You can hear the sound of a guitar to the rhythm of a drum. The audience is full and few were able to identify that it was the song “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”, by the rock band Kissrevealing the presence of a mostly young audience. A photograph of a man appears. “This is my father, Michael”, reveals Kim Nyström, CMO at Pophousean entertainment company that puts iconic music names back into the spotlight, working to reimagine its brand. “My father is 70 years old and it’s obvious to him that this song is by the rock band Kiss. From the 70s, painted in black and white, four boys from New York, with iconic makeup and explosive shows.”
Another photograph appears, this time of a boy. “This is my son, Fred. He’s 10 years old, he likes hip-hop, Roblox and cool toys, like anyone his age,” says Kim. “If I play this song, he won’t recognize it. However, if I show him the Kiss logo, he instantly recognizes it, but he thinks of different things than my father, like the pictures Funko Pop. We have two very different perspectives here, one rooted in nostalgia and the other shaped by a distinct cultural landscape.”
The logic seems simple: older people know bands older, the younger ones not so much. However, the issue is more complex. Claire Houghton-Price, the company’s creative director, explains that, “Nowadays, everyone carries the entire history of every song they’ve ever recorded with them on their cell phone, and that’s something we’ve gotten used to and no longer find fascinating. What’s fascinating, though, is what people are choosing to listen to among all this music, and in fact the older songs are getting more and more attention.”
Old songs are given new life through series and films like ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Saltburn’
According to the speakers, who spoke to the public on the last day of the Web Summitthese songs – those that are already more than 18 months old – are called “catalogue songs”, and are expected to occupy 90% of total music consumption by 2030, a number not only driven by older generations, but also by younger ones. In fact, 51% of the music listened to by young people between the ages of 18 and 25 is “catalog music”, which is why the speakers conclude that “good music doesn’t disappear, it lives discreetly behind the scenes until the right moment brings it back”.
This is the case of “Running Up That Hill”, by Kate Bush, which reached number one in global statistics 40 years after its release, as part of the series “Stranger Things”, or even “Murder On The Dance Floor”, by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, which 23 years later would be on the ears and lips of the world when it was used as the soundtrack for the moment in which actor Barry Keoghan danced completely naked in the film “Saltburn”.
Kim Nyström, CMO of Pophouse, on the third day of the Web Summit
Paul Devlin
“Even the best artists can disappear from view,” says Kim. “In the case of Princefor example, died unexpectedly and left his music in legal limbo, because the complexity of copyright made it almost impossible to bring music back into the culture.” Queen saw a cultural change with the film “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which introduced their music to a new generation of fans and sold the band’s catalog for more than a billion dollars (around 870 million euros at current prices) last year alone. “This is the power of context”.
Kim and Claire say that bringing back notoriety to artists involves getting to know them better first. “We want to make sure we understand every aspect of the artist’s journey and identify that unique creative DNA that has made them so successful,” they explain. “In the case of Cyndi Lauper, we spent a week with her in London going to musicals, exhibitions, good restaurants… just listening to her talk about her childhood and how she grew up surrounded by nature.”
Claire Houghton-Price, creative director at Pophouse, on day three of the Web Summit
Paul Devlin
However, it is especially important to also listen to the fans, who “don’t just listen to the music, they also carry the meaning, memories and stories associated with it”. Something that, according to the speakers, was especially true in the case of the DJ and music producer Avicii (Tim Bergling), who died in 2018. “When we started working with Avicii’s family, everything was at a standstill. websitesocial networks, everything. But this does not mean that people have moved on”, they indicate.
“We saw that the fans They were still there, waiting, holding space, talking to each other and keeping it alive in spirit. So, together with the family, we decided to reactivate Avicii’s legacy with just a few posts, enough to say ‘we see you, and we are here too’. But then what started as a standstill grew and became a lively and vibrant celebration, led by fans who were until then silent.”
A technology is resurrecting iconic bands like ABBA and Kiss
Pophouse, which also worked with bands ABBA and Swedish House Mafia, has been trying to build bridges between people like Kim’s father, aged 70, and son Fred, aged 10, by promoting immersive experiences using technology that not only bring the artist to those who already know him, but also make him known to those who were not yet alive to witness a live concert. They did it with ABBA, through “ABBA Travel”, a virtual reality concert that presents the band members as virtual avatars (with the same look they had in 1979) and with Kiss, in the same way.
The “ABBAtares” on stage, in 2023
Abba Travel
Brian May and Roger Taylor, from the band Queen, also spoke to NME about the possibility of bringing Freddie Mercury and John Deacon back to the stage through avatars, although there is no confirmation yet. “THE Freddie lives on through the music we listen to constantly. In a way, John is also still with us, but now we have so many other opportunities…”, points out May. “It will be possible to provide people with an experience very close to what we experienced when we were Freddie, John, Brian and Roger. And that really attracts me […] It wouldn’t just be reproducing old images or something like that. It would be creating Queen as if we were creating them today. I’m really excited about the idea of being able to go back to being the original Queen.”
“This year marks 50 years since the album ‘Dressed To Kill’ was released, and if you know Kiss, you know that this is one of the most iconic albums of all time”, mention the speakers. “But instead of going down the path of nostalgia we decided to occupy new spaces, so we took over the TikTokwe took an immersive digital guided tour in New York and collaborated with Dsquared2 in a fashion show in which the models took to the catwalk wearing makeup like Kiss”, in addition to the immersive concert in 2023, whose avatars of the band were created by the visual effects company of George Lucas, the director and producer of film sagas such as “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”.
The band’s bassist and co-founder, Gene Simmons, pointed to 2023, in a conversation with Pophousewhich, in this way, can be “young and iconic forever”, by going to places they have never been. “This technology makes Paul jump higher than he has ever jumped before”, he said. Paul Stanley, lead singer and co-founder, added: “What we achieved was incredible, but it’s not enough. The band deserves to stay alive because it’s bigger than us. We’ve always considered ourselves more than just a music band. It’s exciting for us to take the next step and see Kiss immortalized.”
Text written by André Sousa and edited by Pedro Miguel Coelho