Editing George Martin (section)

===Separation from EMI and start of Associated Independent Recording===
After his repeated clashes over salary terms with EMI management, Martin informed them in June 1964 that he would not renew his contract in 1965.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=212}} Though EMI managing director Len Wood attempted to persuade Martin to stay with the company, Martin continued to insist that he would not work for EMI without receiving a commission on record sales.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=275–276}} Wood offered him a 3% commission minus "overhead costs", which would have translated to an £11,000 bonus for 1964—though, in doing so, Wood revealed to Martin that EMI had made £2.2 million in net profit from Martin's records that year.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=278}} "With that simple sentence, he cut straight through whatever vestige of an umbilical cord still bound me to EMI. ... I was flabbergasted", Martin observed.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=278}} As Martin exited the company in August 1965, he recruited a number of other EMI staffers, including [[Norman Newell]], [[Ron Richards (producer)|Ron Richards]], [[John Burgess (record producer)|John Burgess]], his wife, Judy, and [[Decca Records|Decca]]'s [[Peter Sullivan (record producer)|Peter Sullivan]].{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=279}} Artists associated with Martin's new production team included [[Adam Faith]], [[Manfred Mann]], [[Peter and Gordon]], [[The Hollies]], [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]], and [[Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)|Engelbert Humperdinck]].{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=279}}

Martin conceived of his new company as being modelled on the [[Associated London Scripts]] cooperative of comedy writers in the 1950s and 1960s, offering equal shares in the company to his A&R colleagues and expecting them to pay studio costs proportionate to their earnings. He named it [[Associated Independent Recording]] (AIR).{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=279}} Short of startup capital and with many of AIR's associated acts still under contract to EMI, Martin negotiated a business arrangement with EMI that would give EMI the [[right of first refusal]] on any AIR production. In exchange, EMI would pay a 7% producer's royalty on any AIR record by an artist not signed to EMI, and a 2% royalty on records by artists who were signed.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=280}} A special arrangement was made for Beatles records, wherein AIR was to receive 0.5% of UK retail sales and 5% of the pressing fees EMI generated from licensing records in the US.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=280}}

Martin's departure from EMI and foundation of an independent production company was major news in the music press, with the ''[[NME]]'' calling it a "shock to the recording industry".{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=282}} Wood attempted to lure Martin back to EMI in 1969 with an offered salary of £25,000, but Martin rejected it.{{sfn|Womack|2018|p=371}} Martin and Wood's working relationship ruptured for good in 1973, with Martin vowing to negotiate with EMI only through legal representatives from then on.{{sfn|Womack|2018|p=415}}