On This Day, June 4th, in 1942: Glenn Wallichs started Capitol Records. Wallichs “invented” the art of record promotion by being the first record company owner to send free copies of label’s new releases to radio stations in hopes of gaining airplay. Capitol Records was, of course, home to The Beatles for decades, as well as artist like The Beach Boys, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Glen Campbell, Steve Miller, Dr. Hook, Bob Seger, Tina Turner and Heart.
Johnny Mercer started it. Wallichs was the business guy. They were better at business end than the artistic end. They altered the original Beatles stuff and screwed up some other stuff.