Lee Soo Man Attends '2nd World Cultural Industry Forum', Discusses Future K-Pop Technology and SM Culture Universe

Kapanlagi.com - Lee Soo Man, the executive producer of SM Entertainment, attended the '2nd World Cultural Industry Forum (WCIF)' which was broadcasted live online via YouTube on July 1, 2021, and delivered a speech with the theme 'Future Technology Changes and Vision of the K-Pop Industry'.

In the forum, Lee Soo Man stated that as a producer, he always emphasizes that the influence of producers and prosumers will grow in the future. Specifically, he emphasized the importance of prosumers who voluntarily participate in content creation, reproduction, and distribution.

1. SMCU

In addition, Lee Soo Man also stated that he and SM have designed 'SM Culture Universe (SMCU)' so that prosumers can freely share their creations on various platforms. SMCU is a vision of the future world and metaverse created by Lee Soo-man and SM, where the whole world will be connected through culture without limits from the real world and the virtual world.

He also said, "From now on, all SM artists will be connected through the SMCU worldview to showcase their music and content on a grand stage. From now on, we will support the activities of prosumers by creating new future content and providing more IPs."

2. NCT Hollywood and aespa

Credit: SM Entertainment

Lee Soo Man also introduced NCT Hollywood and the worldview of aespa as examples of K-Pop that have become future content. He stated that collaborations combining artists and technology in various fields will be important in the future. A metaverse story called SMCU will be formed as a new genre, called 'CAWMAN', which is a combination of C (cartoon), A (animation), W (webtoon), M (motion graphic), A (avatar), N (Novel) to create a truly new future content experience.

In a special interview held after the speech, Jeff Vaughn, chairman & CEO of Capitol Music Group, said that he is paying attention to every step of SM and Lee Soo Man. SuperM, NCT, and aespa have been successful, but according to him, there will be more opportunities and much more to be done in the future.

3. Technology and Content

Teddy Zee, as a Hollywood film director, also stated that Lee Soo Man has made a significant contribution in combining technology and content. He also said, "aespa is not just a simple girl group, but a concept that symbolizes the revolution and future of K-Pop."

In the second session, CEO of SM Entertainment, Lee Sung-soo, participated as a panel speaker to discuss SM's metaverse strategy regarding the combination of the virtual world and the real world, as well as the changes in the entertainment industry. He said, "Music is a universal language. SM has created many quality music with CT (Culture Technology) as its foundation and has a worldview that has expanded its scope to music, dance, video, and content. When realizing the metaverse, technology is something important, but another important thing is how to combine it with art and present it to the public."

In the final session, aespa appeared and performed the songs 'Black Mamba', 'Forever', and 'Next Level' with AR and XR technology presented by the online concert 'Beyond LIVE', where idols and fans from all over the world can communicate directly in a two-way manner.

(kpl/ssm)