{"id":98951,"date":"2023-08-22T16:43:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T15:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?post_type=people&#038;p=98951"},"modified":"2023-08-22T16:43:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T15:43:18","slug":"per-sundin","status":"publish","type":"people","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/people\/per-sundin\/","title":{"rendered":"Per Sundin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Per Sundin is CEO of the Stockholm, Sweden-headquartered Pophouse Entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>He previously served as President of Universal Music Nordic.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/gb\/title\/81186296\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Netflix biopic <em>The Playlist<\/em><\/a>, he was depicted as one of the key architects of the launch of Spotify in Sweden in 2008.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><b>Per Sundin: Career history<\/b><\/h6>\n<p>Per Sundin got his start in entertainment in 1995 when he secured a managerial position at TV-4 Gruppen.<\/p>\n<p>He would eventually assume their Head of Entertainment role, hiring famous hosts including Kristian Luuk and Martin Timell.<\/p>\n<p>With these hirings, Sundin started the shows <i>Sen Kvall, <\/i>a talk show, and <i>Antligen Hemma,<\/i> a home improvement show. <i>Sen Kvall<\/i> garnered the most commercial success, becoming one of Sweden\u2019s most popular talk shows ever with nearly 1.5 million viewers per week. The show featured notable guests including Whitney Houston, Cher, Janet Jackson, and Madonna.<\/p>\n<p>Sundin remained with TV-4 until 1998.<\/p>\n<p>After leaving TV-4, Sundin moved to Sony Music Entertainment in Sweden to serve as the company\u2019s local Managing Director.<\/p>\n<p>He held the MD role at Sony through several company restructurings due to the Sony BMG merger and general Sony Nordic organizational changes.<\/p>\n<p>In his MD role at Sony, Sundin was responsible for guiding the company\u2019s managers and ensuring the efficient operation of its many divisions.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>After nearly ten years at Sony, Sundin moved to Universal Music Nordic to become Managing Director of Universal Music Sweden and President of UMG Nordic.<\/p>\n<p>As President of UMG Nordic, the MDs of other country\u2019s operations reported to him.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/per-sundin-steps-down-as-md-of-universal-music-sweden-to-join-abba-branding-company-pop-house\/\">Sundin departed UMG in late-2019, concurrent with a near-total restructuring of<\/a> the company\u2019s Nordic division.<\/p>\n<p>After UMG Nordic\u2019s new executive team was unveiled, Pophouse Entertainment announced Sundin would become their new CEO.<\/p>\n<p>He was also announced as UMG Nordic\u2019s Non-Executive Chairman, a new role at the company.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>As Pophouse Entertainment\u2019s CEO, Sundin\u2019s priority has been expanding the company beyond live events.<\/p>\n<p>Pophouse Entertainment was founded in 2014 by Bjorn Ulvaeus, a founding ABBA member, and Conni Jonsson, the founder of EQT Partners.<\/p>\n<p>At the time of his hiring, Pophouse\u2019s main ventures included creating live events promoting the ABBA brand and other brand partners.<\/p>\n<p>These events have included the Pophouse Hotel, a dinner show focused on Mamma Mia, the ABBA Museum, and the Cirkus concert and event venue.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Sundin has expanded Pophouse into podcasts, gaming, entertainment IP rights, and venture investments. One of the notable projects that Sundin pioneered is the <i>Avicii Experience<\/i>, an interactive museum in Stockholm.<\/p>\n<p>Sundin is currently focused on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/swedens-pophouse-is-investing-in-music-rights-as-it-adds-airbnb-and-eqt-execs-to-its-board\/\">music catalog investments<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2022, Pophouse <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/swedish-house-mafia-sell-master-recordings-and-publishing-catalogs-to-pophouse\/\">acquired the publishing and recording catalog of Swedish House Mafia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pophouse is home to the widely acclaimed stage show, <em>ABBA Voyage<\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><b>Per Sundin: Professional philosophy<\/b><\/h6>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/podcast\/per-sundin-on-abba-pophouses-acquisition-strategy-and-why-he-thinks-the-smartest-people-at-record-companies-will-soon-be-working-on-catalog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">podcast interview with<em> Music Business Worldwide<\/em> in 2022<\/a>, Per Sundin said: &#8220;I was very much at the forefront of [the music industry] going over to streaming, not because I was especially smart, or intelligent, it was more that I was desperate. Because the old business model was falling down, and especially in Sweden people thought it was their right to illegally download music.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now we have to accept that music is not a product business anymore. It\u2019s a brand business, it\u2019s name and likeness; it\u2019s all about that now.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Really smart people work at Universal [Music Group] \u2013 I think <a class=\"link-relationship\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; color: #2bbd4d; text-decoration: none; outline: none !important; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-color: #2bbd4d !important;\" title=\"People &gt; Sir Lucian Grainge [542 articles]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/people\/sir-lucian-grainge\/\">Lucian<\/a>\u00a0[Grainge] hires the best people there is. But the best and smartest of [these people] are working on frontline, working with signing new artists, and that\u2019s really a challenge right now. Because the [bigger] money and the assets are in their catalogs; Universal,\u00a0<a class=\"link-relationship\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; color: #2bbd4d; text-decoration: none; outline: none !important; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-color: #2bbd4d !important;\" title=\"Companies &gt; Warner Music Group [2,515 articles]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/companies\/access-industries\/warner-music-group\/\">Warner<\/a>, and\u00a0<a class=\"link-relationship\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; color: #2bbd4d; text-decoration: none; outline: none !important; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-color: #2bbd4d !important;\" title=\"Companies &gt; Sony [1,796 articles]\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/companies\/sony\/\">Sony<\/a> all have fantastic catalog products.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think that the smartest people in the record companies will soon start working in the catalog departments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Per Sundin<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He added: &#8220;Eighty percent of the listening at Spotify in the US is [of music that is] older than two years. And the tough thing now [for new artists] is to break through the noise. How do you cut through the noise and get into a new playlist?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That\u2019s why I think that the smartest people in the record companies will soon start working in the catalog departments, and seeing these assets in a different way: \u2018How can we help expose this fantastic catalog, these golden nuggets, that can be amplified for a new audience?\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Per Sundin is CEO of the Stockholm, Sweden-headquartered Pophouse Entertainment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":68078,"template":"","class_list":["post-98951","people","type-people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people\/98951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/people"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people\/98951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}