A wildly successful South Korean music group is bringing brighter days to its fans and corporate partners.
"What is important are the choices we make when we're faced with change," said members of music's billion dollar boy band BTS, short for their Korean name Bangtan Sonyeondan, or which they adapt in English to “Beyond the Scene," at the United Nations General Assembly in September, last year.
The band was addressing future generations and young people across the world and has clearly become their top choice too.
The seven member music sensation that is rewriting the rules of the game of symphony has become the most followed music outfit across Meta's (FB) Instagram, Chinese rival TikTok and microblogging site Twitter (TWTR), according to Guinness World Records.
On March 4 Guinness World Records said, BTS has 60.1 million followers on Instagram, 45.7 million fans on TikTok and more than 44.1 million followers on Twitter. The stats were recorded on February 22 and it's no surprise that their massive fan base is growing from strength to strength.
BTS band members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook have captivated the world audience with songs like “Dynamite” “Butter" and "Permission to Dance."
In December 2021, BTS single "Butter" had been in the top spot for 18 weeks in a row, according to Billboard‘s Digital Singles chart.
"I hope we don't consider the future as grim darkness. We have people concerned for the world and searching for the answers. There are still many pages left in the story about us, and I thought we shouldn't talk like the ending has already been written," the band's members designated as the Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture said during a sombre speech at the UNGA in New York last year.
The Numbers Game
Hybe, formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment. which manages BTS, crossed $1 billion in revenue last year, according to music industry news website Music Business Worldwide.
Each member reportedly has a $17 million stake in the company. So far, the band's biggest endorsement deal estimated to be worth nearly $9 million, was with American fast food chain McDonald's MCD.
Last year, McDonald's collaborated with the hip hop music crew for a BTS Meal which included: 10 piece chicken nuggets, medium fries, a medium coke and, for the first time in the U.S, the sweet chili & cajun dipping sauce. The promotion ran through summer 2021 from May to June.
BTS members are the brand ambassadors for South Korean tech giant Samsung's (SSNLF) recently launched smartphones and tablets Galaxy S22 series and Galaxy Tab S8 series.
In 2021, french luxury brand Louis Vuitton (LVMHF) signed the K-pop group as their brand new house ambassadors. Louis Vuitton's collaboration includes a number of special projects and the members are expected to be outfitted in Louis Vuitton attire during performances and appearances.
Other big brands BTS has worked with include ice cream maker Baskin Robbins, cool sneaker maker FILA, American footwear brand Skechers, German sports shoe brand Reebok, food and beverage giant Coke, shoe company Converse, and automaker Hyundai.
In 2020, Baskin Robbins Korea released two limited edition BTS cakes. Baskin Robbins also released different ice cream flavors for each member of the band in August.
BTS has also done collaborations with Korean online gaming company Nexon. Nexon's biggest hit in the U.S. so far is MapleStory, an online role-playing game. BTS members, some of whom also love playing this game, have all designed style packages for fans of MapleStory.
