying to get hold of NEMS. All four Beatles were not in favour such an outcome, as McCartney had previously told Epstein in 1967:
They hurried to set up Apple instead, and seeing that The Beatles would not be part of the NEMS package, Stigwood went to form his own company, RSO Records
. The logo was designed by Gene Mahon, with illustrator Alan Aldridge
transcribing the copyright notice
to appear on record releases. In January 1968, Beatles Ltd. officially changed its name to Apple Corps. Ltd. and registered the Apple trademark in forty-seven countries In February the company also registered Apple Electronics, Apple Films Ltd., Apple Management, Apple Music Publishing, Apple Overseas, Apple Publicity, Apple Records, Apple Retail, and Apple Tailoring Civil and Theatrical with the intent on focusing on five divisions: records, electronics, film, publishing and retailing.
Lennon and McCartney introduced their new business concept on a press conference held on 14 May 1968 in New York City, with McCartney saying it would be, "A beautiful place where you can buy beautiful things… a controlled weirdness… a kind of Western communism". Lennon said, "It's a company we're setting up, involving records, films, and electronics, and – as a sideline – manufacturing or whatever. We want to set up a system where people who just want to make a film about anything, don't have to go on their knees in somebody's office, probably yours". McCartney also said: "It's just trying to mix business with enjoyment. We're in the happy position of not needing any more money. So for the first time, the bosses aren't in it for profit. We've already bought all our dreams. We want to share that possibility with others".
In December 1967, shortly after Epstein's death, Lennon asked Alistair Taylor to work as General Manager for Apple. It was during this period that Taylor appeared in the famous advertisement to promote Apple asking for new artists. Designed by Paul, it showed him disguised as a one-man band, claiming: "This man has talent..." The publication in the New Musical Express and Rolling Stone
, brought an avalanche of applicants. The mail room, telephone switchboard, and conference rooms became jammed at all hours with "artists" begging The Beatles to give them money. George Harrison
would later lament that "We had every freak in the world coming in there". Many of these supplicants received the investments they sought and were never heard from again.
Even though Apple was declared the most successful new record company of the year for 1968 before long the band members' ignorance of finance and administration combined with their naive, utopian mission of funding struggling, unknown artists left Apple Corps with no solid business plan.
The Beatles' naivety and inability to keep track of their own accounts was also eagerly exploited by the employees of Apple, who purchased drugs and alcoholic beverages, company lunches at expensive London restaurants, and international calls made regularly on office telephones, all of which would be treated as business expenses. Writers Alan Clayson and Spencer Leigh described the owners' hopelessness in managing their own creation:
Aspinall finally agreed to direct the company on a temporary basis, simply so that someone would finally be in charge. When, in 1969, The Beatles engaged Klein as their manager, he also inherited the chairmanship of Apple Corps, which led to an immediate streamlining of company affairs: "Overnight, glib lack of concern deferred to pointed questions," wrote Clayson & Leigh. "Which typist rings Canberra every afternoon? Why has so-and-so given himself a raise of 60 pounds a week? Why is he seen only on payday? Suddenly, lunch meant beans-on-toast in the office kitchen instead of Beluga caviar from Fortnum & Mason
".
district. Ownership and control of the company remains with McCartney, Starr and the estates of Lennon and Harrison.
Apple Corps has had a long history of trademark disputes
with Apple Computer
(now Apple Inc.). The dispute was finally resolved in 2007, with Apple Corps transferring ownership of the "Apple" name and all associated trademarks to Apple Inc., and Apple Inc. exclusively licensing these back to The Beatles' company. In April 2007, Apple also settled a long running dispute with EMI
and announced the retirement of chief executive, Aspinall. Aspinall was replaced by Jeff Jones
.
. Intending to revolutionise the consumer electronics market, largely through products based on Mardas' unique and, as it turned out, commercially impractical, designs, the electronics division did not make any breakthroughs. After the dismissal of Mardas in 1969, during Klein's 'house-cleaning' of Apple Corps, Apple Electronics fell victim to the same forces that troubled the company as a whole, including the impending Beatles' break-up. It was later estimated that Mardas' ideas and projects had cost The Beatles at least £300,000 (approximately three million British pounds today).
. The Beatles
' films Yellow Submarine
, and Let it Be
were also produced under Apple Films. Other notable releases included Born to Boogie
, (Ringo Starr
's 1972 documentary about the band T.Rex), The Concert for Bangladesh
, and Son of Dracula
(a 1974 horror-musical which teamed Starr with singer Harry Nilsson
). George Harrison
was the executive producer for the Apple Films' Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs
that included the Dark Horse Records band Splinter's song "Lonely Man". Apple Films was also responsible for producing Apple Corps' televised promotions.
.
