Legendary rockers Kiss have sold their catalog, brand and intellectual property to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment Group in a deal estimated to be worth more than $300 million, it was announced Thursday.
This isn’t the first time the group has teamed up with Pophouse, co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus.
When the band’s current lineup — founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons along with guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer — took the stage on the final night of their farewell tour in December at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden York, they eventually revealed digital images. avatars of themselves.
This cutting-edge technology was created by George Lucas’ special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership with Pophouse. The two companies recently teamed up for the “ABBA Voyage” show in London, where fans were treated to a full concert by the Swedish band from their heyday, performed by their own digital avatars.
How the Kiss avatars will be used has yet to be announced, but Pophouse CEO Per Sundin says fans can expect a Kiss biopic, documentary, and experience on the horizon.
An avatar show is expected to launch in the second half of 2027 — but don’t expect it to be anything like “ABBA Voyage,” Sundin told the AP. And fans can expect it to kick off in North America.
Sundin says the goal of the purchase is to expose Kiss to new generations — which he says sets Pophouse apart from other music catalog acquisitions.
“The record companies, the big three that are left, are doing a fantastic job, but they have so many catalogs and they can’t concentrate on everything,” he says. “We are working with Universal (Music Group) and Kiss, although we will own the rights to the artists, and we are doing it in collaboration with Kiss. But yeah, we bought all the rights, and it’s not something I’ve seen so clearly before.
“I don’t like the word acquisition,” Gene Simmons told the AP over Zoom, assuring that the group would never sell its catalog to a company it doesn’t like.
“Collaboration is exactly what it’s all about. That would be negligent in our inferred fiduciary duty – see what I just did there? – to the thing we created only to abandon it,” he continued. “People might misunderstand and think, ‘OK, now Pophouse is doing this stuff and we’re just in Beverly Hills twiddling our thumbs.’ No that’s not true. We’re in the trenches with them. We talk all the time. We share ideas. It’s a collaboration. Paul (Stanley) and I especially, with the group, we will stay engaged there- on it. It’s our baby.
And in this context: no more live tours, for real. “We’re not going to tour again as Kiss, period,” he says. “We’re not going to put on makeup and go out there.”
Kiss is Pophouse’s second investment outside of Sweden: In February, Cyndi Lauper entered into a partnership with the company that includes the sale of the majority share of its music and a new immersive performance project that she calls a “play immersive theater” that transports the audience to the world. New York where she grew up.
The goal is to develop new ways to introduce Lauper’s music to fans and young audiences through new performances and live experiences.
“Most suits, when you tell them an idea, their eyes widen, they just want your biggest hits,” Lauper told the AP at Pophouse headquarters in Stockholm in February. “But these guys are a multimedia company, they’re not just looking to buy my catalog, they want to create something new.”
New York Post
