Grateful Dead Brand Keeps Truckin' On

For a band that played its first gig at one of Ken Kesey’s infamous acid tests in the Bay Area in 1965 and disbanded in 1995 following the death of Jerry Garcia, getting involved with licensing and marketing can seem like kind of dealing with evil. But the Grateful Dead brand is stronger than ever, thanks to thoughtful licensing deals for on-brand products and selective lending of the band's vast catalog to films and television.

The change came about last September when Mark Pinkus, SVP of Grateful Dead Properties at Warner Music Group's Rhino Entertainment, was put in charge of merchandising and licensing Grateful Dead products, according to the Los Angeles Times. "The band wants to turn on that 18- to 25-year-old audience," Pinkus told the Times.

As a result, the “band's music has appeared in at least four movies since April, and over the last several months, the number of licensees has increased 20%, including new deals with Burton snowboards, Dregs Skateboards and Wines That Rock,” the Times notes.Continue reading...