On March 27.3, Korean media reported that entertainment group HYBE Labels officially announced the expansion of its cooperative relationship with Universal Music Group (UMG). The agreement was signed by UMG Chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk, and HYBE America CEO Scooter Braun.
According to the agreement, UMG is granted exclusive distribution rights to music from HYBE-affiliated artists for the next 10 years. In addition, Universal Music Group will support the promotion and marketing of HYBE artists' activities in North America.
In contrast, UMG also expanded cooperation on HYBE's Weverse fan communication platform. More UMG artists will join the platform in the near future.
HYBE and UMG first collaborated in 2017, when BTS signed a contract with UMG to distribute music in Japan. In 2021, HYBE signed a new deal giving UMG's Geffen Records the rights to distribute BTS's music in the US and other regions.
The fact that HYBE continues to expand its long-term cooperation with one of the three largest music corporations in the world is good news, during a period when Kpop is increasingly developing on a global scale. Especially HYBE's artists and music groups are proving their leading edge in the Korean music industry.
HYBE President Bang Si Hyuk expressed confidence in the partnership, emphasizing its potential to benefit artists, fans and the music industry as a whole.
Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, also agrees with this view. He praised Bang Si Hyuk's innovative vision and highlighted the partnership as an opportunity for mutual growth, especially in platform development (referring to Weverse).
However, fans of HYBE music groups have expressed concern about this decision. Because since the beginning of this year, UMG's failure to renew the contract with Tiktok has caused the music products of this group's artists to be "wiped out" from the platform.
Although under the new agreement, UMG will not exclusively distribute HYBE's music on social networking sites such as YouTube, TikTok and Meta. Meaning HYBE artists can still promote music on TikTok, despite the "war" between UMG and Tiktok.
However, in reality, currently many songs by HYBE artists, typically BTS, are still in a state of being "deleted" from Tiktok. The audience is worried that when HYBE continues to cooperate long-term with UMG, artists under the company will lose their advantage on Tiktok.
