Sea of Tunes

Sea of Tunes was a music publishing company, founded in 1962 by Murry Wilson, father to three of the Beach Boys (Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson), and uncle of another member (Mike Love), to publish and promote the original songs written by Brian and Mike.

After being fired as their manager by Brian in 1964, Murry continued to serve as their publisher, until he sold Sea of Tunes to A&M Records in 1969 for $750,000. Murry believed that the band's days had peaked, and that he was doing them a favour by selling out when the band was at its low point in the late 1960s. Instead the band was furious, and Mike and Brian (who was having enough problems, in the throes of mental illness and increasing drug intake) were especially heartbroken.

Years after Murry's death, a recovered Brian Wilson sued for the return of his song copyrights. While he failed to recover them in court, he was awarded $25 million in damages, including unpaid and underpaid royalties. Mike Love had also discovered he'd never been credited by Murry for many of the songs (like "California Girls") he'd co-written with Brian, and thus had also lost out on royalties. Unable to come to a settlement on their own, and with no supposed malice toward each other, Mike sued Brian for a share of his award, and won $13 million.