The Beatles' Apple Corps Signs Global Merchandising, Licensing and E-Commerce Deal With Universal Music Group

The Beatles are expanding their global commercial relationship with Universal Music Group through a new agreement covering merchandising, licensing and e-commerce worldwide.

Apple Corps Ltd. and UMG announced the exclusive, long-term global partnership on August 19, 2026. Under the agreement, Universal will handle physical and digital merchandise, licensing and e-commerce on behalf of The Beatles around the world.

The deal expands an existing relationship rather than creating one from scratch. UMG already oversees The Beatles’ recorded music catalog, while its merchandise and brand-management operation Bravado has handled Beatles merchandise in North America since September 2022. The new agreement broadens that merchandise business globally.

More than five decades after The Beatles stopped recording as a band, their business now extends far beyond selling albums.

The new agreement gives UMG a role across physical merchandise, digital merchandise, licensing and direct e-commerce, adding another commercial layer to a relationship already built around one of the most valuable catalogs in popular music.

Apple Corps was established in 1968 to manage The Beatles’ creative and business interests and continues to administer the group’s intellectual property across recorded music and other areas.

For Universal, the agreement also fits an established strategy around major legacy artists. UMG previously built broad global relationships encompassing merchandise and other rights with acts including The Rolling Stones and Elton John.

UMG’s Bravado had already been responsible for Beatles merchandise in North America since 2022.

The 2026 agreement takes that relationship worldwide, placing global physical and digital merchandise, licensing and e-commerce under the broader UMG partnership with Apple Corps.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.

They also did not announce specific new Beatles merchandise collections as part of the deal, so the significance at this stage is the business structure itself rather than an individual product launch.

The agreement arrives during a new period of Beatles-related projects.

In 2027, Apple Corps plans to open The Beatles at 3 Savile Row in London, billed as the first official Beatles fan experience.

The seven-floor attraction is planned for the building associated with Apple Corps and the band’s famous rooftop performance. It will include previously unseen archive material, rotating exhibitions, a fan store and a recreation of the studio where Let It Be was recorded.

The fan store is particularly relevant to the new UMG partnership because it demonstrates how the Beatles business increasingly combines catalog, physical experiences and direct-to-fan commerce.

Another major commercial cycle begins in April 2028, when Sony Pictures plans to release The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event.

Director Sam Mendes is developing four interconnected films, each told from the perspective of a different Beatle.

The principal cast includes:

Harris Dickinson - John Lennon

Paul Mescal - Paul McCartney

Joseph Quinn - George Harrison

Barry Keoghan - Ringo Starr

The project marks the first time Apple Corps and The Beatles have granted full life-story and music rights for scripted feature films. Sony Pictures will finance and distribute the four movies worldwide.

The timing means UMG’s new global merchandise and licensing infrastructure will already be in place before one of the largest Beatles-related media projects in decades reaches theaters.

The Beatles’ recorded catalog is also continuing its physical-release cycle.

A new special edition of Rubber Soul is scheduled for October 2, 2026, featuring a new mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell.

Together, the catalog reissues, Savile Row attraction, merchandise business and four-film project show how Beatles intellectual property is being developed across several sectors simultaneously.

The music remains the foundation, but the commercial ecosystem now extends into retail, licensing, experiences and cinema.

Merchandising is already a substantial operation inside Universal Music Group.

According to Music Business Worldwide, UMG’s Merchandising and Other division generated approximately $915 million in revenue during 2025.

In the second quarter of 2026, the division generated €167 million, approximately $194.2 million. That represented a 10.7% year-over-year decline at constant currency, which UMG attributed partly to tour timing and lower direct-to-consumer revenue.

Those figures are company-wide and do not represent Beatles revenue, but they demonstrate the scale of the commercial operation into which The Beatles are now being integrated globally.

The Beatles deal illustrates how the modern music business increasingly treats a major catalog as more than a collection of recordings.

A globally recognized artist can generate revenue through vinyl and streaming, but also through merchandise, e-commerce, licensing, exhibitions, destination experiences and film.

For Apple Corps, partnering with UMG puts more of those activities inside an existing relationship with a company already responsible for stewardship of The Beatles’ recorded catalog.

For UMG, it adds one of music history’s most durable brands to a worldwide merchandise and direct-to-consumer operation already built around major artists.

And the timing is significant: 2027 brings Savile Row, while 2028 brings four major theatrical films.

The Beatles stopped operating as a recording band more than half a century ago, but their commercial ecosystem continues to expand.

The new Apple Corps and Universal Music Group agreement moves worldwide merchandise, licensing and e-commerce into a single long-term partnership at a moment when the Beatles catalog is preparing for new physical releases, a permanent London fan experience and four major theatrical films.

For the modern music business, the lesson is straightforward: a powerful catalog does not end with the recordings - it can become a global business extending across generations, formats and industries.

Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist

IMAGE CREDIT: Apple Corps Ltd.

Watch The Beatles’ official video for “Now And Then” below: