The rock band KISS is going out with a multi-million dollar deal.
The band has sold the rights to its entire music catalog, name, image and likeness to Pophouse Entertainment, a Swedish investment firm, for $300 million, according to multiple media sources.
Pophouse, which was behind the recent ABBA “Voyage” hologram show, said it plans to promote the group’s “iconic music, enigmatic personas, and expressive imagery for generations to come,” Variety reported.
The company has announced plans to produce a motion picture about the group, as well as its own live hologram show, similar to ABBA’s, Fortune said.
“Kiss the touring band is over — we’ve stopped touring after 50 years,” Simmons said in an interview with Fortune. “What Pophouse will do with our images, our music and our personas is unlike anything anyone has ever seen.”
The band teased the planned digital show during its final concert in New York City, when avatar versions of the group closed the show. The first digital show is scheduled for 2027, Variety said.
“We went to see the ABBA show and it blew our socks off,” Simmons said to Billboard. “And the technology since then has improved by leaps and bounds. We’ve seen sketches of what it will look like and we looked like the X-Men.”
“We will safeguard and enrich this legacy through future global endeavors, by breathing new life into their characters and personas while also leveraging and elevating the visual world of KISS.” Pophouse CEO Per Sundin said about the deal to Variety.
Formed in 1973, KISS’s founding members are Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. The group has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and is known for its face paint and lavish outfits as well as live shows that involved pyrotechnics, fire-breathing and other stunts. They are also known for such songs as “Shout It Out Loud,” “Detroit Rock City,” “Beth” and “Strutter.”
The band’s farewell tour lasted four years, ending in December 2023. The final lineup consisted of Stanley, Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.
