Stig Anderson - Polar Music Prize

Polar Music Prize

In 1989, Anderson made a substantial financial donation to found the Polar Music Prize from money he made when he sold the multi-million dollar record company Polar Records. In this deal nearly all utilisation and license rights, and the registered ABBA trademark, were sold for an unknown sum of money to PolyGram shortly before the ABBA members took him to court over royalty back payments. Previously, Anderson had licenced ABBA and the members' solo releases to various labels worldwide as a way to earn more royalties. In 1998, PolyGram was in turn sold to Seagram and merged into what is now one of the Big Four record labels, the Universal Music Group, the company that today holds the rights to the entire ABBA back catalogue.

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