Beach Boys Sell Music, Branding Rights To Azoff Company

MALIBU, CA — “God Only Knows” how much the Beach Boys just made by selling the rights to all of their intellectual property to music executive Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group. Chances are it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million, which is the reported sum that another 60s legend, Bob Dylan, amassed by selling all of his copyrights to Universal Music Group in December.

In exchange for this handsome sum, Azoff now owns the group’s master recordings, the rights to their name and likenesses, a share of their publishing rights, and all of their memorabilia, according to a news release. This is far more than Bob Dylan or Neil Young, who only sold their music rights to outside interests.

The band, now comprised of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston, will still own in an interest in their assets, but Iconic will control most of the business decisions moving forward.

“They can make the final decision on business decisions, which is what we really need - what we have needed, I should say,” guitarist Al Jardine told Rolling Stone.

The current band members all have plenty of money - Brian Wilson is worth a reported $100 million - but they told Rolling Stone they’ve “gone through a few fortunes...with different organizations,” according to Jardine. In 1969, Murray Wilson, the father of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson and the band’s former manager, sold the band’s publishing company for just $700,000. Mike Love wrote in 2016 that he thought those songs might be worth more than $100 million today.

In 1989, Brian sued A&M to reclaim the copyrights, and the case was settled out of court. In 1994, Love sued Brian for co-writing credits, and won. The acrimony resulted in Love and Brian touring separately. Other unsuccessful business ventures included a Beach Boys Cafe in Manhattan Beach and a clothing line.

Iconic, which has represented other decades-old bands like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Van Halen, and Steely Dan, thinks it can help what it sees as an undervalued band capitalize on its iconic brand. “In a lot of ways, they were what Jimmy Buffett did with Margaritaville before Margaritaville. It just never got done,” Iconic CEO Olivier Chastan told Rolling Stone. “The Beach Boys, in a sense, are not just a band. They’re a lifestyle. They’re a consumer brand. And they’ve never really exploited that.”

Chastan told the band that the company hoped to reintroduce the group to new listeners through social media, radio, and YouTube, and leverage the band’s music and brand through film placement, biopics, touring exhibits, and more. While other artists have warned against moves like this - artist Dianne Warren told the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast that selling her music would be like “selling my soul, and that’s not for sale” - band members say they think the move will help cement their legacy.

The group said that as their 60th anniversary approaches, "we 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. We are confident that Irving and Iconic are the ideal partners and are confident that the Beach Boys' ongoing legacy is in the best possible hands. We are very proud of what we have achieved as the Beach Boys and how our songs continue to resonate with our fans."

"The Beach Boys are an American treasure," said Azoff, who said he first saw the band in his native Illinois as a teenager in 1965 and called the experience “mind-blowing.”

"I am honored that the Beach Boys have entrusted Iconic to preserve and grow their legacy. And I'm thrilled that the Beach Boys want to stay invested in the growth of the incredible cultural brand they created."

Founded in Hawthorne in 1961, the Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenage Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and school friend Al Jardine. The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and released their first album, "Surfin' Safari," that same year.

Among the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, with over 100 million records sold worldwide, the group has had over 80 songs chart worldwide, 36 of them in the Top 40, and four topping the Billboard Hot 100.

Their influence on other artists spans musical genres and movements. Countless artists have cited "Pet Sounds" as their inspiration for creating their own work. Rolling Stone ranked "Pet Sounds" No. 2 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time," and the Beach Boys No. 12 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."

The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and are recipients of the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

— Patch staffer Michael Wittner and City News Service contributed to this report.