The Swedish company Pophouse has been a player in the rights market since 2022. Led by former Universal Music Sweden chief Per Sundin, they backed ABBA’s Voyage show in London, and acquired rights from Swedish House Mafia and Avicii.
Now the company has announced its first deal with a U.S. artist, the rainbow-haired pop icon Cyndi Lauper. The deal includes the majority share of Lauper’s publishing as well as her royalties from her recorded music. Lauper has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, with hits including “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “True Colors,” and she has writing credits on some of her biggest hits, including “Time After Time” and “She Bop.” (The deal does not include her Broadway music, which includes the hit show Kinky Boots.) The share acquired by Pophouse was not disclosed.
Pophouse, which was founded in 2014 by investor Conni Jonsson and ABBA frontman Björn Ulvaeus, is known for trying to add value to its rights acquisitions with creative productions and installations, including ABBA Voyage in London, which uses virtual “ABBAtars” in a live musical show. It also operates the “Avicii Experience” museum in Stockholm, and it is working with KISS on its next avatar show.
The deal announcement says that Pophouse will “create new content and experiences to enrich Cyndi Lauper’s catalogue for fans old and new,” although it does not provide specific details. As an ‘80s icon, though, Lauper would be ideal for a show or a museum that could appeal to a broad audience worldwide. Fans just want to have fun, after all.
“Pophouse has impressed me with their commitment to maintaining and developing my professional life’s work and ensuring its legacy,” Lauper said in the press release about the deal. “Their creativity and vision, combined with my continued involvement via our unique joint venture is what is most exciting to me.”
Pophouse did not say whether the deal includes name, image and likeness rights, although it will work with Lauper on a joint venture, which presumably has the permissions it needs to create installations or experiences around the pop star’s career. “We set ourselves apart through our emphasis on artist and brand development so that we can nurture the value of our investment,” Sundin said in the press release, “and we are pleased Cyndi endorses our vision for her remarkable catalogue of work.”
