SOUTH KOREA (CelebrityAccess) – South Korea-based music companies continue to impact US soil and the music industry in 2023, even more than they already had in 2022.
K-Pop company Kakao Entertainment, a division of Kakao Corporation, which is currently bidding for a majority stake in SM Entertainment (after Scooter Braun’s HYBE America backed out of its bid for SM), has plans to expand globally via the US by way of acquisition and recently revealed in an investor filing that it plans to spend USD 150 million on buying one or multiple labels in the US, reports MBW.
Kakao has made good on that investor filing, most recently partnering with Sony Music’s Columbia Records via its Kakao Entertainment American division, which kicks off with one of Starship Entertainment’s subsidiary’s rising starts, K-Pop girl group IVE.
IVE’s first full-length album, I’ve IVE (I Have IVE), is set to be released on April 10. Kakao says the partnership will support global music distribution, local marketing, and album promotion across North America. The group’s pre-release track, “Kitsch,” is set to be released on March 27.
According to a media release, since debuting in December 2021, IVE has become “a K-pop powerhouse group” with consecutive hits such as “Eleven,” “Love Dive,” and “After Like.”
Kakao says that these three singles have already sold more than three million copies combined and that in just two years since the group’s debut, IVE has won 74 Korean and international music awards.
