Marilyn last made the Forbes 12 Highest Paid Dead Celebrities list in 2023, and it seems likely she’ll return soon, as The Economist reports. (However, I can’t wholly agree with the claim that ‘thanks to Authentic, people will know her for longer than she could have imagined.’ After all, Marilyn was a legend long before her estate was sold for an undisclosed sum in 2011 – and so it seems to me that the bulk of gratitude lies with the current owners.)
“This year there are almost as many celebrations as there are versions of Marilyn: June 1st marks the centenary of her birth … The celebrations are not only fuelled by adoration. Much of the centenary was planned by the firm that owns the rights to Monroe’s estate and intellectual property (IP). Founded in 2010, Authentic Brands Group acquired Marilyn as its first celebrity estate; today its portfolio includes Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali.
You can make a killing from the IP of bygone celebrities. Authentic claims to make $80m a year in sales from Monroe’s estate alone. (The company is the second-largest IP-licensing business by revenue in the world, after Disney, with a mix of celebrity estates and other brands expected to bring in more than $38bn this year.) Anyone who was anyone—from Albert Einstein to Rosa Parks—has an agent to license their IP.
The business of profiting from dead celebrities is legally complex. Estates own what Mark Roesler, head of CMG, the firm servicing both Einstein and Parks, calls ‘a portfolio of IP’. This includes copyrights, trademarks and ‘right of publicity’, which in some American states allows estates to control the commercial use of the celebrity’s likeness, name and voice. (Monroe had few relatives, so Authentic snapped up the whole estate.)
The market grew in the late 1970s and early 1980s, driven in part by Presley’s death and his estate’s efforts to stop others profiting from his likeness; post-mortem publicity rights expanded, says Jennifer Rothman, the author of a book on the subject. Celebrity identities came to be seen as something that could be inherited like other property. Estates saw an opportunity.
The dead-celebrity business is profitable for two other reasons. First, famous faces sell products … As Jamie Salter, boss of Authentic, puts it, the most successful estates think not only about ‘preserving the past’, but also ‘participating in culture’ … Brand deals help Monroe keep ‘pace’ with modern culture, says Dana Carpenter, who oversees her estate at Authentic. Though her name is sometimes used to promote products she might have been baffled by, such as trendy LED face masks, the aim is to find a new generation of fans.
Second, celebrity IP can help tell longer stories. In theory anyone could make a biopic or documentary about Monroe or Einstein, but estates often have the rights to copyrighted materials that are useful to film-makers … They think about the future, too. In particular, firms are finding ways to use AI and holograms to bring back stars for live tours and fan experiences. In 2024 Authentic partnered with Soul Machines, an AI firm, to create a ‘digital Marilyn‘ … Yet AI has also made it easier for others to use a celebrity’s likeness and voice … Estates have long demanded payment for the right to use a star’s words or identity in films and adverts, and even on monuments.
Celebrities who are still alive are also thinking about the future of their personal brands. Authentic has a roster of ‘living legends’, including Sir David Beckham, an ex-footballer. Unlike with Monroe’s estate, these stars are co-owners of their brand and actively collaborate on IP deals.”
The Marilyn Report 