Who’s the Bosse

mpe-today-february-300x300-bosseWho doesn’t love a fairy tale? Keep the faith, people: Today’s industry teaches lovely lessons. Like winter weather, things can change in the blink of an eye. It was 2013. Bosse Lundquist, former head of radio at Sony Music, had just started his own company The Music Box, based in Sweden and focusing on independent radio promotion. Former collaborator and former Sony Music artist Albin had been released from his Sony contract when he reached out to Bosse asking him if he wanted to be his manager.

“That was a pleasant surprise,” Lundquist shared. “I had no plans in that. I had more plans to work as A&R and production manager, to help out. That was the plan, not being a manager. I had started my radio business when Albin, who I had worked with for 3 singles at Sony, gave me a call. I said ‘Of course, let’s try it out.’”

“The first thing I wanted to do when I started my own radio business was to get in touch with Play MPE®, because I had been working with Play MPE® at Sony and Warner and I want to have the same tools that all the majors have to send out the music. (Because I know a lot of the Independents in Sweden send files using Yousendit, WeTransfer and so on. I wanted to have something good that I know works. It’s really good.” Thanks, Bosse! Back atcha!

Lundquist’s new collaboration with the now 24 year old Albin began with “Din Soldat”, a song that Albin had written with producer and songwriter Mattias Andreasson. Bosse contacted singer Kristin Amparo (John De Sohn’s “Dance Our Tears Away”) who immediately agreed to sing the chorus. “We had the song that we really really liked,” Lundquist said. “I went round to all of the labels, and everybody turned us down. I went to the publishers and everybody turned us down. Then we decided to release it through my little label through SpinUp.” Universal’s web service SpinUp allows artists to upload songs to iTunes and Spotify, and puts them in a pool of candidates whose music and streaming activity are monitored by scouts.

Albin described the climate around which the “Din Soldat” blazed its trail. ‘Din Soldat’ was written last fall when I was going through a tough time, I felt like I had run out of luck and after a bad year I felt as though nothing was working out for me; I needed someone who wanted to fight for me. At the same time, I was really inspired to be working with my current producer. It felt like it was a turning point in my music; from the very beginning when we were in the studio it felt completely right. We got into our rhythm really fast and wrote the lyrics in less than 30 minutes. Even back then it felt like the song could be really good!”

Within just 2 weeks, “Din Soldat” had 300,000 streams on Spotify. 300,000. “That’s the way it started and then Universal got in touch about wanting to sign Albin. You never know,” Lundquist smiled. “We’re six times platinum with that single. And the new one is number 17 at radio. It’s going great for Albin. I’m really pleased.” Albin gleefully shared his own love: “I’m so happy and grateful to everyone who helped us get where we are.”

We asked Bosse if this experience has altered the business model he had originally intended for The Music Box. “Yeah,” he acknowledged. “I’ve signed three more, maybe four artists to manage. I work with a guy called Victor Crone. Have you heard of the Eurovision Song contest? It’s really big in Europe, especially Sweden. 3 million people watch it on TV. It goes for five weeks with about 28 songs and we’re featuring an artist this weekend. One of the guys I signed after Albin. After Albin, it was like rings in the water- a lot people contacted me.” And just like…a few clicks to massive distribution, and another Play MPE® success story is born! Cheers to that, Bosse. Follow your heart and gut straight to the top of the charts.

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