ABBAMAIL was an

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

fan organisation on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. It was founded by Graeme Read and Grant Whittingham on 13 January 1997. The web site featured monthly columns, regular news updates, and a comprehensive archive including pictures, press releases and original articles. Revenue for the web site came from a

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

based

e-mail list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

and an

online store Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...

. It also contained a subscription-free forum and chat room. ABBAMAIL claimed to be one of the popular ABBA fan sites on the web, with over 25,000 unique hits per month. The web site was closed on 28 October 2008.

Origins

The ABBAMAIL e-mail list went live on 13 January 1997 to give ABBA fans an unmoderated voice on the Internet. The

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

list at the time, Abba-List, was criticised for not allowing

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

. Co-founders Graeme Read and Grant Whittingham (previously President and Treasurer of the Australian ABBA Fan Club from 1976 to 1983) brought their combined experience in managing such organisations to the new venture. Hundreds of people initially joined the list, and within months the web site had been created. In addition to content provided by the founders, much content was provided by the e-mail list members.

Conventions

ABBAMAIL was responsible for bringing fans together, both via the e-mail list and web site and via

fan convention Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

s held in Australia. The usual format of an ABBAMAIL convention was a welcome, followed by merchandise sales, rare or topical video presentations, a break for lunch, a guest speaker with question and answer sessions, followed by dinner and an ABBA

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

. The following conventions were held by ABBAMAIL in

- Australian Tour: 20 Year Celebration - March 1997. Special Guest - Annie Wright, who was an employee of RCA in the 1970s and accompanied the group on their Australian tour. Women of ABBA - June 1997. Summer Night City - November 1998. The ABBA Generation - November 1999. Special Guest - Shelley Benson, who was Abba's promotional manager at RCA in the 1970s. According to ABBAMAIL founders, the event was inspired by Gabriel Zubowski, an ABBA fan from Poland. CMP Down Under - September 2001. Special Guest - ABBA historian and author, Carl Magnus Palm. MAD 05 - September 2005.

The ABBAMAIL Effect

Through its ability to focus comments from a large number of ABBA fans into one forum, ABBAMAIL impacted parts of ABBA's music production, such as

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

and

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

re-releasing CDs in a corrected form. In 1997, all eight studio albums were

remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

and re-released. Audiophiles among the fan group immediately noticed errors and problems with this mastering and discussed being disappointed by the quality of the covers. The original negatives were sourced for the cover art, resulting in the first clear covers since CDs had been released. ABBAMAIL was also asked for assistance in locating additional material for the ABBA - In Concert DVD and the ABBA: The Movie DVD release. In his book, "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows - The Real Story of ABBA", author Carl Magnus Palm thanks the ABBAMAIL list along with many individual ABBAMAIL members who assisted him with his work. Fans on the list connected initially via the e-mail list. These personal friendships have resulted in people travelling around the world in order to meet face to face.

Controversy

In May 2006, ABBAMAIL were threatened with legal action by MIPI (Music Industry Piracy Investigations) working on behalf of

. ABBAMAIL had offered

bootleg recording A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and traded ...

s of non-commercially available television appearances and home-recorded live concerts on CD. According to ABBAMAIL, Universal Music had known about this for several years and previously chose not to take any action. Initially, they demanded all items in the web shop containing the ABBA logo to be removed from sale. This was completed. A new demand was issued demanding names and addresses of all ABBA fans who had purchased material from the site. This was not completed. A campaign was begun with ABBAMAIL supporters e-mailing the record company and the group's representatives to protest the action. As of 15 September 2006, the legal action was complete at a cost of over A$4,000 in legal fees. MIPI advised they were happy with the compliance with their demands and no further action was pending.Universal drops suit against ABBAMAIL
/ref>

Notes

External links

ABBAMAIL

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbamail Organizations established in 1997 ABBA Music fan clubs