Apple Corps

• 1. Introduction

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  Paul McCartney called Apple Corps 'a controlled weirdness... a kind of Western communism' at its New York debut on the 14th of May 1968. John Lennon added that the company would help artists avoid going 'on their knees in somebody's office.' These words described something that had started not with art but with a tax problem.

  The Beatles had roughly £2 million that their accountants warned would go to the Inland Revenue. Corporate tax rates were lower than personal ones. So four musicians decided, in Lennon's own words, to 'play businessmen for a bit.' The company they built would eventually span records, electronics, film, publishing, and retail. Its name was a deliberate pun. And within four decades of its founding, that name had become the subject of one of the most protracted trademark disputes in the history of the music business.

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• 2. A Name and a Problem

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  Walter Strach was put in charge of finding tax shelters for the Beatles as early as 1963-64. The first vehicle was a partnership called Beatles Ltd. By early 1967, a new structure called Beatles and Co. replaced it. Each Beatle held 5% of the partnership. A corporation owned collectively by all four controlled the remaining 80%, and all group income flowed through it.

  Paul McCartney gave the venture its name during a visit to Beatles publicist Derek Taylor's London flat. Taylor recalled McCartney's words: '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 wanted to call it 'Apple Core' but the name could not be registered. 'Corps' had the same pronunciation and was available. McCartney later connected the name to René Magritte's painting Le Jeu de Mourre, which he had first encountered in 1967. Harriet Vyner's 1999 book 'Groovy Bob,' about London art dealer Robert Fraser, preserved McCartney's own account of seeing the painting for the first time.

  Manager Brian Epstein had imagined something different. His personal assistant Alistair Taylor recalled a proposal to open a chain of shops selling only greeting cards. The Beatles rejected it as the most boring idea yet. Before any alternative could be developed, Epstein died on the 27th of August 1967. What appeared to be an accidental sleeping pills overdose was the cause. His death pressed the group to take control of their own financial affairs immediately.

  Australian promoter Robert Stigwood had been trying to acquire Epstein's company, NEMS. McCartney had put the stakes plainly to Epstein. If Stigwood took NEMS, the Beatles would record 'God Save the Queen' out of tune on every future single. Seeing that the Beatles would not come with the NEMS deal, Stigwood withdrew and founded RSO Records. The Apple logo was designed by Gene Mahon. Illustrator Alan Aldridge transcribed the copyright notice for record releases. In January 1968, Beatles Ltd officially became Apple Corps Ltd and registered the Apple trademark in forty-seven countries. The same month, the company registered nine separate subsidiary names, from Apple Electronics to Apple Tailoring Civil and Theatrical.

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• 3. Every Freak in the World

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  Alistair Taylor appeared in a full-page advertisement that Paul McCartney had designed for the New Musical Express and Rolling Stone. McCartney had posed as a one-man band, with the caption: 'This man has talent...' The message was that Apple would fund any genuine artist. What arrived in response was described by George Harrison in plain terms: 'We had every freak in the world coming in there.' Many applicants received the money they sought and were never heard from again.

  The Apple staff were no more disciplined than the supplicants. Employees charged drugs, restaurant lunches, and international telephone calls as business expenses. Writers Alan Clayson and Spencer Leigh described the atmosphere inside Apple in detail. One typist spent an entire morning producing a single letter, then left and did not return the following day. Ringo Starr estimated that roughly a thousand unnecessary people had been drawing salaries. He recalled one employee whose full-time job was reading tarot cards and the I Ching.

  Neil Aspinall agreed to run the company temporarily, simply to ensure someone was in charge. Apple had been declared the most successful new record company of 1968. By 1969, Allen Klein had taken over as the Beatles' manager and inherited the chairmanship of Apple. He changed the atmosphere abruptly. Expensive restaurant meals were replaced by beans on toast in the office kitchen. Unexplained pay raises were traced and questioned.

  The band broke up in April 1970, after two years in which the Beatles' relationships had deteriorated markedly. Apple slid into financial disarray. When the Beatles' legal partnership was dissolved in 1975, the closure of Apple Corps was considered. The company survived instead, with most of its active divisions effectively mothballed. Neil Aspinall remained at the helm until April 2007, when Jeff Jones took over as chief executive.

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• 4. Apple on Screen

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  Magical Mystery Tour premiered on BBC1 on the 26th of December 1967, becoming Apple Films' first production. The Beatles wrote, produced, and directed it themselves, filming in September and October of that year. Yellow Submarine followed in 1968, an animated feature produced by Al Brodax and directed by George Dunning, with animation designed by Heinz Edelmann.

  Let It Be captured the Beatles' recording sessions from January and February 1969. Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed it; Neil Aspinall produced it. It premiered in New York on the 13th of May 1970. George Harrison had an especially active role in Apple Films. He co-produced The Concert for Bangladesh in 1972 alongside Allen Klein. The film featured George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, and Leon Russell. Footage was shot in July and August of 1971. The world premiere was in New York on the 23rd of March 1972. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it ran 103 minutes.

  Harrison also produced Little Malcolm in 1974, starring John Hurt, John McEnery, and David Warner. Ringo Starr directed Born to Boogie in 1972, a documentary built around Marc Bolan and T. Rex, with Elton John also appearing. Raga, a 1971 documentary on Ravi Shankar, featured Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison and ran 96 minutes. One Apple Films production never reached a commercial audience: Did Britain Murder Hanratty?, a 40-minute documentary commissioned by John Lennon. Its only public screening took place in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London on the 17th of February 1970.

