The Grateful Dead are about to be introduced to a new generation of fans.
Universal just bought up the group's catalog — including the classics "Casey Jones," "Truckin'" and "Touch of Grey" — as the remaining members celebrate GD's 50-year anniversary.
"Young people may know the name Grateful Dead, but not be as familiar with their music," UMPG North America president Evan Lamberg said. "If you're not putting yourself into relevant areas where your music can be discovered, your music could be lost to the younger [generation]."
Billboard reports that UMPG will handle global administration for the band's song catalog in a deal signed with the band's publishing company, Ice Nine. (Six band members and the heirs of three deceased members claim rights to the catalog, and Warner Music's Rhino Entertainment handles the band's recorded masters.)
The partnership includes film and TV synchs but limits placement in commercials to songs not written by the band's primary collaborator, Robert Hunter, who has veto power (primary songwriter and band leader Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995).
"We will bring them everything for them to review," Lamberg said. "And we will learn more about what they want."
He hopes that "this deal might get some conversations started out there among other iconic artists who haven't done global deals."
UMPG also purchased the Neil Diamond catalog when Diamond moved from Sony Music Entertainment to Universal Music Group, but the company declined to comment on that transaction.
Hunter sat down with Rolling Stone a year ago to discuss a new solo tour, and touched on the idea of writing a Dead-centric memoir.
"I started one about 25 or 30 years back," he said. "And no, I didn't finish it. I wrote down what impressed me up to joining the Dead. But not beyond it. The songs tell enough of that experience. I've looked at it once or twice in the intervening years. And I'm glad I wrote that down because there's no way I would remember all that."
But what about all the untold Grateful stories?
"Zero interest in doing that," he said. "Let it belong to the mythic ages. The details only chip away at the edges."
