Tina Turner's name, image, likeness and most music catalog rights
acquired by Pophouse
[March 19, 2026]
By MARIA SHERMAN
NEW YORK (AP) — Pophouse Entertainment has acquired Tina Turner’s name,
image and likeness rights as well as the majority share of her music
catalog rights from music company BMG, it announced Thursday.
The Swedish company, co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, is known for
their digital avatars and immersive experiences.
Pophouse CEO Jessica Koravos would not disclose the deal's financial
details or describe the company's plans for the Turner acquisition but
told The Associated Press “that one of the reasons that we were so
interested in Tina is because she has such an incredible visual presence
and such an incredible stage energy. And so, we’re very much looking at
projects that can portray that and try to recreate that to some degree.”
“What we want to do is really help to consolidate her legacy,” she
added. “I think that Tina Turner is up there, or is going to be up
there, with the Elvises and the Marilyn Monroes of the world.”
Koravos would not confirm if a digital avatar is on the way. She did say
Pophouse will announce plans in the next six months.
Turner, known as the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll” for her chart-topping hits
such as “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “The Best” and “Proud Mary,”
died in 2023 at 83. Across her multidecade career, Turner won 12 Grammy
Awards — including a Lifetime Achievement Award — was inducted into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and 2021, was honored at the Kennedy
Center in 2005 and sold over 150 million records worldwide.
Conversations for the Pophouse deal began after her death. Koravos told
the AP that BMG still holds a percentage of her catalog. She said
Turner's estate was not involved “as a counterparty but certainly
involved and in the sense of informed and participating in the
conversations.”
“Tina Turner’s voice and spirit shaped modern music and popular
culture,” Alistair Norbury, president of BMG U.K., Continental Europe
and APAC, wrote in a statement. “Our responsibility, alongside Pophouse
and the Estate, is to ensure her work continues to resonate with
audiences around the world, while remaining true to the strength,
independence and originality that defined her career.”
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Tina Turner is shown during an interview in New York on Sept. 14,
1984. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
 One of many musical investments
Pophouse has been making investments outside of Sweden as of late.
In 2024, hard rock quartet Kiss sold their catalog, brand name and
intellectual property to Pophouse in a deal estimated to be over
$300 million. Previously, the band partnered with Pophouse to
develop digitized avatars of themselves, which they revealed onstage
at the final night of their 2023 farewell tour.
The cutting-edge technology was created by George Lucas’
special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership
with Pophouse. The same companies teamed up for the “ABBA Voyage”
show in London, where fans could attend a full concert by the
Swedish band in their heyday, as performed by their own digital
avatars.
Also in 2024, Cyndi Lauper entered a partnership with Pophouse,
which included the sale of the majority share of her music.
“Most suits, when you tell them an idea, their eyes glaze over, they
just want your greatest hits,” Lauper told the AP at Pophouse's
Stockholm headquarters at the time. “But these guys are a multimedia
company, they’re not looking to just buy my catalog, they want to
make something new.”
“I think what interests artists, and the estates of artists in some
cases, is that there aren’t very many people who are talking to them
about what they want to achieve, creatively, around their body of
work,” Koravos says. “So I think that is interesting to people, it's
interesting to artists, who have got creative projects in their
heads that they would like some support realizing. And those are the
people we’re interested in talking to.”
“We’re not trying to be a major (label),” she adds. “It’s not a
volume game for us. We want to acquire 10 or 12 really unique
properties that have even more unique projects attached to them.”
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