What record label did George Harrison found in 1974?

George Harrison founded Dark Horse Records in 1974. The independent label gave him a new home for projects outside the Beatles’ former Apple Records structure.

Harrison developed the label while working on music by Ravi Shankar and the South Shields duo Splinter. He partnered with A&M Records for worldwide distribution, and Dark Horse’s first releases included Shankar’s “I Am Missing You” and Splinter’s “Costafine Town.”

The name came from Harrison’s 1973 song “Dark Horse,” not from a Beatles-era label. Its distinctive logo depicts Uchchaisravas, a seven-headed horse from Indian mythology, inspired by a label Harrison noticed during a trip to India.

A common mix-up is Apple Records: Harrison released solo work through Apple before joining his own label, but Apple was the Beatles’ company, founded collectively in 1968. Harrison’s Dark Horse solo releases began with Thirty Three & 1/3 in 1976, after his Apple contract ended.