Sony Music Entertainment has signed an agreement to be the exclusive North American purveyor of Beatles T-shirts and other memorabilia, the latest sign of the increasing importance of such sales for musicians and record companies.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal, whose terms weren’t disclosed, comes as the Sony Corp. unit is working to expand in the music merchandising market through its Thread Shop division. Merchandise represents an expanding share of artists’ business and music companies have been moving into what used to be regarded as a relatively minor part of the industry.
Sony plans to open a pop-up store next week in New York City that will showcase new apparel designs, toys and other Beatles-branded products, including turntables and a pinball machine.
The Beatles’ North American merchandise license had been held since 2013 by Bravado, a subsidiary of Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group. Bravado, the dominant player in the market, has around $300 million in annual revenue.
Sony and Universal are both deeply involved in other parts of the Beatles’ business. Universal owns the group’s recorded-music catalog and serves as its record company world-wide. Sony controls the publishing rights to hundreds of the band’s original songs through Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Under the new agreement, Thread Shop will work with Apple Corps Ltd., the band’s London-based corporate entity, to expand the Beatles brand in the U.S. by developing apparel and other products and partnerships. Stores slated to carry the new merchandise include Target, Forever 21, FYE and Hot Topic. Thread Shop will also operate the group’s North American retail website.
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