CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun and Vice Chairwoman Lee Mi-kyung met with the head of UMG, the world's largest music company, to discuss the global growth of K-culture and the future of the entertainment industry.
CJ announced on the 20th that Lee Jae-hyun and Vice Chairwoman Lee Mi-kyung met with Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of UMG, at the 'KCON LA 2026' event held in Los Angeles, USA, on the 16th (local time). KCON is a global K-culture festival organized by CJ since 2012 that showcases Korea's diverse lifestyles including beauty, food, and content centered around K-pop performances.
The three exchanged views on changes in the global music and content markets, expansion possibilities for K-culture including K-pop, and related topics. Grainge, who represents the world music industry, visiting the KCON site directly is seen as reflecting heightened global entertainment industry interest in K-pop and K-culture.
Lee (Chairman) has viewed the cultural industry as a future growth engine since the 1990s and continued investing in the content sector. Under the vision to "change people's daily lives worldwide through culture," CJ has grown its cultural businesses including film, music, and broadcasting into core operations.
Vice Chairwoman Lee Mi-kyung has led the overseas expansion of K-content based on networks established with global cultural and entertainment industry players. By building global cooperation relationships spanning film, music, and broadcasting, she has strengthened CJ's overseas expansion in cultural businesses.
KCON, launched by CJ in 2012, has grown into a representative global K-culture platform held in various locations worldwide including the United States. It has expanded its scope to allow overseas consumers to directly experience Korea's diverse cultures and lifestyles such as beauty and food centered around K-pop.
Cooperation between CJ and UMG is also taking concrete shape. On the 15th of last month, Mnet's global girl group debut project 'Girls Planet 2027' signed a partnership with Republic Collective under UMG.
Both sides plan to collaborate from the program production stage to discover and nurture next-generation global K-pop talent, and jointly promote activities for the final debut group in the United States and other global markets. With this meeting, attention is focused on whether cooperation between CJ and UMG will expand further.
in TECH
