ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus Embraces AI in New Musical Project, Sparking Industry Debate

Abba singer Björn Ulvaeus teases fans in London with AI-assisted musical

Songwriter tells audience at SXSW he is 'three-quarters' through writing and says technology is 'very bad at lyrics' After bringing a blockbuster hologram version of Abba to a purpose-built venue in east London, Björn Ulvaeus's next technological exploration is a musical that he's written with the help of artificial intelligence. Ulvaeus told an audience at SXSW London that he was "three-quarters" of the way through writing a new musical which he has created with assistance from AI songwriting tools. He did admit the technology had limitations when it comes to songwriting, saying it was "lousy at [writing a whole song]" and "very bad at lyrics" but was helpful whenever the 80-year-old songwriter reached a creative impasse. "You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you're stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style," Ulvaeus said. "You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea." The use of AI is a hugely contentious issue in the music industry. This year, Dua Lipa and Paul McCartney were among hundreds of artists who signed an open letter urging the prime minister to protect artists' copyright and not "give our work away" to big tech. Ulvaeus said AI isn't the creative threat but rather a collaborator. "It's fantastic. It is such a great tool," he added. "It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame. It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn't think of before." The musical is far from Ulvaeus's first flirtation with technology. Abba Voyage, the concert which launched three years ago in a purpose-built arena that featured digital avatars of the band, has been a huge success and was described as a "dazzling retro-futurist extravaganza" by the Guardian. It was a risky venture as Pophouse Entertainment, the company behind the project needed to bring in £140m in order to break even. He told the audience at SXSW London that he embraced experimental approaches to songwriting and studio technology much earlier in his career. This experimental approach is characteristic of Ulvaeus's career-long fascination with technological innovation. During his time in Abba, he along with bandmate Benny Andersson "always wanted the latest thing", and were among the first to use the Mini Moog synthesizer and use digital recording machines in their studio. "We were always on the lookout for, you know, you would hear a sound on the record. How was that done? And then you get that stuff," said. The Abba songwriter told the audience that he sees AI as the latest evolution in his career rather than a threat which is how it is perceived by many. "I actually wake up curious every morning," Ulvaeus said, explaining the drive that has kept him creating decades after Abba's peak. "Everything's really after our wanting to try new things."

ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus discusses writing musical with AI and ABBA future

"It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame," he said during a talk at SXSW London. The ABBA singer, who is president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, previously warned of the "existential challenge" AI represents to music. ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus was at the inaugural edition of London's SXSW festival yesterday and revealed he is writing a new musical using AI. He referred to artificial intelligence as "such a great tool" and discussed his project during a talk at SXSW London. "It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame," he said. "It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn't think of before." Ulvaeus discussed the technology's limitations, saying that it is "very bad at lyrics" and that he believed AI's most useful application was to help artists overcome writer's block. "You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you're stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style," he explained. "You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea." Ulvaeus previously warned of the "existential challenge" AI represents to the music industry. He is the president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), a non-profit organisation that represents songwriters and composers around the world, collecting and paying royalties to its members whose music has been used in broadcasts and on streaming services. The organisation has produced reports on AI use in music. Most recently, one of their studies suggested that music creators could lose nearly a quarter of their income to AI by 2028. Regarding this report, Ulvaeus stated that governments have the power to step in and give a helping hand to creatives. "For creators of all kinds, from songwriters to film directors, screenwriters to film composers, AI has the power to unlock new and exciting opportunities -- but we have to accept that, if badly regulated, generative AI also has the power to cause great damage to human creators, to their careers and livelihoods." "Which of these two scenarios will be the outcome?" Ulvaeus continued. "This will be determined in large part by the choices made by policy makers, in legislative reviews that are going on across the world right now. It's critical that we get these regulations right, protect creators' rights and help develop an AI environment that safeguards human creativity and culture." During the SXSW discussion in London, Ulvaeus also noted that he was "three quarters" of the way through writing the follow-up to the Swedish legends' hologram-based ABBA Voyage concert series. ABBA has just celebrated the third anniversary of their acclaimed virtual concert experience 'Voyage' by introducing new songs to the setlist. ABBA Voyage first kicked off in May 2022, and was due to wrap in November 2024, but has since been extended to January 2026 due to overwhelming demand. Elswehere, SXSW London has faced intense criticism after former UK prime ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron were among the unannounced speakers. Screenshots were leaked of the un-shared programme that included Blair talking on a panel called Government and AI, which also featured Technology Secretary and Labour Friends of Israel member Peter Kyle. Blair spoke at the conference's opening day, saying that Britain needs to fully embrace artificial intelligence in public services and that we "could have AI tutors" along with "AI nurses, AI doctors". The panel appearance, which was not announced to the public or artists, prompted many artists to cancel their planned performances at the festival. Sam Akpro, Rat Party, Magnus Westwell, Saliah and LVRA were amongst the artists who pulled out, with the latter accusing the festival of "artwashing", saying that "whilst the music team were pulling together a diverse, 'cool' lineup, the conference team were booking speakers from multiple organisations deeply complicit in the current genocide of Palestinian people." "I implore artists to engage, rather than ignore, those things that affect us and strive to protect the most marginalised voices in the world," LVRA added. "I urge us as a community to think bigger, and better, than the scraps offered to us today.

ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus Working on an AI-Assisted Musical

A-ha Singer Morten Harket Reveals Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis Having already found success with holograms, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus has revealed that he's writing a musical with help from another cutting-edge (and controversial) technology, AI. "It is such a great tool," Ulvaeus said at The Future of Entertainment panel Wednesday at SXSW London. "It's unimaginable that you can bounce back and forth with a machine, or a software, which can give you ideas to go in various different directions." While Ulvaeus didn't go too in detail about the musical, he said that his work on the project was three-quarters finished, and clarified that he was employing AI as "another songwriter in the room" as opposed to letting the tech just formulate entire songs. "A misconception is that AI can write a whole song. It's lousy at that -- very bad. And thank God! It's very bad at lyrics as well. But it can give you ideas," Ulvaeus said (via The Hollywood Reporter). "You have written a lyric about something, and you're stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style. So you can prompt the lyric and the style you want, asking, 'Where would you go from here?' And it usually comes up with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea. That's how it works." Ulvaeus embrace of AI comes at a time when many of his musical peers are voicing their concern about the technology: In May, over 400 artists -- including Elton John, Dua Lipa, Kate Bush, and Paul McCartney -- signed a letter calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to update U.K. copyright laws in the face of AI. This past December, artists, publishers, media companies and more banded together to form the Creative Rights in AI Coalition, which aims to keep the current copyright protections in place despite the U.K.'s continued courtship of AI technology. While ABBA released their album Voyage in 2021, the Swedish quartet's first LP in 40 years, Ulvaeus quipped that AI is incapable of writing an ABBA song -- "It says, 'No, we can't do that'" -- but joked that, opposed to his longtime ABBA co-writer Benny Andersson, AI "is quicker and does exactly what you tell it."

ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus on Writing a Musical Assisted by AI and Those Kiss Avatars: SXSW London

Death of "Grassroots" Live, Electronic Music Venues Gets U.K. Parliament Review: SXSW London Björn Ulvaeus, the Swedish ABBA singer, as well as songwriter, music producer and co-founder of Pophouse Entertainment, may be 80 years old, but he continues to be excited to create and tell stories through music and beyond. That was one of the key messages of his appearance during a Wednesday "The Future of Entertainment" session at the first-ever SXSW London, which drew a huge crowd to the hip East London neighborhood of Shoreditch. In a wide-ranging discussion, he addressed writing a musical with the help of artificial intelligence, the London hit show featuring ABBA avatars and why his company is betting on Kiss to have success with a similar show. "Right now, I'm writing a musical assisted by AI," the hitmaker shared on stage. While not sharing much detail on the project, he mentioned that it is a collaboration with a female creative partner and that he was about three-quarters through his work. So what is his experience creating music with AI? "It is such a great tool," he told the SXSW London audience. "It's unimaginable that you can bounce back and forth with a machine, or a software, which can give you ideas to go in various different directions." But Ulvaeus also made one thing clear: "A misconception is that AI can write a whole song. It's lousy at that -- very bad. And thank God! It's very bad at lyrics as well. But it can give you ideas." He shared an example to illustrate a point. "You have written a lyric about something, and you're stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style. So you can prompt the lyric and the style you want, asking, 'Where would you go from here?'" he explained. "And it usually comes up with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea. That's how it works. It's like having another songwriter in the room with huge reference frames. It is really an extension of your mind." Speaking of songwriting partners, Guardian music writer and on-stage interviewer Laura Barton asked Ulvaeus how AI compares to collaborating with ABBA partner Benny Andersson. "It's quicker and does exactly what you tell it," he responded to laughter. "But it's not the same thing as having a songwriting partner." More laughs ensued when Barton asked if Ulvaeus has ever asked AI programs to write ABBA lyrics. "It says, 'No, we can't do that,'" he replied. But he shared that he and Andersson haven't only produced hits. "There was a period when Benny and I didn't quite know what garbage was," he quipped. "There's proof of that. People don't listen to that." The ABBA star currently serves as the president of CISAC - the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. So he also had business insight to share on how the AI and music sectors should collaborate. "The AI music generators train on copyrighted material. They train on all the world's music. And for that, we feel that they should be paying something towards the songwriters and the artists and all those who actually created what they need to be able to create their AI models," he emphasized. "I think it's slowly happening. There's a debate going on in the music and the tech industries about how that remuneration might happen. Also, the U.K. government is supposed to take decisions about how to regulate, how to look at AI and so is the European Union." He then suggested that a likely model to follow with AI is that of streaming deals. "I think the model that is closest is the model that we have in streaming services where they have you subscribe, and part of the subscription goes back to the music industry, and that's what happens with Spotify, Amazon and all the others," he said. "That one might be the one that applies to this as well, but AI is something completely different, so we don't know." Ulvaeus co-founded Pophouse in 2014 together with EQT founder Conni Jonsson. The company acquires and develops entertainment brands within music, podcast and gaming. In 2022, it also began a push into music catalogue investments. On Wednesday, he highlighted that this has allowed him to work with music from such names as Avicii, Cyndi Lauper and Kiss. In 2021, ABBA unveiled their comeback with the release of the album Voyage and the virtual stage show ABBA Voyage in London, ticket sales for which topped the 2 million mark in its first 19 months. Ulvaeus discussed the success of the offering and how other musical acts will benefit from similar shows. "Kiss, we believe, could be a very interesting avatar experience in the kind of Marvel universe" in the digital age, he said. Indeed, Pophouse unveiled at the end of 2023 that "Kiss, the legendary rock band known for electrifying live performances over a 50-year career and sales of more than 100 million records worldwide, is marking the end of its physical existence by crossing into the digital world. The new Kiss avatar shows will be the second immersive, avatar-powered music concert project that Pophouse Entertainment is involved in -- following the success of the ABBA Voyage show in London, where Pophouse is the lead investor." In Wednesday's conversation, Ulvaeus also discussed his continued appreciation of popular music, sharing that he currently enjoys Lola Young's "Messy," from which he intoned a line of the chorus, and how artists can future-proof their legacies in a rapidly changing landscape, including AI, immersive experiences and touring. SXSW London runs through June 7. Penske Media, the parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, is the majority stakeholder of SXSW.