BTS terminated their Columbia Records and Sony Music Orchard distribution deal to partner with Universal Music Group, Variety confirmed. The news, first reported by Billboard; It is not yet confirmed by the representatives of the South Korean band.
According to the information obtained, the license agreement will be with the Geffen division of UMG, with distribution by INgrooves.
BTS through HYBE (formerly Big Hit) would have maintained a month-to-month contract with The Orchard and only needs to notify Sony of their intention to change distributor. Although Universal Musical Group already distributes BTS in other territories, such as Japan.
According to Merca 20, BTS had signed with Sony for distribution in the United States in 2018, but HYBE’s CEO Bang Si-hyuk is known to be close to his Universal counterpart Lucian Grainge.
However, it should be remembered that the Columbia record label is behind the great successes of BTS in their debut in the Anglo-Saxon market with “Dynamite” and “Butter”. In fact, Ron Perry, Ceo of Columba, is even a co-writer and co-producer of the band’s latest hit.
Although there is no confirmation in this regard; The possibility of this union had already been considered, after the rumor that BTS could continue its international scale towards the Spanish market, where it also has a large number of ARMYs (as its fans are known).
Among the names that have sounded stands out that of J Balvin, who does not rule out that this collaboration may be possible in the future and is currently one of the talents registered at Universal.
Other Universal talents include: 5 Seconds of Summer, Iggy Azalea, Billie Eilish, Drake, Justin Bieber, Karol G, Juanes and Sebastián Yatra, among others.
