The Beatles’ Record Label in America Said the Band Was Bad and Wouldn’t Sell

The Beatles’ record label could boast about their ability to sell albums from the biggest band in the world. Beginning in 1963, the band became an undeniable success in the United Kingdom, with records flying off the shelves and an increasingly rabid fan base. Capitol Records, which would eventually become the band’s American record label, initially wanted nothing to do with the group. They were certain they would sell well in the country.

The Beatles’ record label didn’t think the band would do well in America
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In 1963, “From Me to You” brought The Beatles their first Number One hit in the United Kingdom. It was their third single and marked the start of their rapid rise to success.

“It was very difficult in 1963 to think The Beatles were going to last forever and that I would be talking about them thirty years on. But it was very gratifying that they had made Number One,” Beatles producer George Martin said in The Beatles Anthology. “It took a whole year before they really conquered the world. It was 1964 before they had a Number One in America — the whole of 1963 was taken up with consolidating our work in England.”

Each time the band released a single, Martin sent it to Capitol Records in America. For a while, the label rejected their songs, believing that they wouldn’t be able to sell in the United States.

“They had four singles out during that time: ‘Please Please Me’, ‘From Me To You’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand,’” Martin said. “As we recorded them, I would send each one to my friends at Capitol Records in America and say, ‘This group is fantastic. You’ve got to issue them, you’ve got to sell them in the States.’ And each time, the head of Capitol would turn it down: ‘Sorry, we know our market better than you do, and we don’t think they’re any good.’ Eventually, of course, they had to accede to public demand.”

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Capitol was, of course, misguided in this assumption. The Beatles took the United States by storm after their 1964 performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Soon, they were the biggest band in the world.

“I’m glad things got as big as they did, because when we got nearly big, people started saying to us: ‘You’re the biggest thing since…’ I got fed up that we were the biggest thing ‘since,’” John Lennon said. “I wanted The Beatles to just be the biggest thing. It’s like gold. The more you get, the more you want.”

In 1968, The Beatles founded their own record label, Apple Records. They used the newly launched company to put out their recordings and the music of other artists.

“I think the only plan for Apple was for it to be good music and maybe music that ideally wasn’t getting an opportunity to be heard other places,” A&R head Peter Asher said, per The Beatles’ official website.

The company ended up causing quite a bit of trouble for the band despite their idealistic beginnings.