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SM artists heading to Hybe’s direct-to-fan platform Weverse
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 19 April 2023
K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment confirmed earlier this week that a number of its artists will arrive on Weverse later this year, that being the direct-to-fan platform operated by rival k-pop firm Hybe.
Getting SM artists like EXO, NCT, Girls Generation, Red Velvet and Aespa onto Weverse was part of the consolation prize Hybe negotiated after it failed to seize control of its competitor.
Hybe, of course, recently tried to buy itself a controlling stake in SM, which was part of a bid by SM founder Lee Soo-man to block his company’s current management team from forming an alliance with the entertainment division of South Korean internet firm Kakao.
That bid failed and it ended up being Kakao that bought the controlling stake. Though, when Hybe formally announced it was bailing on its plan to control SM, it said that it had nevertheless negotiated a “platform deal” with its rival that would result in some future collaboration.
SM launched its own fan club platform last year called Kwangya Club. But, the company confirmed on Monday “twelve SM artists … will move from Kwangya Club to Weverse”, where they will “communicate with their fans and provide media content”, as well as streaming via Weverse Live.
However, those twelve artists will continue to use another direct-to-fan service owned by SM, the artist-to-fan messaging app Bubble. It’s not currently clear if that “platform deal” might see some Hybe artists also pop up on there too, with Hybe telling the Korea JoongAng Daily that such a move had not yet been discussed.
