POPHOUSE ACQUIRES MAJORITY SHARE OF THE PUBLISHING CATALOGUE AND MASTER RECORDING REVENUE OF LEGENDARY MUSIC ICON CYNDI LAUPER
Stockholm, Sweden, 29 February 2024 – Pophouse – the Swedish entertainment company, which is a founding investor of the world-renowned ABBA Voyage immersive virtual concert residency and the force behind immortalizing the rock band KISS as avatars, has today acquired the majority share of award-winning American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper’s master recording revenue and publishing. Cyndi Lauper and Pophouse will work closely together through a joint venture. Together, they will develop creative activations inspired by Lauper’s timeless pop music repertoire*, spanning her iconic career. This includes beloved hits such as “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” and “True Colors”.
*The acquisition does not include Cyndi’s Broadway music.
Cyndi Lauper comments: “Since we first met, Pophouse has impressed me with their commitment to maintaining and developing my professional life’s work and ensuring its legacy. Their creativity and vision, combined with my continued involvement via our unique joint venture is what is most exciting to me. I can’t wait to participate in this new stage in my musical evolution and I could not be more pleased to know my music will now be in Pophouse’s safe hands as they build upon my legacy in the years to come.”
Working in close collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Pophouse will follow its unique, value-added approach of drawing upon its world-class, in-house creative and storytelling expertise to introduce her music to new audiences. Pophouse will use its proven, industry-defining playbook to create new content and experiences to enrich Cyndi Lauper’s catalogue for fans old and new, actively seeking to enrich and add value to the brands and artists it partners with.
Today’s announcement marks Pophouse’s first acquisition from an American artist as the company continues to expand beyond its native Nordics into North America. Founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and EQT founder Conni Jonsson in 2014, Pophouse began its venture into music investments in 2022 by acquiring the catalogues of two of Sweden’s most iconic global musical exports, Avicii and Swedish House Mafia. As part of the Avicii and Swedish House Mafia acquisitions, Pophouse also announced the formations of joint ventures with the Avicii Estate and Swedish House Mafia band members respectively to further develop and safeguard their legacy through future global endeavors.
Pophouse CEO Per Sundin adds “Cyndi Lauper is an icon, with a career that has inspired generation after generation of music lovers. That she has entrusted us to protect and continue to grow her legacy is a privilege we are proud to accept. We set ourselves apart through our emphasis on artist and brand development, so that we can nurture the value of our investment, and we are pleased Cyndi endorses our vision for her remarkable catalogue of work.”
As one of few players based outside of the US or UK, Pophouse is Sweden’s next big creative export into the global music industry and is distinguished in the global market by its core Swedish values of collaboration and openness.
ABOUT CYNDI LAUPER:
With a career spanning over four decades, and with more than 50 million records sold worldwide, Cyndi Lauper is one of the most recognized and celebrated music artists in the world. She first rose to fame in the 1980s with now-iconic pop hits such as ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ and ‘Time After Time’, leading to her winning the 1984 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In 2013, Lauper’s musical Kinky Boots won six Tony Awards, with Lauper herself winning the Tony Award for Best Original Score, which made her the first female to win the category by herself. Today, Cyndi Lauper is an icon for female empowerment and a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights across the world.