Let’s see the solo army duck… Maroon 5 and M Carry appear on the K-pop platform

Big Hit Entertainment and Naver join hands with Universal Music Group, one of the top three global record producers. It is expected that a large number of singers from Universal Music Group will enter the integrated fan community platform of Big Hit Entertainment and Naver.

According to the investment industry on the 4th, BNX, which is jointly owned by Naver and Big Hit Entertainment, is known to be promoting a global business jointly with the Universal Music Group. As a result of the interview, it is promising that BNX and Universal Music Group establish a joint venture in the US. The two companies are discussing the size of the investment and the stake.

BNX is currently operating the fan community platform Weverse. The fan community platform is an online space where artists and fans communicate, such as online concerts and solo broadcasts. On the 27th, Naver secured a 49% stake in BNX, and is also pursuing a plan to integrate Naver’s platform’VLive’ with Weverse.

Universal Music Group has a number of global pop stars such as Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, and Rihanna. It is expected that BNX and Universal Music Group will enter the fan community platform through a joint project. It is to grow from the platform of Korean K-pop stars such as BTS and IZone to the platform of global artists.

Currently, four teams from Universal Music Group, including Gracie Abrams, Young Blood, and New Hope Club, have already signed a contract with Weverse. The joint venture is established to manage and support the activities of singers belonging to the Universal Music Group, which will be largely entered in the future.

Although YouTube recently entered the online concert field, it is analyzed that the Universal Music Group chose the’K-pop platform’, which has accumulated a lot of business know-how and is growing explosively. Naver launched VLive and Weverse in 2015 and Weverse last year. Last year, as the consumption of non-face-to-face online content increased in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the number of fans looking for K-pop paid online products surged.

As of May last year, the number of paid content products of VLive (based on VLive Plus) increased five times compared to before the spread of Corona 19 (the average in January and February). During the same period, the transaction volume increased 25 times. During the one year period from July 2019 to June 2020, the growth rate of VLive active users in Europe and Africa has more than tripled compared to the 2016 year. Sales from Big Hit’s Weverse also increased significantly. Last year, the BTS online concert (MAP OF THE SOUL ON:E), produced by Big Hit and distributed through Weverse, attracted more than 993,000 people from 191 countries. Ticket sales alone reached 49.1 billion won.

An official from Big Hit said, “We cannot confirm the related facts.”

Reporter Mingi Koo [email protected]

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