Tambourine Studios is a recording studio in the centre of
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...
,
Sweden. It was set up by members of the Swedish band
Eggstone and has been running since 1991.
The studio is best known for
The Cardigans
The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows sin ...
albums, which were almost all recorded there. Besides
Eggstone themselves, other bands to have recorded there are
Bob hund,
Envelopes
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a sh ...
,
Cloudberry Jam, Divine Dennis, Green and Lady Lynette as well as international artists such as
Saint Etienne,
Good shoes
Good Shoes were a four-piece English indie rock band, hailing from Morden, London.
Biography
Good Shoes was formed by lead singer Rhys Jones and guitarist Steve Leach who often wrote and played music together as a hobby. Rhys and Steve appear ...
and
Tom Jones.
Lawsuits
Besides being a recording studio Tambourine Studios also handled the economy of several bands and artists, something that resulted in seven lawsuits among the artists and the studio.
It started in June 2010 when
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
claimed that 4,9 million
Swedish krona had disappeared from his account and been transferred to other artists' companies. Timbuktu sued the active or former companies belonging to the bands
The Hives
The Hives are a Swedish rock band that rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the album '' Veni Vidi Vicious'', containing the single "Hate to Say I Told You So". ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
The Ark,
Weeping Willows and
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, often abbreviated T.S.O.O.L., was a Swedish rock band that formed in Gothenburg in 1995 and disbanded in 2012. The band's style draws heavily from sixties and seventies rock and punk, such as Rolling Stones and Igg ...
for 5 million Swedish krona. The Hives responded with counter-suing Timbuktu for 3.2 million Swedish krona.
Some of the involved artists stated that funds were missing and claimed that Tambourine Studios borrowed money from some accounts and lent it to others, all without approval of the involved artists. In May 2011 Timbuktu recalled his lawsuit against The Hives after they had paid his company 2 million Swedish krona back. Later a settlement was also reached with The Ark.
Soon after
The Cardigans
The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows sin ...
sued The Hives for 18 million Swedish krona that they meant were lent to The Hives but never returned.
The Hives sued Tambourine Studios for 9 million Swedish krona because they felt that the studio did not perform the services correctly. In May 2012 The Hives also sued their accountancy firm
PWC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
for 177 million Swedish krona reasoning that the lawsuits had inhibited their creativity.
In July 2011 The Ark sued The Hives among others for not repaying their debts.
16 April 2013
Lund District Court sentenced The Hives to pay 23.6 million Swedish krona to The Cardigans. In the judgment report the claims about the studio making accounting mistakes were dismissed as false.
The conflicts between the different parties escalated into public smear and accusations of crimes in media. An investigation about economic crimes were started in 2011, but was later closed because of lack of evidence.
22 November 2013
Malmö District Court cleared Tambourine Studios completely in the case where they were sued by The Hives for 9 million Swedish krona. Their case was dismissed in its entirety, instead the court sentenced The Hives to pay court costs of 4.4 million Swedish krona for Tambourine Studios.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official website
{{Coord missing, Sweden
Tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
Buildings and structures in Malmö