State Champ Radio K-Pop
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SEVENTEEN came together at the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris this week to share the importance of supporting young people in pursuing their dreams. The event, which marked the first-ever session at the forum dedicated to a musical artist, was attended by more than 1,300 people from around the world, including representatives from the 194 […]
BLACKPINK is up for the 2023 Billboard Music Awards‘ newly established top K-pop touring artist honor thanks to the success of its Born Pink World Tour. Whether or not the quartet takes home the trophy Sunday (Nov. 19), the group will still give fans a reason to celebrate with a gift just after the Christmas holiday.
Billboard can share the exclusive first look and details for BLACKPINK: A VR Encore coming to fans this holiday season. For BLACKPINK’s first concert in virtual reality, viewers can return to the Born Pink World Tour’s special finale show held in Seoul’s massive Gocheok Sky Dome that featured their Billboard Hot 100 hits such as “Pink Venom,” “Kill This Love” and “How You Like That” live, but also solo performances from Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa.
Emmy Award-winning production company The Diamond Bros. is producing and directing the 70-minute concert custom-made for VR in partnership with Meta. Exclusively available in VR inside the Meta Horizon Worlds’ Music Valley, Meta Quest VR headset owners in select regions get a front-row ticket to the social experience.
“We’re thrilled to embrace the dynamic world of VR because it allows us to reach an even wider global audience and share our music in an entirely new, immersive way,” BLACKPINK said in a statement. “This VR concert is not just a show; it’s an extension of the tour we poured our hearts into. We can’t wait for you to see the magic we’ve created with The Diamond Bros and Meta, and thank you to our incredible BLINKs for your endless support.”
Josh Diamond, director and executive producer at The Diamond Bros, echoes the excitement for the major collaboration. “BLACKPINK is an iconic, groundbreaking group, and being able to capture them in VR in Seoul, South Korea, for the final performance of their Encore tour was incredible,” he says. “We couldn’t be more excited to have partnered with Meta on this amazing opportunity. We can’t wait for everyone to experience it!”
Meanwhile, Vishal Shah, VP of Metaverse at Meta, points out how A VR Encore changes a typical concert viewing.
“Artists like BLACKPINK are transforming how music fans experience performances and connect with their favorite artists,” Shah adds. “We’re excited to feature this creative, social VR experience from The Diamond Bros in Horizon Worlds and can’t wait for Meta Quest owners to take a front-row seat for this amazing show.”
BLACKPINK: A VR Encore premieres in VR on Tuesday, Dec. 26, at 5 p.m. PT in Meta Horizon Worlds. Attendees can RSVP for the event now, with replays available for a month in Meta Horizon Worlds after the concert.
Get your first look at the teaser and concert poster art below, and tune into the Billboard Music Awards Sunday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. ET via BBMAs.watch or Billboard and the BBMAs social channels.
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K-pop band SEVENTEEN will return to movie theaters around the world on Dec. 16 with their live concert film SEVENTEEN Tour ‘Follow’ to Japan: Live Viewing. The film will be broadcast from Japan’s Fukuoka PayPay Dome and broadcast live to Australia, South Korea, the U.S. and Canada, Brazil and European territories; all the participating countries […]
K-pop band SEVENTEEN will return to movie theaters around the world on Dec. 16 with their live concert film SEVENTEEN Tour ‘Follow’ to Japan: Live Viewing. The film will be broadcast from Japan’s Fukuoka PayPay Dome and broadcast live to Australia, South Korea, the U.S. and Canada, Brazil and European territories; all the participating countries […]
In a stunning wrinkle in the fevered battle between Kakao Corp. and HYBE for a controlling stake in K-pop company SM Entertainment, Kakao’s chief investment officer was indicted Monday (Nov. 13) for allegedly manipulating the stock price to ward off HYBE’s rival bid.
