SEOUL, April 19 (AJU PRESS) - The Billboard magazine has partnered with South Korea's Kakao Entertainment to boost the global presence of K-pop, the U.S. magazine said Friday.
Billboard's President Mike Ven and Kakao Entertainment's co-CEO Joseph Chang have recently signed a partnership agreement on cooperation in Korean music-related content and promotion of K-pop artists' global activities. The two sides will also come up with a new K-pop-related business model.
This is the first time Billboard's headquarters has signed a partnership related to the K-pop business. "Kakao Entertainment is a key player that works with a rich pool of partners in the K-pop industry and has considerable expertise in content development, production and marketing," Van and Kim said in a joint press release. "We expect the partnership between our two companies to introduce music fans to the multi-faceted appeal of K-pop."
Billboard Korea plans to issue its first magazine dedicated to Korean music in June. Earlier this week, the Korean unit of Billboard signed a memorandum of understanding with Naver Pay, the digital wallet service of Korea's largest portal operator Naver, to collaborate on various projects integrating entertainment and payment services.
Kakao Entertainment holds the second largest stake in Korea's SM Entertainment, following its parent Kakao, and also possesses the majority shares in other Korean entertainment companies such as Starship Entertainment and EDAM Entertainment. It also operates the country's major online music streaming service Melon.
