On this day in 1963, The Beatles form their publishing company, Northern Songs Ltd.

The idea for the company came about after George Martin expressed his disappointment with EMI’s efforts to promote Love Me Do to Brian Epstein. Martin told Epstein about three publishers he knew of, which led him to Dick James, a  former singer who had gotten into publishing after his retirement from performing in 1958. Epstein showed up at James’ office with a copy of Please Please Me and asked him to prove his publishing ability. James called Philip Jones, the producer of television show Thank Your Lucky Stars and played the song for him over the phone, calling it a “guaranteed future hit”. Jones liked the song and booked a spot on the show for the band, impressing Epstein immediately.

James suggested to Epstein that they and the band should form their own publishing company, to be called Northern Songs, believing it would be more profitable in the long run. McCartney and Lennon agreed and were given 20 per cent of shares each, while Epstein had 10 and James and his partner Charles Silver kept 50. George Martin was also offered shares but turned them down, citing a conflict of interest with his deal with EMI. George Harrison and Ringo Starr would each start their own companies further on in the late 1960’s. In 1965, Northern Songs became a public company to alleviate tax burdens, and was immediately successful on the market, despite financial analysts predictions that it would fail. 

Over the next several decades, ownership of Northern Songs would change several times and cause a lot of friction between shareholders. In 1967, James and Silver sold their shares to Associated Television or ATV without notice, causing Lennon and McCartney to enter a bidding war with the company to gain control of their catalog, which they ultimately lost. In the late 1970’s ATV started to experience financial difficulties, and McCartney again tried to buy out the company, losing to Australian businessman Robert Holmes à Court. When Paul McCartney and  Michael Jackson collaborated in the early 1980’s McCartney would tell Jackson about the struggles with the publishing company, peaking Jackson’s interest. In 1985 Jackson would become the final owner of the company until his catalog was merged with Sony, resulting in the final dissolution of Northern Songs.

Though several Beatles had attempted to buy back the company and get their music back over the years, it took until 2017 for Paul McCartney to regain control of the catalog, after reaching a settlement with Sony.