Pophouse has had a huge hit with ABBA Voyage, and last December announced a deal to turn possibly-retiring (you can never be sure) rock band Kiss into similar avatars for future concerts.
Now the Swedish company has announced a bigger deal with Kiss around that. It has acquired the band’s catalogues, brand name and other rights, and is working on a biopic as well as training a 2027 launch date for the avatar show.
It’s Pophouse’s second catalogue investment outside Sweden, following its deal with Cyndi Lauper last year.
While Pophouse didn’t say how much it’s paying Kiss in the deal, multiple media outlets have reported that it’s for over $300m – including Associated Press, which had an interview with Pophouse boss Per Sundin.
“We work together with Universal (Music Group) and Kiss, even though we will own the artists rights, and we’re doing it in conjunction with Kiss,” he said. “But yes, we bought all rights, and that’s not something I’ve seen that clear before.”
Kiss frontman Gene Simmons was keen to stress the partnership aspect too.
“People might misunderstand and think, ‘OK, now Pophouse is doing that stuff and we’re just in Beverly Hills twiddling our thumbs.’ No, that’s not true. We’re in the trenches with them…”
