Entertainment

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  Girl band Aespa signs with American agency CAA targeting global market SEOUL -- South Korea's K-pop rookie Aespa has signed with an American agency to gear up for international activities. The band, which debuted in November 2020, is the brainchild of SM Entertainment, an entertainment powerhouse well known for bands such as Super Junior, SHINee, and Red Velvet. SM Entertainment said in a statement on July 23 that the four-member girl band signed an agreement with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a 2021-07-23
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  K-drama 'Hotel Del Luna' to be recreated in Naver's metaverse platform SEOUL -- Users of Zepeto, a metaverse platform operated by South Korea's web service company Naver, will be able to adorn their online avatars with apparel and accessories from "Hotel Del Luna," a popular 2019 K-drama starring singer-actress IU and actor Yeo Jin-goo. They can recreate famous scenes at virtual spaces. Metaverse is an online space where users can interact with each other using virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) te 2021-07-23
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  BTS named S. Korea's special presidential envoy for public diplomacy: Yonhap SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in appointed South Korean boy band BTS as his special envoy for public diplomacy. In their capacity of "special presidential envoy for future generations and culture," the members of the group plan to attend major international meetings, including the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly slated for September, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said. They will send a message of consolation and hope for the youth ar 2021-07-21
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  BLACKPINK to nest in social media fan community operated by BTS' agency SEOUL -- Girl band BLACKPINK will nest in Weverse, a social media fan community operated by BTS' agency Hybe, to communicate with global fans. "We hope the range of communication between BLACKPINK members and their fandom Blink expand through Weverse," YG Entertainment said in a statement on July 14. The four-member girl band will open its social media channel in Weverse on August 2. YG and Hybe forged a partnership in January to collabora 2021-07-14
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  BTS fan community Weverse opens slot for K-pop idol duo Mad Monster SEOUL -- Weverse, a hotsy mobile fan community platform run by the agency of South Korean superstar BTS, opened a slot for Mad Monster, a virtual idol duo that has been created by two comedians by utilizing face filters and auto-tuned vocals, in recognition of their fast-growing popularity among K-pop fans. "We will open a community of Mad Monster, a world-class idol group which is shaking the global music market," said the operator of Weverse that a 2021-07-05
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  JYP works with blockchain company to launch K-pop-based NFT platform business SEOUL -- JYP Entertainment, a major K-pop powerhouse in South Korea, joined hands with a domestic blockchain company to launch a non-fungible token platform business that utilizes the intellectual property of JYP artists. JYP said it has signed a strategic business alliance with Dunamu, the operator of South Korea's major cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, to produce and distribute NFT-linked digital goods while working for a platform business that develop 2021-07-01
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  SM founder presents 'Content Universe' as new company vision SEOUL -- As a new vision, SM Entertainment presented a "content universe" where original content will be infinitely expanded and recreated by individual prosumers who both consume and produce. Prosumer, coined by American futurist Alvin Toffler, is a portmanteau of producer and consumer. SM's killer content, which has been accumulated for 27 years, will be increasingly valuable, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man said as he envisaged his new visi 2021-06-29
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  Wattpad merges studio division with American subsidiary of Naver's web cartoon wing SEOUL -- Wattpad, a Canada-based website and app for writers to publish new user-generated stories, will merge its studio division with WEBTOON, the American subsidiary of Naver's web cartoon wing, to strengthens the parent company's global leadership in intellectual property, digital comics and web novels. Naver, a top web portal service operator and IT company in South Korea, took over Wattpad to strengthen and diversify its content service targettin 2021-06-24
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  SM founder discloses strong desire to expand platforms to metaverse SEOUL -- SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man disclosed his strong desire to expand platforms to the metaverse, which is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, saying culture would be combined with technology to present new content experiences. "Future producers need to be culture scientists, and we need a lot of culture scientists to produce the 2021-06-24
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  CJ ENM forges strategic partnership with Japan's TBS to co-produce content SEOUL -- CJ ENM, the South Korean entertainment group that produced the Oscar-winning 2020 film "Parasite," forged a strategic partnership with Japan's broadcasting group TBS to co-produce and distribute various content covering dramas, movies, entertainment and animation for Japanese and global fans. CJ ENM and TBS will also push for the co-production of web cartoons, organize offline concerts, and develop content formats. Web cartoons, widely k 2021-06-15
