Apple Publishing[edit]

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. [30] They were advised
to form a band by Epstein after he and Lennon heard their demos, calling the group Focal Point.
[31]

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. [32] Apple
published the group's self-penned songs from early 1968.[33] Another early band on its publishing
roster was the group Grapefruit.[34]
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 No. 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. Those rights were transferred to Bug Music, now a branch
of BMG Rights Management.[35]
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-foundMcGuinness Flint. Many of these
demos have been collected on a series of CDs released by Cherry Red. They are entitled 94 Baker
Street,[36] An Apple for the Day,[37] Treacle Toffee World,[38] Lovers from the Sky: Pop Psych from the
Apple Era 1968-1971 and 94 Baker Street Revisited: Poptastic Sounds from the Apple Era 19671968.
Apple Books was largely inactive and had very few releases. One notable release was the book that
accompanied the initial pressing of the Let It Be album entitled "The BeatlesGet 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.[39][40][41][42][43]