Apple Publishing Ltd. was also used as a publishing stop-gap by Harrison and Starr, as they sought to shift control of their own songs away from Northern Songs
, in which their status was little more than paid writers. (Harrison later started Harrisongs
, and Starr created Startling Music
). Apple's greatest publishing successes were the Badfinger
hits "No Matter What", "Day After Day
" and "Baby Blue
", all written by group member Pete Ham, and Badfinger's "Without You", a song penned by Ham and Badfinger band mate Tom Evans
. "Without You" became a worldwide #1 chart hit for Harry Nilsson
in 1972 and Mariah Carey
in 1993. In 2005, however, Apple lost the US publishing rights for the work of Ham and Evans.
Apple also undertook publishing duties, at various times, for other Apple artists, including Yoko Ono
, Billy Preston
and the Radha Krsna Temple
. Apple received a large number of demo tapes; some songs were published, some were issued on other labels and only Benny Gallagher & Lyle were retained as in-house writers before going on to co-found McGuinness Flint
. Many of these demos have been collected on three Cherry Red CDs, entitled 94 Baker Street, An Apple for the Day, and Treacle Toffee World.
Apple Books actually put out only one book in early 1970, which was the book that accompanied the initial pressing of the Let It Be album entitled, "The Beatles Get Back
" containing photographs by Ethan Russell
and text by Rolling Stone
writers Jonathan Cott and David Dalton. Although the book was credited to Apple Publishing, all of the work on the project was actually done by freelancers.
, although the copyright remained with EMI, and Parlophone/Capitol catalogue numbers continued to be used. Apple releases of recordings by artists other than The Beatles, however, used a new set of numbers, and the copyrights were held mostly by Apple Corps Ltd. More than a "vanity label", Apple Records developed an eclectic roster of their own, releasing records by artists as diverse as Indian sitar guru Ravi Shankar
, Welsh easy listening songstress Mary Hopkin
, the power-pop band Badfinger
, classical music composer John Tavener
, soul singer Billy Preston
, folk singer James Taylor
, R&B singer Doris Troy
, New York underground rock band Elephant's Memory
, original bad girl of rock and roll Ronnie Spector
, rock singer Jackie Lomax
, the Modern Jazz Quartet
, and even London's Radha Krsna Temple
.
Since Apple's inception, McCartney and Lennon had been very interested in launching a budget-line label to issue what would essentially be known three decades later as "audio books". In October 1968, Apple hired Barry Miles, who co-owned the Indica bookshop with John Dunbar and Peter Asher, to manage the proposed spoken-word label. The initial idea of Zapple Records was that it would release avant-garde and spoken word records at a reduced price that would be comparable to that of a paperback novel. While the idea looked good on paper, the reality was that when the few records actually put out by Zapple finally made it into the shops, they were priced like any other full-priced music album. Zapple Records was started on 3 February 1969, but after Klein was brought in to run Apple Corps' affairs, it was closed down after just two releases: Lennon's and Yoko Ono's Life with the Lions
, and Harrison's Electronic Sound
.
in London
, England
, and was one of the first business ventures by the fledgling Apple Corps. Lennon's schoolfriend, Pete Shotton was hired as manager and the Dutch design collective The Fool
were brought in to design the store and much of the merchandise. The store opened to much fanfare on 7 December 1967, with Lennon and Harrison attending (Starr was filming, and McCartney was on holiday). The boutique was, however, never profitable, largely due to shoplifting
, by customers and its own staff. After Shotton resigned, John Lyndon took over but even his management skills could not save the enterprise. The store's remaining stock was liquidated by giving it away, but not before the individual Beatles took whatever they liked the night before its closure. The boutique closed its doors for the last time on 31 July 1968.
, located in the basement of the Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row
.
Originally designed by Mardas, of Apple Electronics, the initial installation proved to be unworkable, with almost no standard studio features such as a patch bay, or a talkback
system between the studio and the control room
, let alone Alex's promised innovations, and had to be scrapped. The Beatles recorded and filmed portions of their album Let It Be
in the Apple Studio, with equipment borrowed from EMI
, and during takes they had to shut down the building's central heating, also located in the basement, because the lack of soundproofing
allowed the heating system to be heard in the studio. Redesigning and rebuilding the basement to accommodate proper recording facilities took eighteen months.
The studio reopened on 30 September 1971 and included its own natural echo chamber
, a wide range of recording and mastering facilities, and could turn out mono, stereo and quadrophonic master tapes and discs. In 1971, it would have cost £37 an hour to record to 16 track, £29 an hour to mix to stereo, and £12 to cut a 12” master. The studio became a second home for Apple Records
artists, although they also used Abbey Road
and other studios, and other artists such as Harry Nilsson
, Wishbone Ash
, Viv Stanshall, Stealer's Wheel, Lou Reizner
, Clodagh Rodgers
, and Marc Bolan
, as shown in the movie Born To Boogie
, also worked there. The existence of acetates
by numerous performers is evidence the studio was widely used. The studio was closed down for good on 16 May 1975.
and the iPod
, which Apple Corps asserted was a violation of Apple's agreement not to distribute music. The trial opened on 29 March 2006 in the UK, and in a judgment issued on 8 May 2006, Apple Corps lost the case.
