ABBA, Polar Partner settle: Drop underpayment royalty suit. By David Rowley

Stockholm

The lawsuit filed by ABBA against Swedish impresario Stig Anderson alleging underpayment of royalties has been dropped following an out-of-court settlement.

The group, which in its heyday in the 1970s, outstripped Volvo as Sweden’s greatest generator of foreign income, were claiming 27 million Swedish Kroner plus interest (around $US7 million). Neither side has been prepared to release settlement details.

ABBA’s original contract with Polar Records, which they co-owned with Anderson, was for 3.5 points outside Sweden, increasing to 11 points in 1981; this total included a producer’s royalty inside Sweden and six points outside the country. But, the group members claimed that as part of a verbal agreement with Anderson, they should have received nine points from January 1st, 1983, on all records.

Anderson’s interpretation was that the nine points would be paid only on future recordings by the group, which had broken up by this point.

ABBA burst onto the world stage after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the track Waterloo, going on to sell 240 million units worldwide.Transcribed for ABBA World

Billboard (USA) · 17 August 1991 (Page 65)

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