K-pop agency JYP to ink partnership with China's Tencent

JYP Entertainment, the K-pop agency that manages acts like TWICE and 2PM, on Wednesday announced it will sign a strategic partnership with Chinese technology giant Tencent.

Under the deal between JYP and Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME), JYP will provide music to TME's platforms, like QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing, according to the company. The two companies will also cooperate on joint marketing and promotional events.

"We are happy to join hands with JYP to create additional content value and to provide (content) to hundreds of millions of music fans in China," TME said in a Korean-language statement provided by JYP. "We anticipate it will be an opportunity to upgrade a place for K-pop culture exchange by highlighting the diverse values of JYP artists."

JYP said it "hopes to contribute to the development of K-pop through not only music by JYP artists but through high-quality content."

Founded in 1997 by K-pop singer and producer Park Jin-young, the agency represents some of the most popular K-pop acts, like girl groups TWICE and ITZY, as well as boy bands 2PM and Stray Kids.

The agency has also collaborated with global companies to launch K-pop acts, such as Chinese boy band Boy Story with TME and Japanese girl group NiziU with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. (Yonhap)