On 5 February 2007, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps announced a settlement of their trademark dispute under which Apple Inc. took ownership of all of the trademarks related to "Apple" (including all designs of the famed "Granny Smith" Apple Corps Ltd. logos), and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. The settlement ends the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes. The settlement includes terms that are confidential.
The website for Harmonix's
The Beatles: Rock Band
video game is notable as the first evidence of the Apple, Inc./Apple Corps Ltd. settlement: "Apple Corps" is prominently referred to throughout, and the "Granny Smith" Apple logo appears but the text beneath the logo now reads "Apple Corps" rather than the previous "Apple". The website's acknowledgements specifically state that "'Apple' and the 'Apple logo' are exclusively licensed to Apple Corps Ltd".
On 16 November 2010, Apple Inc. launched an extensive advertising campaign that announced the availability of The Beatles' entire catalogue on iTunes
.
and Capitol had underpaid the band by more than £10.5 million. A settlement was reached in that case in 1989, which granted the band an increased royalty rate and required EMI and Capitol to follow more stringent auditing requirements. Apple, on behalf of the surviving Beatles and relatives of the band's late members, again sued
EMI
for unpaid royalties
, in a case beginning in 2005. The case was settled in April 2007 with a "mutually acceptable" conclusion, which remained confidential.
(Nike's advertisement agency), EMI
and Capitol Records
for the use of the song "Revolution
" in a 1987
Nike commercial. Apple claimed that it was not informed of the use of the song and was not paid for continued use and therefore sued the four companies for $15 million. EMI countered stating that the case was 'groundless' to their claim they had the "active support and encouragement of Yoko Ono Lennon", who owns 25% of Apple Corps through Lennon's estate, and was quoted as saying: "[The commercial] is making John’s music accessible to a new generation". Apple's lawyer responded by stating that Apple can not take action unless all four shares are in agreement, meaning that Ono must have supported the idea to take legal action at the moment when the decision was made. Harrison had the following to say about the unauthorised use of Beatles songs for advertisement as well as the importance of this particular case:
On 9 November 1989, the lawsuit was settled out-of-court. As with previous cases between Apple and EMI, a condition of the settlement was that terms of the agreement would be kept secret. It was suggested, however, by a spokesman of Ono that in the end of a very "confusing myriad of issues" there was a large exchange of money. Nike had also ceased to use the song for advertisement in March 1988.
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
. Its name is a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
. Its chief division is Apple Records
Apple Records
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...
, which was launched in the same year. Other divisions included Apple Electronics, Apple Films, Apple Publishing, and Apple Retail, whose most notable venture was the ill-fated Apple Boutique
Apple Boutique
The Apple shop was a retail store that opened on 7 December 1967 located in a now demolished building on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street, Marylebone, London, and that closed on 30 June 1968. The shop was one of the first business ventures made by The Beatles' fledgling Apple...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Apple's headquarters, in the late-1960s, was on 94 Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
, after was at 3 Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
in London, known as the Apple Building, which was also home to the Apple Studio.
From 1970–2007, Apple's chief executive was former Beatles' road manager Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....
, though he did not officially bear that title until Allen Klein
Allen Klein
Allen Klein was an American businessman, talent agent and record label executive. His clients included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.- The accountant :...
had left the company. The current CEO is Jeff Jones
Jeff Jones (music industry executive)
Jeff Jones is the chief executive of Apple Corps, the company founded by The Beatles. He replaced long-time incumbent Neil Aspinall in April 2007. Jones was formerly a vice president at Sony/BMG, where he specialised in repackaging classic albums...
. In 2010, Apple Corps ranked #2 on the Fast Company
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
magazine's list of the world's most innovative companies in the music industry, thanks to the release of The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
video game and the remastering of The Beatles' catalogue.
History
The Beatles' accountants had informed the group that they had two million pounds which they could either invest in a business venture or else lose to the Inland RevenueInland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
, because corporate/business taxes were lower than their individual tax bills. According to Peter Brown
Peter Brown (music industry)
Peter Brown is an American-based English businessman. He currently resides in New York City.-The Beatles:Brown was a personal assistant to Brian Epstein and The Beatles during the 1960s. He was a confidant to the Epstein family, and bore some resemblance to Brian in his looks and manner...
, personal assistant to Beatles' manager Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
, activities to find tax shelters for the income that The Beatles generated began as early as 1963–64, when Dr Walter Strach was put in charge of such operations. First steps into that direction were the foundation of Beatles, Ltd. and in early 1967, Beatles and Co.
The Beatles' publicist, Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor was an English journalist, writer and publicist, best known for his work as press officer for The Beatles...
