The Beatles had lots of problems with their first contract. In 1963, the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, allowed his lawyer to sign away the band’s merchandising rights in return for just 10% of the profits. And that was a lot of money to give away. In 1964, while The Beatles were conquering America, The Wall Street Journal estimated the group’s merchandising would be worth $100 million dollars that year. This meant that the band had given away $90 million! To be fair to Epstein, he had no idea how much the merchandising could be worth – no band had ever been so popular. Since then, bands have been careful to keep control of their merchandising rights.