SM Entertainment artists to join HYBE's Weverse next week

Thirteen groups and artists from SM Entertainment will join HYBE's fan platform Weverse next Tuesday. [WEVERSE COMPANY]

SM Entertainment’s artists will join HYBE’s fan platform Weverse, its livestreaming service Weverse Live and its online marketplace Weverse Shop next Tuesday.

A total of 13 groups and solo artists, including girl group SNSD, Red Velvet and aespa, boy band TVXQ!, Super Junior, SHINee, EXO, NCT 127, NCT Dream, Way V and Riize and soloists Kangta and BoA will move from SM Entertainment’s proprietary fan platform Kwangya Club to Weverse on Sept. 12.

Fan club memberships that users purchased from Kwangya Club will be automatically transferred to Weverse, the agency said.

Fans and artists will be able to communicate with each other using Weverse’s official community service, watch livestreams through Weverse Live and purchase official merchandise using Weverse Shop.

Artists from SM Entertainment have been using YouTube and Instagram’s livestreaming features ever since idol streaming platform VLIVE closed its services following the acquisition by HYBE in 2022.

“We welcome artists of SM Entertainment, who are loved by fans around the world, to Weverse,” Weverse Company CEO Choi Joon-won said in a press release.

Kwangya Club will end its services on Sept. 11. SM Entertainment’s artists will still be available on bubble, a platform run by SM Entertainment’s subsidiary Dear U. The monthly subscription-based service allows users to send one-on-one messages to artists with a monthly subscription fee.

To find out more about SM Entertainment, visit Celeb Confirmed!

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