Song deal sealed with a Kiss
Hard rock quartet Kiss have sold their catalogue, brand name and IP to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment Group in a deal estimated at more than US$300 million (NZ$500m).
This isn’t the first time Kiss has partnered with Pophouse, which was co-founded by Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus.
When the band’s current lineup — founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons as well as guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer — took the stage at the final night of their farewell tour in December at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, they ended by revealing digitised avatars of themselves.
The cutting-edge technology was created by George Lucas’ specialeffects company, Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership with Pophouse.
The two companies recently teamed up for the “Abba Voyage” show in London, in which fans could attend a full concert by the Swedish band in their heyday, as performed by their own digital avatars.
The ways in which Kiss’ avatars will be utilised has yet to be announced, but Pophouse CEO Per Sundin says fans can expect a biopic, a documentary and a Kiss experience on the horizon.
An avatar show is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2027 — but don’t expect it to look anything like “Abba Voyage,” Sundin said. 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 believes sets Pophouse apart from other acquisitions of music catalogues.
“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.”
“I don’t like the word acquisition,” Gene Simmons said, assuring the band would never sell their catalogue to a company they didn’t appreciate.
“It’s a collaboration . . . we’ll stay committed to this. It’s our baby.”
But no more live touring, for real. “We’re not going to tour again as Kiss, period. We’re not going to go put the makeup on and go out there.”
In February, Cyndi Lauper entered a partnership with Pophouse.