, a pioneer in rock merchandising as the founder of Epic Rights, an entertainment agency and brand management company, has died. He was 69. The cause of death was not immediately revealed.
“In the ’70s, it was not cool selling merchandise, so we had to be careful,” Furano once told Billboard. “Groups would say, ‘OK, you can sell, but don’t embarrass us. Stand in a corner.’” Another variation of his story has Dell stenciling Rolling Stones on a collection of psychedelic tie-dyed T-shirts and selling hundreds of them outside the venue. That was the start of Winterland Productions, co-founded by the brothers with Graham, which soon became the leading merchandising and licensing company in the earliest days of the modern concert business. Graham and the Furanos eventually sold Winterland Productions to CBS Records in 1985, then to MCA/Universal three years later.
Furano then started Signatures Network, Inc. in 1999, expanding the enterprise into working on musicians’ online presence, including the management of official websites, social media pages, VIP ticketing/fan club programs and e-commerce sites. Live Nation acquired Signature Neworks in 2008, with Furano serving as CEO of Live Nation Merchandise through 2012.