, remembered that Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
had the name for the new company when he was visited Taylor's company flat in London: "We're starting a brand new form of business. So, what is the first thing that a child is taught when he begins to grow up? A is for Apple". McCartney then suggested the addition of Apple Core, but they could not register the name, so they used "Corps" (having the same pronunciation). McCartney later revealed that he had been inspired by René Magritte's
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
painting, Le Jeu de Mourre, featuring an apple with the words "Au revoir" painted on it. Harriet Vyner’s 1999 book about the late lamented charismatic London art dealer Robert Fraser, "Groovy Bob" contains this anecdote by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
about the first time he laid eyes on the painting that would inspire the company logo in 1967:
Formation
On the founding of Apple John LennonJohn Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
commented: "Our accountant came up and said 'We got this amount of money. Do you want to give it to the government or do something with it?' So we decided to play businessmen for a bit because we've got to run our own affairs now. So we've got this thing called 'Apple' which is going to be records, films, and electronics – which all tie up".
Stefan Granados wrote in Those Were the Days: An Unofficial History of the "Beatles" Apple Organization 1967–2001, on the various processes that lead to the formation of Apple Corps:
Now that a new business structure was found with a lower tax rate, Epstein mused what to do with it in order to justify it to the authorities, and originally thought of it mostly as a merchandising company, as according to Lennon's first wife, Cynthia
Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lillian Lennon is the former wife of musician John Lennon, and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of twelve, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the...
: "The idea Brian came up with was a company called Apple. His idea was to plough their money into a chain of shops not unlike Woolworth's in concept: Apple boutiques, Apple posters, Apple records. Brian needed an outlet for his boundless energy". Personal assistant to Epstein, Alistair Taylor
Alistair Taylor
James Alistair Taylor was the English personal assistant of Brian Epstein who accompanied him to the Cavern Club when he first saw The Beatles play on 9 November 1961...
remembered:
In the middle of setting up the new company, manager Epstein died unexpectedly in what seemed an accidental sleeping pills overdose on 27 August 1967, which pressed The Beatles to accelerate their plans to gain control of their own financial affairs. In addition to providing an umbrella to cover The Beatles' own financial and business affairs, Apple was intended to provide a means of financial support to anyone in the wider world struggling to get 'worthwhile' artistic projects off the ground. According to Granados, this idea probably first originated with Paul McCartney as the Beatle most engaged in London's local avant-garde scene, "McCartney was among the best-known exponents of swinging London". Ringo
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
was quoted as saying of the venture:
McCartney at first had obviously intended to use Epstein's music publishing company NEMS Enterprises for these plans, but after Epstein's death it was learned that Australian Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood is an impresario and entertainment entrepreneur who relocated to England in 1954...
was trying to get hold of NEMS. All four Beatles were not in favour such an outcome, as McCartney had previously told Epstein in 1967:
They hurried to set up Apple instead, and seeing that The Beatles would not be part of the NEMS package, Stigwood went to form his own company, RSO Records
RSO Records
RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in 1973. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair...
. The logo was designed by Gene Mahon, with illustrator Alan Aldridge
Alan Aldridge
Alan Aldridge is an English artist, graphic designer and illustrator.-Personal life:Born in 1943 in east London, he currently resides in Los Angeles...
transcribing the copyright notice
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
to appear on record releases. In January 1968, Beatles Ltd. officially changed its name to Apple Corps. Ltd. and registered the Apple trademark in forty-seven countries In February the company also registered Apple Electronics, Apple Films Ltd., Apple Management, Apple Music Publishing, Apple Overseas, Apple Publicity, Apple Records, Apple Retail, and Apple Tailoring Civil and Theatrical with the intent on focusing on five divisions: records, electronics, film, publishing and retailing.
Lennon and McCartney introduced their new business concept on a press conference held on 14 May 1968 in New York City, with McCartney saying it would be, "A beautiful place where you can buy beautiful things… a controlled weirdness… a kind of Western communism". Lennon said, "It's a company we're setting up, involving records, films, and electronics, and – as a sideline – manufacturing or whatever. We want to set up a system where people who just want to make a film about anything, don't have to go on their knees in somebody's office, probably yours". McCartney also said: "It's just trying to mix business with enjoyment. We're in the happy position of not needing any more money. So for the first time, the bosses aren't in it for profit. We've already bought all our dreams. We want to share that possibility with others".
Early administration
For the first few months of Apple's existence, it did not even have an office. Most of the company's business was conducted from the NEMS building. It was not until the autumn of 1967 that Apple finally opened a London office. Since the Beatles already owned a four-story building at 94 Baker Street that had been purchased as an investment property by their accountants, they decided that Baker Street was as good a location as any for Apple. In September they set up an office for Apple Publishing in the Baker Street building. With Epstein's death, there was nobody in The Beatles' inner circle with business acumen who could manage the company, and, as with their band affairs, The Beatles decided that they would manage it themselves.In December 1967, shortly after Epstein's death, Lennon asked Alistair Taylor to work as General Manager for Apple. It was during this period that Taylor appeared in the famous advertisement to promote Apple asking for new artists. Designed by Paul, it showed him disguised as a one-man band, claiming: "This man has talent..." The publication in the New Musical Express and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, brought an avalanche of applicants. The mail room, telephone switchboard, and conference rooms became jammed at all hours with "artists" begging The Beatles to give them money. George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
would later lament that "We had every freak in the world coming in there". Many of these supplicants received the investments they sought and were never heard from again.
The Beatles' naivety and inability to keep track of their own accounts was also eagerly exploited by the employees of Apple, who purchased drugs and alcoholic beverages, company lunches at expensive London restaurants, and international calls made regularly on office telephones, all of which would be treated as business expenses. Writers Alan Clayson and Spencer Leigh described the owners' hopelessness in managing their own creation:
Aspinall finally agreed to direct the company on a temporary basis, simply so that someone would finally be in charge. When, in 1969, The Beatles engaged Klein as their manager, he also inherited the chairmanship of Apple Corps, which led to an immediate streamlining of company affairs: "Overnight, glib lack of concern deferred to pointed questions," wrote Clayson & Leigh. "Which typist rings Canberra every afternoon? Why has so-and-so given himself a raise of 60 pounds a week? Why is he seen only on payday? Suddenly, lunch meant beans-on-toast in the office kitchen instead of Beluga caviar from Fortnum & Mason
Fortnum & Mason
Fortnum & Mason, often shortened to just "Fortnum's" is a department store, situated in central London, with two other branches in Japan. Its headquarters is located at 181 Piccadilly, where it was established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason...
".
Beatles break-up and beyond
The first two years of the company's existence also coincided with a marked worsening of the band members' relationships with each other, ultimately leading to the break-up of the band in 1970. Apple quickly slid into financial chaos, which was resolved only after many years of litigation. When The Beatles' partnership was dissolved in 1975, dissolution of Apple Corps was also considered, but it was decided to keep it going, while effectively retiring all its divisions. The company is currently headquartered at 27 Ovington Square, in London's prestigious KnightsbridgeKnightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
district. Ownership and control of the company remains with McCartney, Starr and the estates of Lennon and Harrison.
Apple Corps has had a long history of trademark disputes
Apple Corps v. Apple Computer
Between 1978 and 2006 there were a number of legal disputes between Apple Corps and the computer manufacturer Apple Computer over competing trademark rights...
with Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
(now Apple Inc.). The dispute was finally resolved in 2007, with Apple Corps transferring ownership of the "Apple" name and all associated trademarks to Apple Inc., and Apple Inc. exclusively licensing these back to The Beatles' company. In April 2007, Apple also settled a long running dispute with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and announced the retirement of chief executive, Aspinall. Aspinall was replaced by Jeff Jones
Jeff Jones (music industry executive)
Jeff Jones is the chief executive of Apple Corps, the company founded by The Beatles. He replaced long-time incumbent Neil Aspinall in April 2007. Jones was formerly a vice president at Sony/BMG, where he specialised in repackaging classic albums...
.
Subsidiaries
Apple Corps operated in various fields, mostly related to the music business and other media, through a number of subsidiaries.Apple Electronics
Apple Electronics was the electronics division of Apple Corps, founded as Fiftyshapes Ltd., at 34 Boston Place, Westminster, London. It was headed by Beatles' associate Yanni Alexis Mardas, whom Lennon had nicknamed Magic AlexMagic Alex
Yanni Alexis Mardas , better known as Magic Alex, the name given him by The Beatles when he knew the group between 1965 and 1969, is a self-styled electronics wizard and one-time head of The Beatles' Apple Electronics.Mardas arrived in England in 1965, exhibiting his Kinetic Light Sculptures at...
. Intending to revolutionise the consumer electronics market, largely through products based on Mardas' unique and, as it turned out, commercially impractical, designs, the electronics division did not make any breakthroughs. After the dismissal of Mardas in 1969, during Klein's 'house-cleaning' of Apple Corps, Apple Electronics fell victim to the same forces that troubled the company as a whole, including the impending Beatles' break-up. It was later estimated that Mardas' ideas and projects had cost The Beatles at least £300,000 (approximately three million British pounds today).
Apple Films
Apple Films is the film-making division of Apple Corps. Its first production was The Beatles 1967 TV movie Magical Mystery TourMagical Mystery Tour (film)
Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long British television film starring The Beatles that originally aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967...
. The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' films Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine (film)
Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated musical fantasy film based on the music of The Beatles. It is also the title for the film's soundtrack album, released as part of The Beatles' music catalogue. The film was directed by animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists and King...
, and Let it Be
Let It Be (film)
Let It Be is a 1970 documentary film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969. The film features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public...
were also produced under Apple Films. Other notable releases included Born to Boogie
Born to Boogie
Born to Boogie is a 1972 concert film based around a concert at Wembley Empire Pool starring Marc Bolan and T. Rex. Directed by Ringo Starr, the movie was released on The Beatles' Apple Films label...
, (Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
's 1972 documentary about the band T.Rex), The Concert for Bangladesh
The Concert for Bangladesh
The Concert for Bangladesh was the name for two benefit concerts organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at noon and at 7 PM on August 1, 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City...
