S.M. Entertainment launches digital passport membership for fans

K-pop powerhouse S.M. Entertainment has launched the Music Nation SMTown Meta-passport, a digital passport membership for fans, the company said Monday.

The digital passport membership is a new version of identification issued by the entertainment firm to the “citizens” of SMTown Virtual Nation in August 2012. The new digital passport membership can be used to identify as a virtual Music Nation citizen.

Music Nation SMTown was established nearly a decade ago to integrate the agency’s music and performance offerings. Its passport membership was distributed to fans from 30 countries and the first citizens of SMTown, according to S.M. Entertainment.

“The ‘passport’ serves to connect the real world and the digital world (metaverse) to record and verify all information. The passport holders’ activities within every S.M. Entertainment service will be digitally recorded for diverse benefits (to the members),” an S.M. Entertainment official said.

Anyone who is a fan of SMTown as well as the agency’s artists can apply for a membership through the official page of SM Town & Store. The application period is slated to end on Jan. 31 with the digital passport membership scheduled to be distributed at 2 p.m. on Feb. 14.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)