Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Iron Maiden have sold half of their music to the company behind ABBA Voyage. Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish firm co-founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and private-equity heavyweight Conni Jonsson, confirmed on Tuesday that it has acquired a 50 percent stake in the band's publishing and master recordings, along with a share of the name, image and likeness rights that govern Eddie, the ghoul who has stalked every Maiden cover since 1980. Maiden and their management are framing the arrangement as a strategic partnership built to bankroll the band's next decade. Terms were not disclosed.
The transaction was structured across roughly a year by co-manager Andy Taylor on behalf of Phantom Music and the band, and BMG keeps its existing role as Maiden's publisher. For Pophouse, Maiden joins a portfolio of legacy acts that already includes KISS, Tina Turner and Cyndi Lauper, though the company remains best known to the wider public for ABBA Voyage, the London residency where digital avatars of ABBA perform nightly to sold-out rooms. Pophouse CEO Jessica Koravos has described the acquisition as a fifty-fifty venture aimed at accelerating Maiden's own ambitions, with a particular eye on the visual world buried in the band's artwork and lyrics. Given Eddie's pedigree, she has pointed to horror as an obvious lane.
Maiden manager Rod Smallwood cast the deal in similar terms. "I am very excited about our relationship with Pophouse and the ability we now have to pursue, facilitate, and finance our many plans and dreams quicker than we ever hoped," he said in a statement, adding that interest in the band "has never been bigger." He credited the tie-up, quietly in the works for over a year, with driving progress on the Infinite Dreams Museum and the filming of the current tour.
That backing has already left fingerprints on Maiden's year. When a curfew and a power cut truncated the band's June show at Paris La Défense, the plan to capture the encore for the tour's forthcoming concert film pivoted to Knebworth House, where Maiden staged EddFest before tens of thousands in what stands as their final UK date until at least 2028. Pophouse support cleared the way for that Anglo-French rescue. EddFest doubled as the launchpad for the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience, a walk-through hoard of stage props and relics pulled from Maiden's fifty-year archive, from the World Slavery tour sarcophagus to a four-metre Cyborg Eddie, that pulled all-day queues across the weekend.
The mascot sits at the center of what comes next. Phantom Music managing director and co-manager Dave Shack said Smallwood and Taylor have long pushed the team to develop Eddie across horror, gaming and comic books while the band supplies the foundation of superlative music and live shows. That work already spans an award-winning mobile game, a global fan club, a drinks business, books, comics and merchandise in every conceivable form. "It's absolutely one of the greatest sandpits for a creative to play in, and Pophouse have already shown they belong in it," Shack said.
Formed in London in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, Maiden have sold roughly 100 million records across 17 studio albums and played more than 2,500 shows in 64 countries, the band's Run For Your Lives world tour among them. The concert film assembled from that tour and the future of the Infinite Dreams museum are the first tangible returns on a deal Smallwood promises is only the opening move, signing off with the line every Maiden fan already knows by heart: "Eddie will rule, OK!!"
Iron Maiden tour dates:
29 Aug 2026 - Toronto, ON, Canada - Scotiabank Arena (Megadeth)
30 Aug 2026 - Toronto, ON, Canada - Scotiabank Arena (Megadeth)
3 Sep 2026 - Montréal, QC, Canada - Parc Jean-Drapeau (Megadeth + Anthrax)
5 Sep 2026 - Harrison, NJ, USA - Sports Illustrated Stadium (Megadeth + Anthrax)
6 Sep 2026 - Harrison, NJ, USA - Sports Illustrated Stadium (Megadeth + Anthrax)
9 Sep 2026 - Boston, MA, USA - TD Garden (Megadeth)
11 Sep 2026 - Bristow, VA, USA - Jiffy Lube Live (Megadeth)
12 Sep 2026 - Charlotte, NC, USA - Truliant Amphitheater (Megadeth)
15 Sep 2026 - Hershey, PA, USA - Hersheypark Stadium (Megadeth)
17 Sep 2026 - Louisville, KY, USA - Louder Than Life Festival
19 Sep 2026 - Shakopee, MN, USA - Mystic Lake Amphitheater (Megadeth)
22 Sep 2026 - Chicago, IL, USA - Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre (Megadeth)
25 Sep 2026 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - BMO Stadium (Megadeth + Anthrax)
27 Sep 2026 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - BMO Stadium (Megadeth + Anthrax)
29 Sep 2026 - San Antonio, TX, USA - Alamodome (Megadeth + Anthrax)
2 Oct 2026 - Mexico City, Mexico - Estadio GNP Seguros (Anthrax)
5 Oct 2026 - San Salvador, El Salvador - Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González (The Raven Age + Souls of Steel)
8 Oct 2026 - San José, Costa Rica - Estadio Nacional (The Raven Age)
11 Oct 2026 - Bogotá, Colombia - Vive Claro (The Raven Age)
14 Oct 2026 - Quito, Ecuador - Estadio Atahualpa (The Raven Age)
17 Oct 2026 - Lima, Peru - Estadio Nacional (The Raven Age)
20 Oct 2026 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Estadio Hurácan (La H No Murió)
21 Oct 2026 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Estadio Hurácan (La H No Murió)
25 Oct 2026 - São Paulo, Brazil - Nubank Parque (Alter Bridge)
27 Oct 2026 - São Paulo, Brazil - Nubank Parque (Alter Bridge)
28 Oct 2026 - Curitiba, Brazil - Arena da Baixada (Alter Bridge)
31 Oct 2026 - Santiago, Chile - Estadio Nacional (Mammoth + Nuclear)
1 Nov 2026 - Santiago, Chile - Estadio Nacional (Mammoth + Nuclear)
7 Nov 2026 - Auckland, New Zealand - Spark Arena (Megadeth)
8 Nov 2026 - Auckland, New Zealand - Spark Arena (Megadeth)
11 Nov 2026 - Adelaide, Australia - Entertainment Centre (Megadeth)
13 Nov 2026 - Melbourne, Australia - AAMI Park (Megadeth)
15 Nov 2026 - Sydney, Australia - Allianz Stadium (Megadeth)
18 Nov 2026 - Brisbane, Australia - Entertainment Centre (Megadeth)
19 Nov 2026 - Brisbane, Australia - Entertainment Centre (Megadeth)
24 Nov 2026 - Yokohama, Japan - K-Arena
25 Nov 2026 - Yokohama, Japan - K-Arena