, and Son of Dracula
Son of Dracula (1974 film)
Son of Dracula is a British musical comedy film released in 1974 by Apple Films, starring Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr. It is also the title of a Harry Nilsson album released in conjunction with the film. It includes Nilsson songs that were showcased in the film as well as portions of dialogue,...
(a 1974 horror-musical which teamed Starr with singer Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
). George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
was the executive producer for the Apple Films' Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs
Little Malcolm
Little Malcolm is a 1974 British comedy drama film directed by Stuart Cooper. It was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear....
that included the Dark Horse Records band Splinter's song "Lonely Man". Apple Films was also responsible for producing Apple Corps' televised promotions.
Apple Publishing
Apple's music publishing arm predated even the record company. In September 1967, the first artistes to be signed by Apple Publishing were two songwriters from Liverpool. Paul Tennant and David Rhodes were offered a contract after meeting McCartney in Hyde Park. They were advised to form a band by Epstein after he and Lennon heard their demos, calling the group Focal Point. Epstein was to have managed the band but died before he could become involved. Terry Doran MD of Apple Publishing became their manager and they were signed by Deram Records. Apple published the group's self-penned songs from early 1968. Another early band on its publishing roster was the group GrapefruitGrapefruit (band)
Grapefruit was a London-based British band of the late 1960s. Their brand of music was a typical late 1960s blend of rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.-Biography:...
.
Apple Publishing Ltd. was also used as a publishing stop-gap by Harrison and Starr, as they sought to shift control of their own songs away from Northern Songs
Northern Songs
Northern Songs was a company founded in 1963, by music publisher Dick James, Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to publish songs written by Lennon and McCartney , as well as songs written by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who were all members of The Beatles...
, in which their status was little more than paid writers. (Harrison later started Harrisongs
Harrisongs
Harrisongs Ltd is a music publishing company, founded in 1964 by English musician and songwriter George Harrison, then a member of The Beatles. On September 11th, 1964, Harrison created Mornyork Ltd. By December 7th, 1964, this company had changed names to Harrisongs Ltd...
, and Starr created Startling Music
Startling Music
Startling Music is a music publishing company, founded by musician Ringo Starr, drummer of The Beatles.Starr had initially been signed to Northern Songs, the company set up by publisher Dick James and Beatles manager Brian Epstein on behalf of the band in 1963...
). Apple's greatest publishing successes were the Badfinger
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
hits "No Matter What", "Day After Day
Day After Day (song)
"Day After Day" is a song recorded by the rock/pop band Badfinger for inclusion on their 1971 album, Straight Up.The song was written and sung by Pete Ham and produced by George Harrison, who plays some of the slide guitar parts of the song along with Ham. The record also features Leon Russell on...
" and "Baby Blue
Baby Blue (Badfinger song)
"Baby Blue" is a song recorded by the rock/pop band Badfinger for inclusion on their 1971 album, "Straight Up." The song was written by Pete Ham, produced by Todd Rundgren, and released on Apple Records....
", all written by group member Pete Ham, and Badfinger's "Without You", a song penned by Ham and Badfinger band mate Tom Evans
Tom Evans (musician)
Thomas Evans Jr was a musician who was most notable for his work with the band Badfinger.- Badfinger :In 1969, The Iveys changed their name to Badfinger and Paul McCartney of The Beatles gave the group a boost by offering them his song "Come and Get It" which he produced for the band...
. "Without You" became a worldwide #1 chart hit for Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
in 1972 and Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
in 1993. In 2005, however, Apple lost the US publishing rights for the work of Ham and Evans.
Apple also undertook publishing duties, at various times, for other Apple artists, including Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
, Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
and the Radha Krsna Temple
Radha Krsna Temple
The Radha Krishna Temple was the headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in London from the late 1960s. The temple came to prominence when The Beatles and especially George Harrison started to publicly express their interest in Eastern philosophy and Krishna consciousness...
. Apple received a large number of demo tapes; some songs were published, some were issued on other labels and only Benny Gallagher & Lyle were retained as in-house writers before going on to co-found McGuinness Flint
McGuinness Flint
McGuinness Flint was a rock band formed in 1970 by Tom McGuinness, former bassist and guitarist with Manfred Mann, and Hughie Flint, former drummer with John Mayall; plus vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Coulson, and multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle...
. Many of these demos have been collected on three Cherry Red CDs, entitled 94 Baker Street, An Apple for the Day, and Treacle Toffee World.
Apple Books actually put out only one book in early 1970, which was the book that accompanied the initial pressing of the Let It Be album entitled, "The Beatles Get Back
Get Back
"Get Back" is a song by The Beatles, composed by Paul McCartney and frequently attributed to Lennon–McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969, and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be ,...
" containing photographs by Ethan Russell
Ethan Russell
Ethan Allen Russell is a photographer, author and video director, mostly of musicians. He is known as "the only rock photographer to have shot album covers for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who."...
and text by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writers Jonathan Cott and David Dalton. Although the book was credited to Apple Publishing, all of the work on the project was actually done by freelancers.
