The family and estate of the acclaimed DJ, songwriter, producer and composer Avicii has concluded a landmark agreement with Pophouse Entertainment, the Stockholm-based entertainment company renowned for its development of brand-building enterprises in music and entertainment, such as the groundbreaking ABBA Voyage show in London. Pophouse has acquired 75% ownership in the artist’s master recordings and publishing, with Avicii’s family and estate maintaining ownership of the remaining 25%. A joint venture has been created between the family and estate of Tim Bergling and Pophouse to safeguard Avicii’s indelible legacy through future global endeavours, such as the interactive tribute museum in Stockholm, Avicii Experience, that Pophouse and the Bergling family have already collaborated on and opened in February.
For Tim Bergling’s parents, Klas Bergling and Anki Lidén, the agreement with Pophouse enables them to take a step back from many of the tasks required to run the artist’s estate and allows them more time to focus on the Tim Bergling Foundation, which they founded in their son’s name one year after his passing. Klas Bergling, commented: “Pophouse has presented a concrete concept and proposal for the long-term care and development of Tim’s musical heritage. Through this deal, we are also securing the Tim Bergling Foundation’s long-term finances, creating an opportunity to act decisively on the Foundation’s commitments to supporting such important issues as mental health and the well-being of young people. Working with the Tim Bergling Foundation is a full-time commitment for us. The foundation has only been running for a few years and much needs to be done for a long time to come.” (Klas Bergling and Anki Lidén’s full statement can be found here).
According to Pophouse CEO Per Sundin (who first signed Avicii to Universal Sweden in 2010 as CEO of that company), “Tim was not only one of the world’s best DJs, he was an extremely productive genius who always went his own way, mixing genres, challenging conventions and creating music history. I followed his whole journey, and it is with honour and pride that I and the entire Pophouse company, together with the Bergling family, will nurture and introduce his music to new generations of listeners in all parts of the world.”
Avicii first rose to prominence in 2011 with his Grammy-nominated single “Levels”. In 2012, he was ranked as the #1 DJ in the world by DJ Magazine. His 2013 debut studio album, True, hit the top 10 in more than 15 countries, propelled by its lead single, “Wake Me Up.” The artist released his second chart-topping album, Stories, in 2015, and a fourth EP, Avīci, in 2017. Avicii was also nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on “Sunshine” with David Guetta in 2012.
On his recordings, Avicii teamed up with a diverse array of musicians from numerous genres, including Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Nile Rodgers, the bluegrass artist Dan Tyminski, the country-rock singer Zac Brown, the glam-pop vocalist Adam Lambert, the rapper-singer Wyclef Jean, Rita Ora, and many others. He produced music for Madonna, Coldplay, David Guetta, and Tiësto and became one of the world’s most in-demand DJs and producers. Within the DJ world, he has been cited as a great source of inspiration for names such as Kygo and Martin Garrix. The artist’s third and final album, Tim, was released posthumously in 2019, with Swedish producers and songwriters such as Vincent Pontare, Salem Al Fakir, Carl Falk, Joakim Berg, Albin Nedler, and Kristoffer Fogelmark, prompting the New York Times to write, “Together, the sounds and sentiments [Tim’s songs] offer represent a cohesive and striking leap ahead for a musician already known as one of the most impactful innovators in electronic pop of the last decade.”
Four years after his untimely passing, Avicii garners more than 30 million listeners a month on Spotify, which ranks him ahead of such global iconic music artists as The Beatles, Madonna, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Marley, to name only several. His top ten tracks on that service have been streamed nearly 8 billion times combined, propelled by global hits “Wake Me Up,” “The Nights” and “Waiting For Love,” which have streamed more than a billion times each.
Pophouse Head of Investments, Johan Lagerlöf, said, “We are investing to build a roster of the artists that shaped the sound of modern pop music. Artists that have songs and recordings that might be classics today and iconic tomorrow. Trailblazers of their times on a global scale. Such legacies should not just be remembered, they should be fully experienced in new and exciting ways. That’s the future we are shaping.”
The Avicii agreement comes only several months after Pophouse acquired the master recordings and publishing assets of the back catalogue of Swedish House Mafia and formed a joint venture with the trio’s members to develop and amplify the SHM brand worldwide.
Earlier this year, Pophouse announced that it was expanding its sights beyond Sweden, appointing former Capitol Music Group and Columbia Records head Steve Barnett to the company’s Investment Advisory Committee, and charging him with leading the company’s targeted outreach with the US- and UK-based rights-holders to invest in and jointly build upon the legacies of iconic entertainment brands.