Founded in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. by the Beatles. Earlier Beatles albums had been released on Parlophone in the UK and Capitol Records or United Artists Records in the USA. In a new recording deal, EMI and Capitol agreed to distribute Apple Records until 1975; Apple owned the rights to records by artists they signed, while EMI retained ownership of the Beatles' records, though issuing them under the Apple label.

The label survived the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, and was resurrected in the late 1980s, for use on all Beatles CDs. Apple Records own the rights to all of the Beatles videos and movie clips.

During the 1974 proceedings dissolving the Beatles as an entity, a court ruling decreed that 80% of all profits from Beatles albums (as a group) would accrue to Apple Records, and 5% would go to each of the four members. The label consistently made a profit through 1984, mostly through continued issues of old Beatles records, then lost money for several years.