Bae Jae-hyun, Kakao’s chief investment officer, will face a trial for violating South Korea’s Capital Markets Act, according to reports. He allegedly inflated the price of SM Entertainment shares by purchasing 240 billion won ($181.3 million) of shares while HYBE, home of K-pop group BTS, was attempting to buy a large stake in the company. Prosecutors also charged Kakao using a provision in the law that allows both a company and its employees to be punished.
The scheme to manipulate SM Entertainment’s share price stemmed from a heated competition between Kakao and HYBE to become the largest shareholder in SM Entertainment — home to such K-pop acts as NCT Dream and Red Velvet — to help rebuild the company after it terminated a production contract with its founder, Lee Soo-man. In February, HYBE acquired a 14.8% stake in the K-pop giant from Lee and attempted to acquire an additional 25% stake through a tender offer at 120,000 won ($92.36) per share. HYBE’s bid was too low, however, and the tender offer gave HYBE less than 1% of outstanding shares.
Bae allegedly acquired SM Entertainment shares to drive up the price above HYBE’s tender offer price, thus thwarting its efforts to obtain a larger stake. On March 6, Kakeo and Kakao Entertainment followed with a tender offer of 150,000 won ($115.46) per share — 25% above HYBE’s tender offer price — and ended up acquiring an additional 25% stake, bringing its ownership of SM Entertainment to 40%. HYBE abandoned its bid to control SM Entertainment on March 13 and announced on March 28 that it would sell nearly half of its stake in SM Entertainment to Kakao for 248.8 billion won ($191.8 million).
Kakao is a South Korean tech conglomerate that owns the country’s dominant chap app, KakaoTalk, and a popular taxi-hailing app, Kakao Mobility, among other products. A subsidiary, Kakao Entertainment, owns Starship Entertainment, home to such K-pop groups as Monsta X, as well as South Korea streaming app Melon. In August, Kakao Entertainment and SM Entertainment revealed their plans to create a North American joint venture by the end of 2023.
The investigation into stock manipulation started soon after Kakao and Kakao Entertainment beat out HYBE for the SM Entertainment stake. South Korean officials raided the offices of Kakao and Kakao Entertainment on April 6 and SM Entertainment’s headquarters on April 18. Bae was arrested for suspected stock manipulation on Oct. 19 before being indicted on Monday. Other executives were suspected of working with Bae to inflate SM Entertainment’s share price, according to a Reuters article at the time of his arrest, but to date no one else has been charged.
K-pop giant JYP Entertainment has signed a multi-year global strategic pact with Live Nation to produce tours for all artists on JYP’s roster, it was announced Monday (Nov. 13). Under the deal, Live Nation will produce tours for established JYP artists including TWICE, Stray Kids, iTZY, Xdinary Heroes (XH) and NMIXX as well as emerging […]
The Golden Maknae of BTS just keeps on shining. On Thursday (Nov. 9), Jung Kook graced the TSX Entertainment stage in New York City for a surprise performance of several songs off his brand new debut solo album, Golden. The first permanent stage in Times Square, the TSX stage saw electrifying renditions of Golden singles “Seven” […]
BTS‘ Jung Kook took his solo act to the Today Show on Wednesday morning (Nov. 8), stopping traffic all around the plaza outside the show’s New York studios for a live performance of songs form his just-released debut solo album, Golden. The program’s hosts said JK drew one of the biggest crowds they’ve ever had, […]
ENHYPEN‘s album rollout for its forthcoming album, Orange Blood, continues. The K-pop stars added one more piece to the puzzle of its release on Sunday (Nov. 5), sharing the album’s tracklist on X (formerly known as Twitter). The set will contain a total of five original tracks — “Mortal,” “Sweet Venom,” “Still Monster,” “Far” and […]
Jung Kook‘s Golden tops this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Nov. 3) on Billboard, choosing the pop icon’s re-recorded album as their favorite new music release of the past week. Golden brought in 88% of the vote, beating out new music releases from Olivia Rodrigo, The Beatles and more. Explore See latest […]
