KCOOLMUZIQ said:

2:15 PM PDT 6/12/2013 by Billboard Staff

In announcing the deal, UMG boasts of providing "a unified marketing strategy for the music and associated products of the most influential and beloved band in the history of music."

Bravado, the global merchandising arm of Universal Music Group, has announced a deal with Apple Corps., the management boutique founded by the Beatles in 1967, covering rights to Beatles merchandise in North America, making UMG, for all intents and purposes, the home of the Beatles in North America.

As today's statement put it, the deal "[enables] Universal Music Group to provide a unified marketing strategy for the music and associated products of the most influential and beloved band in the history of music."

UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge wrote in a statement that “all of us at Universal Music Group are very excited about extending our relationship with the Beatles’ iconic brand to include both merchandise and their legendary recordings, and about the potential for innovative marketing of creative new products.”

Bravado began handling merchandising for the Rolling Stones in 2008 for licensing, retail, Internet and, with the 50th anniversary shows. While touring is, of course, a moot point, with the Beatles one could expect a similar approach in terms of creativity, a diverse range of products, and a broad array of retail partners.

Bravado handles merchandising for hundreds of artists (roughly 798, according to their web shop), among them Black Sabbath, New Kids on the Block, Lady Gaga, Guns 'N Roses, Justin Bieber andBob Marley.

With Sony/Atv handling the beatles catalog & universal handling the mechandising rights, Its no wonder The Beatles continue selling after all these decades. I wish Prince can get this backing whose catalog is much more diverse than The Beatles is...

Prince could never do something like this, The Beatles, like them or not, for their time broke ground beyond any other artists, they pretty much are on almost everyones list of inspirations. Prince broke ground and is amazing and diverse but he also was not a hit out the box, he was a local artist who blew up for a few albums and really had it not been for Purple Rain, this would be a very different career. The reason that the Beatles can pull this off is basically the wide appeal, they blew up everywhere, and their music is pretty much carried on, some think that they were together a long time, they really werent, barely a decade, kind of like how the Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason is so well known despite only one season of episodes, people thought it was on for decades, it was one year on tv.

Never say never! Good muziq never dies...It will happen in time.....

Damn, I still can't get over how dope these dudes were.

I wonder who has the rights to their cartoon series.

this was to be expected since their label Capitol EMI is now under Universal Music Group. As far at the cartoon series Apple Corps, Ltd. purchased the rights to the show in the ’90s.

[Edited 6/13/13 17:53pm]