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  S. Korea lifts ban on outdoor concert halls to have up to 4,000 audience SEOUL -- South Korea lifted a ban on outdoor pop concerts about 14 months after a coronavirus pandemic sparked a strict social distancing campaign and sent many K-pop artists staying away from fans. Only a small number of artists like BTS have been engaged in intermittent musical activities through online concerts. From June 14, South Korean artists can invite up to 4,000 quiet fans to offline concerts because shouting or slogan chanting is banned. Health authorit 2021-06-11
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  Spotify to unleash enhanced album for TWICE's 'Taste of Love' SEOUL -- Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, will unleash an enhanced album for TWICE's "Taste of Love" that would be released worldwide on June 11. Spotify's enhanced album serves as a window for artists to tell their artistic inspiration and behind-the-scenes stories to listeners. TWICE is the third K-pop band to release Spotify’s enhanced album after BTS and BLACKPINK. The enhanced album feat 2021-06-10
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  Kakao to shut down personal streaming service's profit-making system SEOUL -- South Korea's web service company Kakao will shut down the profit-making system of its personal streaming service to focus on media businesses including the production of original video content. The strategy to narrow its focus in the media content sector benchmarks that of Netflix, the American over-the-top service operator which has become the world's most popular media with endless waves of high-quality original content. A personal streaming se 2021-05-31
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  KT to develop blockchain-based performing arts content platform SEOUL -- South Korea's leading telecom company KT has formed a consortium with a provincial government to develop a blockchain-based media platform using non-fungible token technology that would help performing artists make a profit and claim rights to their content. A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unit of data stored on a blockchain network of interlinked virtual ledgers. It is similar to warranty certificates that come with luxury goods. Each NFT is certified 2021-05-31
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  LG Electronics kicks off promotion campaign with Charlie Puth and Jackson Tisi SEOUL -- American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth and Jackson Tisi, a filmmaker based in New York, joined an international campaign launched by South Korea's LG Electronics to help young people create songs and video content about meaningful memories in life and post them on social media. LG's "Life's Good" campaign is aimed at giving young people around the world the opportunity to let their creativity and talent shine. For this year 2021-05-28
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  ​BTS' full-English song 'Butter' garners more than 25mln views on YouTube in two hours of release SEOUL -- BTS has rocked the global music scene with its new song "Butter". The seven-member band's second full-English song garnered more than 25 million views on YouTube in less than two hours of its release. Online music communities heated up wildly as soon as BTS released its new dance-pop song through various online music services including YouTube at 0400 GMT on May 21. Hundreds of thousands of fans flocked to leave comments of a 2021-05-21
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  K-pop singer AleXa collaborates with Kuwaiti-Saudi artist Bader AlShuaib in Spotify's cross-border project SEOUL -- K-pop artist Alexaundra Christine, better known by her stage name AleXa, will collaborate with Kuwaiti-Saudi artist Bader AlShuaib as part of Spotify's global artist program, RADAR, which is designed to help emerging artists reach the next stage in their careers and strengthen their connection to listeners. AleXa would be the first RADAR KOREA artist to participate in a cross-border collaboration project on Spotify, the world's most popular au 2021-05-18
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  K-pop girl band GFRIEND announces disbandment SEOUL -- K-pop girl band GFRIEND has left many K-pop fans stunned by a surprise announcement that the six-member band will be disbanded in May, six years and four months after its first public appearance. "We express our deepest gratitude towards our fans who loved GFRIEND, and we wish for a lot of love and applause for members who will begin their new activities in a variety of fields," Source Music said in a statement on May 18. The agency said G 2021-05-18
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  Parasite director Bong finishes working on animated movie scenario SEOUL -- Bong Jun-ho, the director of the 2020 Academy-winning film "Parasite," has finished working on an animated movie scenario that deals with a story involving deep-sea creatures and humans. It would be a full computer graphics animation. Visual effects will 4th CREATIVE PARTY, a content media company based in South Korea, is responsible for visual effects. Bong's scenario was completed in January. He is curre 2021-05-13
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  CJ ENM organizes audition in S. America to form idol group targeting Spanigh-language fans SEOUL -- South Korea's entertainment group CJ ENM will organize an audition program in South America to form a male idol group targeting Spanish-language fans in the global market through cooperation with a Spanish-language content producer and HBO Max, an American subscription video-on-demand streaming service. The idol group will be created through training under a K-pop idol production system, CJ ENM said, adding K-POP artists and South American stars wo 2021-05-06