SM Entertainment has agreed to give Kakao Entertainment, a subsidiary of technology firm Kakao Corp., exclusive rights to circulate its albums and music as part of its alliance with the tech giant against rival K-pop company Hybe's takeover bid, music industry sources and investment banks said Thursday. They said the transfer of rights was included in a contract Kakao signed earlier this month to buy a 9.05 percent stake in SM through a rights offering and convertible shares and become a st

Hybe, the K-pop company behind boy group BTS, said Wednesday it has acquired a 14.8 percent stake in its industry rival SM Entertainment to become its largest shareholder. Hybe said in a regulatory filing that it has paid for the purchase earlier than scheduled. On Feb. 10, the company agreed to buy the shares from SM‘s founder and former chief producer Lee Soo-man for 422.8 billion won (US$335.8 million) and said the deal will be sealed on March 6. Lee had an 18.46 percent stake in SM at

The music video for the collaboration of BTS’ Jungkook and Charlie Puth, “Left and Right,” has surpassed 300 million views on YouTube. The American singer and songwriter and the Korean idol joined forces for the song unveiled in June last year. It stayed on Billboard’s Hot 100 for 17 weeks in a row after hitting the chart at No. 22. It also was No. 1 on iTunes top songs charts in 106 regions and has been streamed via Spotify over 500 million times. The single was picked

SM Entertainment on Tuesday announced its intellectual property monetization strategy, a business it sees as a core growth area and the first part of the company’s ambitious SM 3.0 business project to be unveiled. Under the plan, the K-pop powerhouse targets at reaching 1.2 trillion won ($926 million) in revenue with an operating margin of 35 percent by 2025. This would be a 134 percent growth in sales compared to the 512.1 billion won in preliminary sales last year. SM plans to achieve s

K-pop girl group Twice is getting back on the plane this April to embark on its fifth world tour, “Ready To Be." This comes a year and four months after their last world tour, with this tour to it be held on the largest scale yet. Twice will kick off the tour in Seoul at the KSPO Dome on April 15 for two days, according to a statement by JYP Entertainment on Tuesday. As of now, they are scheduled to play 17 shows in 14 different cities across South Korea, Australia, Japan and North Am

Jimin of K-pop band BTS is set to make his official solo debut in March. BTS' agency Big Hit Music on Wednesday announced Jimin will drop a new solo album titled "Face" on March 24, taking his first step as a solo musician. According to the agency, "Face" will be an album that shares Jimin's story of facing himself before embarking on a new journey as a solo artist. With the album, Jimin is set to portray his musical universe and unique talents through his charming

The music video for BTS’ “Save Me” surpassed 700 million views on YouTube on Monday, according to Big Hit Music on Tuesday. It is the band’s 11th music video to reach the milestone. It was touted as a “top-notch music video” as the artists “perform their intense choreography … in a one-take video which solidifies how strong and cohesive this group is with their performances,” commented American media outlet Fuse TV when it was unveiled. &ld

The Boyz unveiled their eighth mini album, “Be Awake,” on Monday during a media showcase in Seoul. The full-unit return comes six months after the group released its seventh mini album “Be Aware.” Eric is back with the group after a year of hiatus that he had taken due to health issues. The new album “Be Awake” tells the story of boys that fight for love after realizing they have fallen in love. The Boyz transformed into fallen angels, showing their dark insti

Tomorrow X Together maintained a spot on the Billboard 200 for the third week, according to a preview article from the publication. The group's fifth EP “The Name Chapter: Temptation” ranked No. 10 on the chart dated Feb. 25, making them the third K-pop act to sit among the top 10 on the chart for three weeks in a row, following BTS and Blackpink. The EP debuted on the chart at No. 1 and was No. 3 the following week. The album sold more than 2.18 million copies in its first week. Se

NewJeans became the first K-pop female act to sell more than one million copies of a debut album with their EP "New Jeans." The album sold a total of 1,036,811 copies by Feb. 11, according to data collected by Circle Chart. This is the first time since Circle Chart’s record began in 2011 that a K-pop act’s debut album has sold more than a million copies. NewJeans came out with its namesake debut EP on Aug. 1 and took the music world by storm as “Attention” and &

SM Entertainment raised concerns over the K-pop industry monopolization that could result from Hybe’s acquisition of SM. SM Entertainment’s Chief Financial Officer Jang Cheol-hyuk took to the company’s official YouTube Channel on Monday to lay out the reasons why the company opposes Hybe’s “hostile” merger and acquisition. The video was titled "The reason why SM is against HYBE's hostile takeover." “SM and Hybe are the largest entertainmen

The feud between SM Entertainment and Hybe is escalating as the two companies continue to refute each other's position in relation to SM founder Lee Soo-man's suspected offshore tax evasion. The allegation was first made Thursday by SM's co-CEO Lee Sung-soo, also the founder's nephew, when he posted a video to YouTube exposing his uncle's alleged offshore tax evasion. In the video, the CEO claimed Lee Soo-man had established a production company in Hong Kong in 2019 unde

Jungkook of BTS amassed 500 million streams on Spotify with “Left ＆ Right,” a collaboration with American singer and songwriter Charlie Puth. He achieved the feat in record time for a K-pop solo artist and has been breaking records with the song on the platform, reaching milestones in the shortest time in K-pop history: 100 million streams in 24 days, 200 million in 61 days, 300 million in 104 days and 400 million in 159 days. The single was released in June and debuted on Spotify&r

The revival of the group Brave Girls has come to its unfortunate end, with the quartet officially terminating its activities as of Thursday. Brave Entertainment, the label behind the four-member K-pop girl group, announced on Thursday that the band will end its activities with the members' contracts with the agency terminating that day. "The exclusive contracts of the four members -- Minyoung, Yujeong, Eunji and Yuna -- have come to an end today. With the release of the new digital sin

CEO of SM Entertainment Lee Sung-soo broke his silence on the internal business management feud between the founder and former SM producer Lee Soo-man and the co-CEOs of SM by releasing a statement via video Thursday. Lee Sung-soo, who is also Lee Soo-man’s nephew, made allegations of offshore tax evasion against the founder and laid out 14 subjects he will touch upon from now on to explain why SM Entertainment decided it’s time to let go of him. In his first video, the CEO claimed t