Fans Just Want to Have Fun: Cyndi Lauper Sells Majority of Rights to Pophouse

Swedish label Pophouse is a player in the rights market from 2022. Led by former head of Universal Music Sweden Per Sundin, they claimed ABASVoyage London show, and acquired rights from Swedish House Mafia and Avicii.

Now the label has announced its first deal with a US artist, the rainbow pop icon Cyndi Lauper. The deal includes a majority stake in Lauper's releases as well as her rights to her recorded music. Lauper has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, with hits like “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “True Colors,” and has writing credits on some of her biggest hits, including “Time After Time” and ” She Bop”. ” (The deal does not include her Broadway score, which includes the hit Kinky Boots.) The stock acquired by Pophouse was not disclosed.

Pophouse, which was founded in 2014 by an investor Connie Johnson and frontman of ABBA 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 live musical performance. He also operates and collaborates with the Avicii Experience museum in Stockholm KISS in the avatar's next show.

The deal announcement says Pophouse will “create new content and experiences to enrich Cyndi Lauper's catalog for fans old and new,” though it didn't provide specifics. As an icon of the '80s, however, Lauper would be perfect for a show or museum that could appeal to a wide global audience. Fans just want to have fun, after all.

“Pophouse has impressed me with their commitment to preserve and develop my professional life's work and ensure its legacy,” Lauper said in the press release about the deal. “Their creativity and vision, combined with my continued involvement through our unique joint venture is what is most exciting to me.”

Pophouse did not say whether the deal includes name, image and likeness rights, though it will work with Lauper in a joint venture, which presumably has the licenses it needs to create facilities or experiences around the pop star's career. “We've set ourselves apart because of our emphasis on growing our artist and brand so that we can grow the value of our investment,” Sundin said in the press release, “and we're delighted that Cyndi supports our vision for the remarkable catalog of her work”.