Editing Decca Records (section)

===1960s===
In the 1960s Decca consolidated its position as the only British record company to rival EMI. By the end of the decade Decca had 22.8 per cent of the British LP market, second only to EMI, which had 26.5 per cent.<ref>Barfe, p. 287</ref> Technically it surpassed its competitor – in 1965 ''[[The Times]]'' commented that Decca's engineers were incomparable<ref>"The Götterdämmerung Everyone has been Waiting for", ''The Times'', 8 May 1965, p. 5</ref> – and it had expanded its overseas operations to include not only the completion of the ''Ring'' cycle but extensive repertoire from [[Karl Münchinger]] and the [[Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra]] in baroque music, Solti and [[Tullio Serafin]] in Italian operas with the [[Santa Cecilia Academy]] Chorus and Orchestra, Sutherland in the {{lang|it|[[bel canto]]}} repertoire, and the Vienna Philharmonic in operatic and purely orchestral works with [[Herbert von Karajan]] and in a [[Beethoven]] cycle conducted by [[Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt]].<ref>Stuart, pp. 115–1162</ref> [[Luciano Pavarotti]] made his first recordings in 1964.<ref>Stuart, p. 327</ref> Legge's Philharmonia became the self-governing New Philharmonia in the same year,<ref>Pettit, p. 127</ref> and made more than 70 Decca recordings, with conductors including [[Benjamin Britten]], Stokowski, [[Carlo Maria Giulini]] and [[Claudio Abbado]].<ref>Stuart, pp. 333, 344–345 and 399</ref> Britten, both as pianist and conductor, maintained a long association with Decca, recording most of his major works as well as those of other composers.<ref>Matthews, pp. 181–188</ref> Culshaw left the company in 1967 to become head of music for BBC television, but Decca had a team of experienced producers to replace him, including [[Erik Smith]], [[Christopher Raeburn (producer)|Christopher Raeburn]] and [[James Mallinson]].<ref>Culshaw (1981), p. 352</ref><ref>Stuart, pp. 398–400</ref>

In 1962, MCA completed its acquisition of Decca Records Inc. with American Decca stock exchanged for MCA stock to American Decca stockholders.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBcEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22decca+records+inc%22+%2B++MCA+%2B++billboard&pg=PA6 | title=Billboard | date=30 June 1962 }}</ref>

In popular music British Decca missed some opportunities in the 1960s, including blocking the release of [[Ray Peterson]]'s "[[Tell Laura I Love Her]]" in 1960,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/01/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1 |title=Obituary: Ray Peterson|first=Dave|last=Laing|date=1 February 2005|website=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=19 February 2020|archive-date=14 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414125628/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/01/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1|url-status=live}}</ref> and rejecting [[the Beatles]] in 1962. According to legend the Decca executive [[Dick Rowe]] told the group's manager, "Guitar groups are on the way out",<ref>Kallen, p. 14</ref> but in fact the Beatles auditioned for Rowe's assistant, Mike Smith,<ref>Barfe, pp. 220–221</ref> who – as his opposite numbers at [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] and Columbia had already done – turned the group down.<ref>Kallen, pp. 13–14</ref> The Beatles were later taken up by [[George Martin]] of the small [[Parlophone]] branch of EMI.<ref>Barfe, p. 222</ref> Decca did not repeat the mistake with [[the Rolling Stones]], whom the company signed up in 1963.<ref>Barfe, p. 232</ref> In 1966 Decca set up a "progressive" subsidiary, [[Deram Records]], which became home to bands like the [[Moody Blues]], whose ''[[Days of Future Passed]]'' became one of the best-selling albums of its time.<ref name=b285>Barfe, p. 285</ref> Others recording for Deram in the 1960s were [[Amen Corner (band)|Amen Corner]],<ref>Larkin (2002), p. 14</ref> [[Chicken Shack]]<ref>Larkin (2002), p. 121</ref> and [[Ten Years After]].<ref>Larkin (2002), pp. 468–469</ref> Decca lost an important source of American recordings when [[Atlantic Records]] switched British distribution to [[Polydor Records]] in 1966 so that Atlantic could gain access to a greater number of British artists.<ref>{{cite book|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA34|access-date=27 July 2013|date=26 March 1966|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=34|issn=0006-2510}}</ref>

In 1966, The American entity Decca Records Inc was dissolved and from that point on, Decca Records was a division of MCA Inc.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLZz02EzmBYC&dq=%22decca%22+%2B+%22a+division+of+MCA%22&pg=PA141 | isbn=978-0-19-992083-9 | title=The Encyclopedia of Country Music | date=February 2012 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>

In 1968, American Decca parent MCA founded [[MCA Records]] in the UK which took over the handling of American Decca material as well as MCA's sister labels [[Kapp Records]] and [[Uni Records]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAcEAAAAMBAJ&dq=1968+%2B+billboard+%2B+%22MCA+Records%22&pg=RA1-PA45 | title=Billboard | date=3 February 1968 }}</ref>