Pophouse buys stake in Iron Maiden catalogue, name and likeness rights

The partnership was structured over the past year between Pophouse and Iron Maiden co-manager Andy Taylor, the company said. It includes rights to the band's mascot, Eddie, according to Variety. No price was disclosed.

Pophouse chief executive Jessica Koravos told Billboard the two are "50-50 partners with the band" and that the plan is to work together "turbo charging Maiden's plans for the future".

Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said the partnership lets the band "pursue, facilitate, and finance our many plans and dreams quicker than we ever hoped".

Pophouse's deal run

Pophouse was co-founded in 2014 by Bjorn Ulvaeus and EQT founder Conni Jonsson. It is one of the founding investors in ABBA Voyage in East London. The company closed its debut fund in March 2025 at more than EUR 1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) and has said it deployed around 30% of it through partnerships with KISS, Cyndi Lauper, Avicii and Swedish House Mafia.

In March it bought a majority stake in Tina Turner's music interests in a deal with BMG, the first acquisition announced under Koravos, who took over in January from Per Sundin.

What the band gets

Pophouse and Iron Maiden launched their first collaboration, the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience, at EddFest at Knebworth on 10 and 11 July. They are also filming the Run For Your Lives world tour for a cinematic project.

Koravos told Billboard the heavy metal genre, "especially with the addition of Eddie", lends itself to a treatment with horror potential. Smallwood said the partnership had already produced results, citing the museum and the filming of the current show.

The scale being priced

Iron Maiden formed in East London in 1975. It says it has sold more than 100 million records across 17 studio albums and played more than 2,500 concerts in 64 countries. Its most recent album, 2021's Senjutsu, debuted at No. 3 in the US and No. 2 in the UK.

Pophouse's KISS deal, reported at more than $300 million, covered a similar set of rights, though the size of the KISS stake was unclear, Variety reported. That deal underpins a KISS avatar show slated for 2027.

Johan Lagerlof, managing partner of the Pophouse fund, said Iron Maiden's songs, imagery and live shows have inspired generations of fans and "continue to attract new audiences, decade after decade".

What happens next

Pophouse said future plans include expanding interactive fan experiences and developing a digital universe centered on Eddie.