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• 5. The Song That Outlasted Everyone

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  In September 1967, two songwriters from Liverpool became the first artists signed by Apple Publishing. Paul Tennant and David Rhodes met McCartney in Hyde Park and were offered a contract. Epstein heard their demos alongside Lennon and advised them to form a group, which they called Focal Point. Apple published their songs from early 1968. Among the other early acts on the publishing roster was a group called Grapefruit.

  Badfinger provided Apple Publishing with its greatest commercial successes. Their hits 'No Matter What,' 'Day After Day,' and 'Baby Blue' were all written by group member Pete Ham. Ham also co-wrote 'Without You' with bandmate Tom Evans. That song became a worldwide number-one hit for Harry Nilsson in 1972 and again for Mariah Carey in 1993.

  Apple Publishing also served George Harrison and Ringo Starr as a temporary home for their songs. Both were seeking to move publishing control away from Northern Songs. Harrison later established Harrisongs; Starr created Startling Music. The company published work by Yoko Ono, Billy Preston, and the Radha Krishna Temple at various points. Of the many demo tapes received, only Benny Gallagher and Lyle were retained as in-house writers. They went on to co-found McGuinness Flint. In 2005, Apple lost the US publishing rights to the work of Ham and Evans. Those rights were transferred to Bug Music, now a branch of BMG Rights Management.

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• 6. Baker Street and Savile Row

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  Pete Shotton, John Lennon's schoolfriend, was hired to manage the Apple Boutique at 94 Baker Street. The Dutch design collective known as The Fool designed the store and much of its merchandise. The boutique opened on the 7th of December 1967. Lennon and Harrison attended; Starr was filming and McCartney was on holiday. Shoplifting by customers and by the staff itself made the store unprofitable from the start. After Shotton resigned, a successor named John Lyndon took over but could not salvage the enterprise.

  The boutique closed on the 31st of July 1968. The night before, each Beatle took whatever they wanted from the remaining stock. Everything else was given away to the public. The 94 Baker Street building had been purchased by the Beatles' accountants as an investment property. Apple's publishing division had set up offices there in September 1967, making it the company's first London base.

  The studio that would define the company's legacy was in the basement of 3 Savile Row, purchased in 1968. Yanni Alexis Mardas of Apple Electronics, whom Lennon called Magic Alex, designed the original installation. It proved unworkable: the layout lacked a patch bay and a talkback system between the studio and the control room. The Beatles recorded portions of Let It Be there using equipment borrowed from EMI. They had to shut down the central heating during takes, as the lack of soundproofing allowed it to be heard in the recordings.

  Former EMI engineer Geoff Emerick oversaw a complete redesign of the basement. The work took eighteen months and cost an estimated $1.5 million. The studio reopened on the 30th of September 1971, with a natural echo chamber and the capacity to produce mono, stereo, and quadrophonic masters. Recording to 16-track cost £37 an hour; mixing to stereo cost £29. George Harrison attended the launch party alongside Pete Ham and Klaus Voormann. Apple Studio ceased operations on the 16th of May 1975. The building came back into Apple Corps' hands in May 2026, when the company announced its acquisition. A museum planned to open in 2027 will include a replica of the basement recording studio and access to the famous concert rooftop.

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• 7. The Name Wars

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  Apple Records filed suit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement in 1978. A settlement in 1981 required Apple Computer to pay $80,000 to Apple Corps and to stay out of the music business. In 1989, Apple Corps sued again, arguing that Apple Computer's ability to play back MIDI music violated the 1981 agreement. A second settlement in 1991 reached approximately $26.5 million.

  In September 2003, Apple Corps sued a third time. The target was the iTunes Music Store and the iPod, which Apple Corps claimed violated the agreement to keep Apple Computer out of music distribution. The trial opened in the UK on the 29th of March 2006. On the 8th of May 2006, a judgment was issued against Apple Corps. On the 5th of February 2007, the two companies announced a final settlement. Apple Inc. took ownership of all Apple trademarks, including the Granny Smith apple logos that had belonged to Apple Corps. Apple Inc. then licensed those trademarks back to the Beatles' company. On the 16th of November 2010, the Beatles' entire catalogue launched on the iTunes Store.

  Separate battles involved EMI and Capitol Records. A 1979 lawsuit alleged underpayment of more than £10.5 million. The 1989 settlement brought a higher royalty rate and stricter auditing requirements. A further case begun in 2005 settled in April 2007. In July 1987, Apple Corps also sued Nike, the advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, EMI, and Capitol Records. The claim was that Nike had used the Beatles' song 'Revolution' in a television commercial without informing Apple or compensating it. Apple sought $15 million in damages. George Harrison described the stakes directly: 'If it's allowed to happen, every Beatles song ever recorded is going to be advertising women's underwear and sausages. We've got to put a stop to it in order to set a precedent.' Nike stopped using the song in March 1988. The suit settled on the 9th of November 1989. In 2024, Jeff Jones stepped down as chief executive. In July 2025, Apple announced that incoming chief executive Tom Greene would begin the role in September of that year.

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