Iconic Club CBGB Hires Rep for Global Brand Expansion (Exclusive)

Tim Hayes, president of CBGB, the New York club that made The Ramones and Blondie famous, has named Epic Rights as its global branding, licensing and rights management representative.

“For 37 years, CBGB was home to punks, misfits and lovers of music,” Hayes told THR. “We want to create the same sort of environment where people can come together in other cities. We’ve had a request from Tokyo.”

Hayes likes what Epic Rights did with its biggest project, Kiss’ Rock & Brews. “That proves they understand menus and restaurants,” said Hayes. “Epic founder Dell Furano — when I say he invented rock ‘n’ roll merchandising, he really did. He was Bill Graham‘s partner in Winterland, and he was a pioneer working with the Beatles, [Barbra] Streisand, Madonna, Coldplay, Britney Spears.”

Read More CBGB Announces Third Annual Music and Film Festival

Regardless of how quickly CBGB clubs proliferate, expect plenty of CBGB merch. “We’ll be licensing apparel, accessories, themed entertainment,” said Epic executive vp global strategic partnerships & licensing Juli Boylan-Riddles, who handled the Spider-Man franchise as a senior vp at Sony Pictures Consumer Products. “We’re looking for passionate partners who understand that era and can bring it to a younger audience.”

That audience may grow Oct. 8-12, during the third annual CBGB Music and Film Festival. “We had 50,000 attend the first year, more the second, and this year we expect 300,000 at over 300 free events from Brooklyn to Manhattan,” said Hayes. The fest features more than 30 music-themed films and performances by Jane’s Addiction, Devo, Macy Gray, We Are Scientists and Robert DeLong.

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