SM Entertainment artists to join HYBE's Weverse fan community

Girl groups Red Velvet and aespa [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

SM Entertainment artists will join Weverse, the fan community and merchandise service and application developed by HYBE, as a part of the two companies' new collaboration announced last month.

SM artists, including EXO, NCT, Girls Generation, Red Velvet and aespa, will join the HYBE service by September 2023, opening dedicated Weverse communities and entering the Weverse Shop. Artists from SM Entertainment had been using Kwangya Club, a similar fan community service launched by SM Entertainment in June 2022.

"SM Entertainment will achieve 'SM 3.0' through the co-existence of private messenger 'bubble' and fandom platform 'Weverse,'" a press release from SM on Monday reads.

"SM will open SM artists' Weverse official communities by the end of this year."

Fan club memberships and livestreams will also be available on Weverse.

"In the near future, the Weverse platform will provide all activities related to the 'SM Artist Official Fanclub,'" a Kwangya Club announcement released on Monday reads.

"12 SM artists […] will move from Kwangya Club to Weverse, communicate with their fans and provide media content, provide Weverse Live on the Weverse platform and communicate with the global fandoms," HYBE said in a statement on Monday.

It has not been announced whether HYBE artists will be joining Dear U bubble, a platform operated by a subsidiary of SM Entertainment.

"It has not yet been discussed whether HYBE artists will join bubble," HYBE told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Monday.

The move comes as a part of the platform partnership between SM Entertainment and HYBE announced in March after HYBE abandoned its efforts to acquire SM Entertainment the same month.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]