Editing Stig Anderson (section)

== ABBA ==
In the early years of ABBA's existence, Anderson co-wrote many of the songs' lyrics, among them some of the band's biggest hits, such as "[[Ring Ring (ABBA song)|Ring Ring]]" (1973), "[[Waterloo (ABBA song)|Waterloo]]" (1974), "[[Honey, Honey]]" (1974), "[[I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do]]" (1975), "[[Mamma Mia (ABBA song)|Mamma Mia]]" (1975), "[[SOS (ABBA song)|S.O.S]]" (1975), "[[Dancing Queen]]" (1976), "[[Knowing Me, Knowing You]]" (1977) and "[[The Name of the Game (ABBA song)|The Name of the Game]]" (1977).<ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-09-14 |title=OBITUARY : Stig Anderson |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-stig-anderson-1239364.html |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

Sometimes referred to as the "fifth member" of ABBA, Anderson also owned the band's record label and publishing company.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/abba-the-sound-of-business-74740/|title=Abba: The Sound of Business|last=Marsh|first=Dave|date=1977-07-14|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-21}}</ref> He shared the ownership<!--of which?--> with Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and [[Michael B. Tretow]], the main [[Audio engineering|sound engineer]] for the company.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Schulan|first=Leif|date=14 January 1974|title=A Day In The Life Of Stig Anderson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=piQEAAAAMBAJ&q=stig+anderson&pg=PT81|magazine=Billboard|pages=84–85|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Anderson was one of the dominant figures behind ABBA, representing their commercial interests and global success through successful record deals. At the same time, he also managed the investment of funds and the enormous financial incomes of Polar Music, holding the majority of stocks<!--in Polar alone, or other?-->. This was an agreement dating back to 1974, and a great deal of the money came from individual record deals he struck for the group, including a ground-breaking agreement for record sales in the [[Soviet Union]] in which ABBA recordings were released in exchange for [[Barrel (unit)#Oil barrel|barrels of oil]]. In the mid-1980s, a considerable part of ABBA's fortune was lost by mismanagement, bad investments, high demands for [[taxation|tax]] and the rise of credit rates.{{citation needed|date = May 2020}}

=== Legal disputes ===

The contract with the performers, as well as the international distribution, ran from a standard publishing and recording deal involving identical contracts, rather than from one written specifically with the performers of the band. This led to problems later, when three of the four ABBA members terminated their relationship with Anderson when it was revealed that Anderson had used this contract to take a percentage of profits at a value of 4.5 million [[euro]]s over the course of many years. A complaint against Anderson was submitted to the Stockholm District Court in June 1990 by Agnetha Fältskog's company ''Agnetha Fältskog Produktion AB'', Benny Andersson's company ''Mono Music AB'', as well as a Dutch company holding Björn Ulvaeus's rights. The dispute was eventually settled out of court in July 1991; the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.{{citation needed|date = May 2020}}

In 1982, Anni-Frid Lyngstad had sold all the shares in the Polar Music company given to her by Anderson, as she moved abroad.<ref name = obitulary/> She remains the only member of the band never to seek legal recourse for past [[Royalties|royalty fees]] and was not involved with the legal proceedings against Anderson.{{citation needed|date = May 2020}}