Björn Ulvaeus backs MAIA Universe as sync platform signs BMG, Kobalt and Warner deals

ABBA songwriter Björn Ulvaeus has taken a stake in MAIA Universe, a Stockholm and London-based platform that helps producers find and license music.

The company announced the investment alongside new partnerships with BMG, Kobalt, Warner Music Group and Cooking Vinyl on October 19, Music Business Worldwide reported.

He is not the only Swedish hitmaker involved. Ulvaeus is joined by songwriter and producer Max Martin’s company MxM, and by the RMV studio team led by Ludvig Andersson. Andersson is the son of ABBA member Benny Andersson.

MAIA works in sync licensing, the business of placing songs in films, television, adverts and video games. Its pitch is speed. The platform runs a discovery engine where supervisors can search for music and clear the rights to use it.

The new deals widen that search pool. MAIA’s agreement with BMG covers both publishing, the songwriting rights, and recordings, the master rights in the finished tracks. Kobalt has signed for publishing, while Warner Music Group and independent label Cooking Vinyl have signed for recordings.

The numbers are large. MAIA says it now holds agreements with more than 200 labels and 90 publishing partners. It says around 10,000 tracks are being added to its discovery engine every week.

MAIA has also been appointed by the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) as a partner in its enhanced operating model. MCPS is the British organisation that collects royalties for publishers and songwriters when their work is copied or used.

What makes this stand out is the history behind the backers. Ulvaeus, Martin and songwriter Niclas Molinder previously founded Session, a venture set up to tackle the industry’s missing-data black-box problem, where plays cannot always be matched to the right writers.

For producers, this means more major catalogue in one search bar. For writers and labels, it means another route to paid placements.