Apple Records and Zapple Records
From 1968 onwards, new releases by The Beatles were issued by Apple RecordsApple Records
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...
, although the copyright remained with EMI, and Parlophone/Capitol catalogue numbers continued to be used. Apple releases of recordings by artists other than The Beatles, however, used a new set of numbers, and the copyrights were held mostly by Apple Corps Ltd. More than a "vanity label", Apple Records developed an eclectic roster of their own, releasing records by artists as diverse as Indian sitar guru Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
, Welsh easy listening songstress Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin , credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti, is a Welsh folk singer best known for her 1968 UK number one single "Those Were The Days". She was one of the first musicians to sign to The Beatles' Apple label....
, the power-pop band Badfinger
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
, classical music composer John Tavener
John Tavener
Sir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
, soul singer Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
, folk singer James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, R&B singer Doris Troy
Doris Troy
Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
, New York underground rock band Elephant's Memory
Elephant's Memory
Elephant's Memory was a New York band, most notable for backing John Lennon and Yoko Ono during 1972 on a pair of albums, and a handful of TV and live appearances, including the John Lennon "One To One Concert", with two performances the 30th of August 1972 to benefit the Willowbrook School for...
, original bad girl of rock and roll Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...
, rock singer Jackie Lomax
Jackie Lomax
John Richard 'Jackie' Lomax is a British guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his association with George Harrison and Eric Clapton...
, the Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
, and even London's Radha Krsna Temple
Radha Krsna Temple
The Radha Krishna Temple was the headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in London from the late 1960s. The temple came to prominence when The Beatles and especially George Harrison started to publicly express their interest in Eastern philosophy and Krishna consciousness...
.
Since Apple's inception, McCartney and Lennon had been very interested in launching a budget-line label to issue what would essentially be known three decades later as "audio books". In October 1968, Apple hired Barry Miles, who co-owned the Indica bookshop with John Dunbar and Peter Asher, to manage the proposed spoken-word label. The initial idea of Zapple Records was that it would release avant-garde and spoken word records at a reduced price that would be comparable to that of a paperback novel. While the idea looked good on paper, the reality was that when the few records actually put out by Zapple finally made it into the shops, they were priced like any other full-priced music album. Zapple Records was started on 3 February 1969, but after Klein was brought in to run Apple Corps' affairs, it was closed down after just two releases: Lennon's and Yoko Ono's Life with the Lions
Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions
Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions is an album of noise music released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969, and the successor to 1968's highly controversial Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins...
, and Harrison's Electronic Sound
Electronic Sound
Electronic Sound is George Harrison's second album. Released in May 1969, it was the second and final record released on the Beatles' short-lived Zapple Records label, a subsidiary of Apple Records. The album features two lengthy pieces performed on the Moog synthesizer...
.
Apple Retail
The Apple Boutique was a retail store, located at 94 Baker StreetBaker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and was one of the first business ventures by the fledgling Apple Corps. Lennon's schoolfriend, Pete Shotton was hired as manager and the Dutch design collective The Fool
The Fool (design collective)
The Fool were a Dutch design collective and band who were influential in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music in the late 1960s. The colourful art draws on many fantastical and mystical themes...
were brought in to design the store and much of the merchandise. The store opened to much fanfare on 7 December 1967, with Lennon and Harrison attending (Starr was filming, and McCartney was on holiday). The boutique was, however, never profitable, largely due to shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
, by customers and its own staff. After Shotton resigned, John Lyndon took over but even his management skills could not save the enterprise. The store's remaining stock was liquidated by giving it away, but not before the individual Beatles took whatever they liked the night before its closure. The boutique closed its doors for the last time on 31 July 1968.
Apple Studio
Apple Studio was a recording studioRecording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
, located in the basement of the Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
.
Originally designed by Mardas, of Apple Electronics, the initial installation proved to be unworkable, with almost no standard studio features such as a patch bay, or a talkback
Talkback (recording)
In sound recording, talkback refers to the intercom system used in recording studios and production control rooms in television studios to enable personnel to communicate with people in the recording area or booth...
system between the studio and the control room
Control room
A control room is a room serving as an operations centre where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled. Examples include:*in television production, the master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations, television networks...
, let alone Alex's promised innovations, and had to be scrapped. The Beatles recorded and filmed portions of their album Let It Be
Let It Be (album)
Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group announced their break-up....
in the Apple Studio, with equipment borrowed from EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, and during takes they had to shut down the building's central heating, also located in the basement, because the lack of soundproofing
Soundproofing
Soundproofing is any means of reducing the sound pressure with respect to a specified sound source and receptor. There are several basic approaches to reducing sound: increasing the distance between source and receiver, using noise barriers to reflect or absorb the energy of the sound waves, using...
allowed the heating system to be heard in the studio. Redesigning and rebuilding the basement to accommodate proper recording facilities took eighteen months.
The studio reopened on 30 September 1971 and included its own natural echo chamber
Echo chamber
thumb|right|Echo chamber of the Dresden University of Technologythumb|right|Hamilton Mausoleum has a spectacularly long lasting unplanned echoAn echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce echoing sounds, usually for recording purposes...
