The Beach Boys have sold off the rights to their intellectual property. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers announced Thursday that Irving Azoff's Iconic Artists Group had purchased their music catalog and other assets, which included sound recordings and select musical compositions as well as the brand and all memorabilia, Variety revealed.
The band will still own an interest in their assets to "participate in the upside Iconic expects to create by actively marketing and promoting the Beach Boys," according to a statement.
No further details of the deal have been disclosed.
"The rights are split — it’s not the end of the world," Iconic’s Olivier Chastan said.
A combined statement from Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and the Carl Wilson estate said: "The Beach Boys and our songs have been one of the great joys of our lives."
The group added that it wanted a partner "to help expand opportunities for our brand, while continuing to preserve our tradition as a band whose music transcends the test of time."
Looking to the future, Chastan said Iconic was hoping to explore technological avenues that included virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D, computer-generated imaging, and natural language processing.
"That, to me, is probably the most interesting aspect of what's going to transform our business," he told Rolling Stone. "In five years, I could send you a text and say, 'At 2 p.m., let's put our Oculus Rift glasses on, and let's go see the Beach Boys record 'Good Vibrations' at Western Recorders.'"
The Beach Boys join the likes of Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, and Neil Young, who have all sold the rights to their back catalogs.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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