[Exclusive] KT Subsidiary Genie Music Continues Music Supply with China Tencent and Advances VR Business

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] KT subsidiary Genie Music is accelerating the expansion of its VR (virtual reality) business. To this end, it has joined hands with Tencent Music Entertainment Group, a leader in China's online music entertainment business. Following a music supply contract, they are now collaborating on the VR business as well.

According to KT, Genie Music, and related industry sources on the 4th, Genie Music is currently confirmed to be promoting the development of entertainer VR content in collaboration with Tencent. An internal source at Genie Music stated, "We are currently collaborating with Tencent on the development of entertainer VR content." However, regarding this, Genie Music officially stated, "We plan to proceed with the VR business, but it is uncertain how it will develop in the future. So far, we have not signed any VR business development contracts."

This year, Genie Music intends to focus all its capabilities on the VR business. The goal is to expand the VR market by collaborating with famous domestic and international musicians and to create a new market called 'virtual immersive music.' Genie Music's VR business began in 2019 with the launch of the VR service 'Virtual Play.' Virtual Play is a service that provides exclusive VR content produced in collaboration with domestic and international musicians. Genie Music is developing content that integrates VR services with live performances to secure competitiveness and is also considering transitioning to a subscription-based service once a large number of VR contents are secured. Genie Music's goal is to lead the immersive content industry in the 5G era. In June last year, it was selected for the '5G Immersive Content Overseas Co-production Support Project' hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Additionally, last year, KT signed a 5G content sales contract with Migu, a subsidiary of China Mobile, the number one telecommunications company in China, and exported 5G-based K-pop live streaming services to China and Hong Kong, thereby securing distribution channels for Genie Music's VR and AR (augmented reality) content.

Previously, in May last year, Genie Music signed a K-pop music supply contract with Tencent. Through this contract, Genie Music supplies K-pop music not only to QQ MUSIC, KUGOU MUSIC, and KUWO MUSIC under the Tencent Group but also provides music to over 50 overseas platforms such as Amazon Music (USA), Anghami (Middle East), Yandex Music (Russia), Tidal (USA), JioSaavn (India), and Qobuz (France) through the global company FUGA. This strengthens its global expansion beyond supplying K-pop music to major overseas platforms like Apple Music, Google Music, and Spotify.

Based on this, Genie Music also achieved record-high performance last year. Last year's sales were 247 billion KRW, and operating profit was 11.5 billion KRW, increasing by 7.2% and 41.1% respectively compared to the previous year. ▲ Advancement of AI-based music services ▲ Expansion of global business ▲ Maximization of synergy with shareholder companies led to steady external growth, and continuous management innovation resulted in increased profitability. In particular, the growth of the AI music platform business and overseas music distribution business stood out.

By advancing the AI (artificial intelligence) music platform Genie service and increasing paid subscribers, the music service division's sales reached 183.8 billion KRW. Additionally, by strengthening global music distribution competitiveness, music distribution sales reached 52.8 billion KRW. A Genie Music official explained, "Last year, we expanded music distribution to over 80 major platforms worldwide, including Tencent, leading to sales growth."