Editing Badfinger (section)

===Move to Warner Bros. Records===
[[File:Badfinger Love Is Easy trade ad 1973.jpg|thumb|Warner Bros. Records' trade advertisement for the "Love Is Easy" single]]
After the Apple contract had been fulfilled, Polley signed the band to a management contract demanding two albums a year.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=115}} Poses, as vice-president of Badfinger Enterprises Inc.,{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=185}} repeatedly told the band not to sign the contract.{{sfn|Katz|1997}} Polley organised a $3 million recording contract with Warner Bros., telling the band, "You're all millionaires!"<ref name="Backtowhere">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/back-to-where-they-once-belonged-625998.html|title=Back to where they once belonged|first=Robert|last=Webb|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=17 November 2000|access-date=21 April 2011}}</ref> The deal gave the band 12% of retail in the US—the price Warner Brothers received from record outlets—and 8.5% for the rest of the world, with a $225,000 advance for every album delivered.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=188}}

Only six weeks after the ''Ass'' sessions had been completed, Badfinger re-entered the studio to begin recording material for its first Warner Bros. release, ''[[Badfinger (album)|Badfinger]]'' (the intended title, ''For Love or Money,'' was omitted from the album pressings). The album was produced by Thomas, even though the songs were being written in the studio as they recorded.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=243}} ''Ass'' and ''Badfinger'' were released almost simultaneously, and the accompanying singles from ''Badfinger'', "[[Love Is Easy (Badfinger song)|Love Is Easy]]" (UK) and "[[I Miss You (Badfinger song)|I Miss You]]" (US), were unsuccessful. Badfinger did manage to retain some US fan support as a result of their touring schedule. A March 1974 concert at the [[Agora Theatre and Ballroom|Cleveland Agora]] was recorded on 16-track tape for a possible live album release, even though the performance was deemed unsatisfactory at the time.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=236}}

Following the American tours, Badfinger recorded ''[[Wish You Were Here (Badfinger album)|Wish You Were Here]]'' at the [[Caribou Ranch]] recording studio in Colorado, and at [[George Martin]]'s [[AIR Oxford Circus|AIR Studios]] in London.<ref name="RichieUnterbergerLinerNotes ">{{cite web|first=Ritchie|last=Unterberger|url=http://www.richieunterberger.com/badfinger2.html|title=Liner Notes|publisher=Richie Unterberger|access-date=7 August 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080720141105/http://www.richieunterberger.com/badfinger2.html| archive-date= 20 July 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> The album was well received by ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' and other periodicals upon its release in October 1974.<ref name="BadfingerAlbumsBillboard"/> However, over the previous year, Warner Brothers' publishing arm had become increasingly troubled by a lack of communication from Polley regarding the status of an [[escrow]] account of advance funds. Per their contract, Polley was to deposit $250,000 into a mutually accessible account for safekeeping, which both Warner Publishing and the band could potentially access.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=304}} But Polley did not reveal the account's whereabouts to Warner Publishing, and he reportedly ignored Warner's demands to do so.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|pp=234–235}} As a result, in a letter dated 30 April 1974, WB's publishing arm terminated its relationship with Badfinger, but, other than having the group sign some new contracts, Polley took no action to resolve Warner's publishing issue.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=248}} Consistent with the termination notice, on 14 August 1974, Warner's publishing arm refused to accept the tapes of ''Wish You Were Here'', but the album was later released anyway.{{sfn|Matovina|2000|p=256}}