Editing George Martin (section)

====Salary and royalty disputes====
By the time he signed a three-year contract renewal in 1959, Martin sought—but failed—to obtain a royalty on Parlophone's record sales, a practice becoming common in the U.S.: "I reckoned that if I was going to devote my life to building up something which wasn't mine, I deserved some form of commission", he reflected.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=51–52}} The issue continued to linger in his mind, and Martin claimed he "nearly didn't sign" his spring 1962 contract renewal over this issue—even threatening EMI managing director L. G. ("Len") Wood that he would walk away from his job.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013|p=629}} At the same time as the contract dispute, Martin took a work trip in late March 1962 to [[Blackpool]] with his secretary, Judy Lockhart Smith.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013|p=629}} This trip led Wood to discover that Martin had been having an affair with Smith, which further irritated Wood. With their relationship strained, Wood exacted a measure of revenge by having Martin sign [[the Beatles]] to a record contract to appease interest from EMI's publishing arm, Ardmore & Beechwood.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013|p=629–630}}

Martin was also infuriated by EMI's refusal to give him a [[Christmas bonus]] at the end of 1963—a year in which he had produced seven no. 1 singles and dominated the albums chart—because his £3,000 salary disqualified him from receiving one. "I, naturally, had a chip on my shoulder", he admitted later.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=156}} He also advocated that the Beatles' penny-per-record royalty rate be doubled; Len Wood agreed to this, but only if the Beatles signed a five-year contract renewal in exchange. When Martin countered that EMI should raise the royalty without conditions. Wood grudgingly acquiesced, but Martin believed that, "from that moment on, I was considered a traitor within EMI".{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=157}}