Big Hit-Universal to launch a global boy group through the US audition next year

Big Hit Entertainment and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the reinforcement of strategic partnerships on the 18th. From left clockwise, Big Hit’s BOD Chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk, UMG Lucian Grange Chairman and CEO, Interscope Gefen A&M Records John Janic Chairman and CEO, Big Hit Yoon Seok-joon, Global CEO. [사진 각 사]

Can K-pop become a new standard in the global music market? Big Hit Entertainment and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced on the 18th that they will strengthen strategic partnerships to provide artists with greater opportunities and expand K-pop’s global influence based on innovation and technology. On the 10th, UMG and YG Entertainment announced a joint investment plan at KBYK Live, a joint venture established by Big Hit and Keithwi, and foreshadowed more full-scale cooperation.

The executives of both companies jointly announced this collaboration plan at KBYK’s digital streaming platform Venue Live at 8 am. Global CEO Yoon Seok-joon of Big Hit said, “This collaboration, which applies the’success equation’ that Big Hit has established for the past 16 years with UMG to the U.S., the center of the global music market. It will prove new possibilities.”

BTS’ online concert’BTS Map of the Sol One’ held last October. [사진 빅히트엔터테인먼트]

Big Hit took the lead in this partnership. Bulletproof Boy Scouts (BTS) teamed up with Columbia Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, for local promotions in the U.S. in 2018, and Tomorrow by Together (TXT) signed a distribution contract with Republic Records under UMG in 2019 to help them advance overseas. If it had been in the position of receiving music, it has changed to a method of transplanting the know-how of K-pop, which has now emerged as the mainstream music of the world.

On the 18th, Big Hit also announced a K-pop boy group debut project to be showcased in the US market with UMG. It is similar to Niju, a girl group co-produced by JYP Entertainment with Sony Music in Japan, in a different way from Super M, co-planned by SM Entertainment and UMG’s Capitol Music Group in 2019.

The global boy group, which will operate according to the K-pop system, will be selected through an audition program that is being promoted with a media partner in the United States with the aim of airing in 2022. Big Hit and Gefen Records under UMG will set up a joint label to carry out the project based in LA. Geffen Records is a label that has produced artists from a period such as Elton John, Guns and Roses, Nirvana, and Avicii for the past 40 years, and the rookie Olivia Rodrigo, who reached No. 1 on the Billboard single chart for 5 consecutive weeks with their recent debut song’Driver License’. to be. Gefen is responsible for music production, global distribution, and audition program production, while Big Hit is in charge of discovering and training artists, producing fan content, and fan communication.

American singer-songwriter Alexander 23, who announced the joining of Weverse on the 15th. [사진 위버스]

Artists from UMG also join the Big Hit fan community platform Weverse in sequence. So far, Gracie Abrams, New Hope Club, and Alexander 23 have started community service, and more artists such as Young Blood will join in the future. The status of Weverse, which announced that it will work on an integrated platform such as Naver VLive by establishing a Weverse Company in partnership with Naver last month, is increasing. UMG’s Lucian Grange Chairman and CEO said, “I have witnessed Gracie Abrams and others actively communicate with fans through Weverse. Technological advances enable us to provide new services to artists and fans.”

As Corona 19 prolonged, expectations for Venue Live also increased. Big Hit signed a memorandum of understanding with Keithwi in May last year, and established a joint venture KBYK in September to launch Venue Live. BTS’ online concerts’Bangbang Con the Live’ and’BTS Map of the Sol One’ held last year mobilized 756,000 and 993,000 paid audiences, respectively, and presented new possibilities. Chairman Grange said, “As virtual concerts have become’new normal’, we look forward to the day when we will showcase the wonderful performances of UMG artists through Venue Live, which can provide the best technology and interactive experience.” Big Hit’s BOD Chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk said, “Both of Big Hit and UMG share values ​​and vision in that they pursue innovation in the music industry. The two companies will create synergy that will open a new era in the global music history.” Emphasized.

Reporter Min Kyung-won [email protected]