CBS Evening News aired a five-minute news story about Beatlemania in the UK on 10 December 1963; this led to a teenage girl making an airplay request of a local radio station, which in turn sparked a sequence of events leading to the rush-release of the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the group's commercial breakthrough.
[4] In the United States, Capitol Records modified the Beatles' albums from their original configurations, altering track listings and artwork.
This was done because albums released in the US contained fewer tracks, typically no more than 11 or 12, due to differences in how publishing royalties were calculated in the two countries.
[3] In early November 1963, Brian Epstein persuaded Ed Sullivan to present the Beatles on three editions of his show in February, and parlayed this into a record deal with Capitol.
The CBS Evening News segment inspired a teenage girl named Marsha Albert in Silver Spring, Maryland to write to Carroll James, a disc jockey at Washington DC's WWDC radio station, requesting that he play records by the Beatles.
Capitol Records president Alan W. Livingston learned of the overwhelming listener response a few days later and decided to rush the single's release three weeks ahead of schedule on 26 December 1963.
[10] It was around this time that Brian Epstein was besieged by merchandising offers and chose to effectively give it away, underestimating this relatively new market within the pop industry.
This quickly led to contractual disputes and lawsuits which eventually cost Epstein’s Liverpool record store, NEMS, an estimated $100 million in licensing fees.
Three singles released by Capitol Records of Canada were imported into the United States and sold enough to make the American charts.
The Beatles and The Golden Hits Of The Four Seasons, another successful act that Vee-Jay had under contract, in the guise of a contest, with the back cover featuring a score card.
("I Saw Her Standing There" was issued as the American B-side of "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and also appeared on the Capitol Records album Meet the Beatles.