{"id":127734,"date":"2022-03-29T14:59:44","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T13:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=127734"},"modified":"2022-03-29T15:07:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T14:07:33","slug":"swedish-house-mafia-sell-master-recordings-and-publishing-catalogs-to-pophouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/swedish-house-mafia-sell-master-recordings-and-publishing-catalogs-to-pophouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish House Mafia sell master recordings and publishing catalogs to Pophouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February, we told you<\/a> that Pophouse, the Swedish entertainment company led by<\/a> former Universal Music Sweden boss Per Sundin, was\u00a0 planning to invest in music rights.<\/p>\n

Today, (March 29) the company has announced its entrance into the rights acquisition space by fully acquiring the master recordings and publishing catalogs of electronic music stars Swedish House Mafia (including their writer\u2019s shares).<\/p>\n

The agreement, for an undisclosed sum, also includes the full acquisition of the masters and publishing of Axwell^Ingrosso.<\/p>\n

In addition, Pophouse says that it will form what it calls a “first-of-its-kind” joint venture with the group’s members to develop and amplify the Swedish House Mafia brand worldwide.<\/p>\n

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Alongside today’s acquisition news, Pophouse has also revealed that it’s expanding the company’s sights beyond Sweden, to the US and UK markets, and has appointed music industry veteran and former Capitol Music Group Chairman & CEO Steve Barnett to its Investment Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n

According to a media statement, Barnett has been “charged with leading the company\u2019s targeted outreach with US and UK-based rights-holders to invest in and jointly build upon the legacies of iconic entertainment brands”.<\/p>\n

Barnett’s appointment at Pophouse comes just over after he\u00a0announced<\/a> his retirement (on December 31, 2020), following a 50-year career in the music business, including eight years at the helm of CMG.<\/p>\n

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Pophouse was formed in 2014 by ABBA member Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus and EQT Founder and Chair of the EQT Board Conni Jonsson as a venture when the company created the world-renowned ABBA Museum in Stockholm.<\/p>\n

The company has since expanded into numerous other endeavors in Stockholm, Sweden, including: Space<\/a>, claimed to be the largest gaming center in the world; Pippi at the Circus, a musical based on Astrid Lindgren character Pippi Longstocking, housed in the company\u2019s Cirkus arena; and Nordic podcast house Perfect Day Media.<\/p>\n

Pophouse is also the lead investor behind the ABBA Voyage<\/a> project at a custom-built arena in London, which will house a year-round ABBA Voyage<\/a> concert starting in May this year, featuring avatars of the group accompanied by a 10-piece live band.<\/p>\n

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Swedish House Mafia attract nearly 19 million listeners a month on Spotify, and have accumulated billions of combined streams and views.<\/p>\n

The group will release their debut studio album, Paradise Again,<\/em> on April 15 through Republic Records. They recently had a hit with Sacrifice<\/em> on The Weeknd\u2019s new album, Dawn FM.<\/em><\/p>\n

The trio will embark on their Paradise Again World Tour in July, headlining major festivals and arena venues through November.<\/p>\n

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“I\u2019m thrilled to be joining them and the entire Pophouse team as we forge new partnerships on behalf of artists in the US, UK and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Barnett <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Steve Barnett said: \u201dI\u2019ve known Per and Johan for many years, and have worked closely with them on so many endeavors on behalf of artists.<\/p>\n

“I also had the pleasure of helping to relaunch the illustrious ABBA catalog in America at Capitol, and [ABBA member and Pophouse founder] Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus is simply one of the most creative and forward-thinking artists and executives in the history of our business.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m thrilled to be joining them and the entire Pophouse team as we forge new partnerships on behalf of artists in the US, UK and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201dSwedish House Mafia is a groundbreaking trio that brought club music to stadiums around the world, and they continue to pave the way in contemporary electronic and dance music.”<\/p>\n

Per Sundin, Pophouse<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pophouse CEO Per Sundin added: \u201dSwedish House Mafia is a groundbreaking trio that brought club music to stadiums around the world, and they continue to pave the way in contemporary electronic and dance music.<\/p>\n

“We are so excited to be partnering with them to tell that story for generations to come.<\/p>\n

“While our landmark agreement with them involves the acquisition of the recordings and publishing of their back catalog, it is our first-of-its-kind joint venture with the band\u2019s members that exemplifies the types of partnerships we are pursuing in our targeted expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt feels great for us to partner up with a company like Pophouse that will do much more than simply acquire our creative work.”<\/p>\n

Swedish House Mafia<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Swedish House Mafia said: \u201cIt feels great for us to partner up with a company like Pophouse that will do much more than simply acquire our creative work.<\/p>\n

“Pophouse will invest funds, know-how and resources to bring our music into areas of entertainment where it hasn\u2019t been before and for new audiences to discover our legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201dFor Pophouse, an acquisition is just a starting point in the relationship.”<\/p>\n

Johan Lagerl\u00f6f, Pophouse\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pophouse Head of Investments, Johan Lagerl\u00f6f, said: \u201dFor Pophouse, an acquisition is just a starting point in the relationship.<\/p>\n

“We are here to invest further in brand-building activities that amplify artist legacies to new audiences and develop new revenue streams as we\u2019ve done so successfully in our other endeavors.<\/p>\n

“Pophouse is not replacing any existing stakeholder, but is joining forces with artists\u2019 existing teams and partners to grow the business for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In February, Pophouse announced that Catherine Powell and Alexandra Lutz were joining its Board.<\/p>\n

Powell is currently the Global Head of Hosting at Airbnb, and was\u00a0formerly Disney\u2019s President of Parks, Western Region<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Lutz is a partner at investment firm EQT, whose\u00a0investments include<\/a>\u00a0Swedish music success story\u00a0Epidemic Sound<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other Pophouse board members include the firm\u2019s Chairman and former Manchester United executive, Michael Bolingbroke, who is Executive producer for ABBA Voyage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pophouse has also appointed former Capitol Music Group Chairman & CEO Steve Barnett to its Investment Advisory Committee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":127761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[129643,129804],"class_list":["post-127734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-abba","tag-pophouse"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}