KISS played what they say are their final shows at Madison Square Garden in December, and now Associated Press and Bloomberg report that they’ve gone one step further and sold their name, image, likeness, and song catalog to Pophouse Entertainment Group AB, in a deal that’s reportedly worth over $300 million. Pophouse is behind ABBA Voyage, ABBA’s virtual concert residency, and they, in collaboration with George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic, created the digial avatars KISS unveiled after their final MSG show.
Pophouse CEO Per Sundin told Associated Press that a biopic, documentary, and “KISS experience” are all in the works, with the digital avatar show set to begin in North America in the second half of 2027. “The record companies, the three big ones that are left, they’re doing a fantastic job, but they have so many catalogs and they can’t focus on everything,” Sundin told AP. “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. But yes, we bought all rights, and that’s not something I’ve seen that clear before.”
Over Zoom, Gene Simmons told AP, “I don’t like the word acquisition,” adding, “Collaboration is exactly what it’s about. It would be remiss in our inferred fiduciary duty — see what I just did there? — to the thing that we created to abandon it. People might misunderstand and think, ‘OK, now Pophouse is doing that stuff and we’re just in Beverly Hills twiddling our thumbs.’ No, that’s not true. We’re in the trenches with them. We talk all the time. We share ideas. It’s a collaboration. Paul [Stanley] and I especially, with the band, we’ll stay committed to this. It’s our baby.”
Simmons also reiterated that the MSG shows really were the last ones, telling AP, “We’re not going to tour again as Kiss, period. We’re not going to go put the makeup on and go out there.” See pictures, video, and the setlist from the penultimate night.