Universal Music Group Merchandising Buys Out Epic Rights

Photo by Jun Sato/WireImage – Dell Furano
Dell Furano attends the MDNA Skin launch event at the Imperial Hotel on February 12, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

Epic Rights, the merch and branding company founded by former Signatures Network chief Dell Furano, has reportedly sold to Bravado, a division of Universal Music Group.

The deal means Furano and his squad will now be working on behalf of UMG. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

“I have great respect for Mat [Vlasic] and his teams at Bravado and Universal Music — they have taken product development, marketing and global distribution to an entirely new level,” Furano said in a statement. “I’m very proud of all that we’ve achieved at Epic Rights, and look forward to expanding Epic’s roster and artist services in this next chapter.”

Furano founded Sony Signatures and later became CEO of Live Nation Merchandising before starting Epic Rights in 2014. His origins in the business tie back to legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, with whom he co-founded Winterland Productions in the ’70s.

In addition to merch and branding, Epic Rights does licensing, VIP ticketing, fan experiences, handles artist websites, online merch shops, and works with fan communities.

At press time, Epic Rights listed KISS, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Kevin Hart, Madonna, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Sting, David Bowie, Lionel Richie, Hollywood Vampires, Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Zac Brown Band, ZZ Top, Marc Anthony, the Woodstock festival, and CBGB as clients.