, a wide range of recording and mastering facilities, and could turn out mono, stereo and quadrophonic master tapes and discs. In 1971, it would have cost £37 an hour to record to 16 track, £29 an hour to mix to stereo, and £12 to cut a 12” master. The studio became a second home for Apple Records
Apple Records
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...
artists, although they also used Abbey Road
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
and other studios, and other artists such as Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
, Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular records included Wishbone Ash , Argus , There's the Rub , and New England...
, Viv Stanshall, Stealer's Wheel, Lou Reizner
Lou Reizner
Lou Reizner was a record producer, A&R executive and head of Mercury Records European operations. As a producer, he is perhaps best known for Rod Stewart's first two solo albums, for the orchestral version of The Who's rock opera Tommy, and Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Centre of the Earth...
, Clodagh Rodgers
Clodagh Rodgers
Clodagh Rodgers is a singer and actress from Northern Ireland, best known for her hit single, "Jack in the Box".-Career:...
, and Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
, as shown in the movie Born To Boogie
Born to Boogie
Born to Boogie is a 1972 concert film based around a concert at Wembley Empire Pool starring Marc Bolan and T. Rex. Directed by Ringo Starr, the movie was released on The Beatles' Apple Films label...
, also worked there. The existence of acetates
Acetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
by numerous performers is evidence the studio was widely used. The studio was closed down for good on 16 May 1975.
Apple Corps versus Apple Computer
In 1978, Apple Records filed suit against Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) for trademark infringement. The suit was settled in 1981 with the payment of $80,000 to Apple Corps. As a condition of the settlement, Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business. A dispute subsequently arose in 1989 when Apple Corps sued, alleging that Apple Computer's machines' ability to play back MIDI music was a violation of the 1981 settlement agreement. In 1991 another settlement, of around $26.5 million, was reached. In September 2003, Apple Computer was again sued by Apple Corps, this time for introducing the iTunes Music StoreITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
and the iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, which Apple Corps asserted was a violation of Apple's agreement not to distribute music. The trial opened on 29 March 2006 in the UK, and in a judgment issued on 8 May 2006, Apple Corps lost the case.
On 5 February 2007, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps announced a settlement of their trademark dispute under which Apple Inc. took ownership of all of the trademarks related to "Apple" (including all designs of the famed "Granny Smith" Apple Corps Ltd. logos), and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. The settlement ends the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes. The settlement includes terms that are confidential.
The website for Harmonix's
Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems is an American video game development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States...
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
video game is notable as the first evidence of the Apple, Inc./Apple Corps Ltd. settlement: "Apple Corps" is prominently referred to throughout, and the "Granny Smith" Apple logo appears but the text beneath the logo now reads "Apple Corps" rather than the previous "Apple". The website's acknowledgements specifically state that "'Apple' and the 'Apple logo' are exclusively licensed to Apple Corps Ltd".
On 16 November 2010, Apple Inc. launched an extensive advertising campaign that announced the availability of The Beatles' entire catalogue on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
Apple versus EMI
The Beatles alleged in a 1979 lawsuit that EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Capitol had underpaid the band by more than £10.5 million. A settlement was reached in that case in 1989, which granted the band an increased royalty rate and required EMI and Capitol to follow more stringent auditing requirements. Apple, on behalf of the surviving Beatles and relatives of the band's late members, again sued
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
for unpaid royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
, in a case beginning in 2005. The case was settled in April 2007 with a "mutually acceptable" conclusion, which remained confidential.
Apple versus Nike/EMI
In July 1987 Apple Corps sued Nike Inc, Wieden+KennedyWieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy is an independently owned American advertising agency best known for its work for Nike...
(Nike's advertisement agency), EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
for the use of the song "Revolution
Revolution (song)
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles released two distinct arrangements of the song in 1968: a hard rock version as the B-side of the single "Hey Jude", and a slower version titled "Revolution 1" on the eponymous album The Beatles...
" in a 1987
Nike commercial. Apple claimed that it was not informed of the use of the song and was not paid for continued use and therefore sued the four companies for $15 million. EMI countered stating that the case was 'groundless' to their claim they had the "active support and encouragement of Yoko Ono Lennon", who owns 25% of Apple Corps through Lennon's estate, and was quoted as saying: "[The commercial] is making John’s music accessible to a new generation". Apple's lawyer responded by stating that Apple can not take action unless all four shares are in agreement, meaning that Ono must have supported the idea to take legal action at the moment when the decision was made. Harrison had the following to say about the unauthorised use of Beatles songs for advertisement as well as the importance of this particular case:
On 9 November 1989, the lawsuit was settled out-of-court. As with previous cases between Apple and EMI, a condition of the settlement was that terms of the agreement would be kept secret. It was suggested, however, by a spokesman of Ono that in the end of a very "confusing myriad of issues" there was a large exchange of money. Nike had also ceased to use the song for advertisement in March 1988.