Will Weverse’s Listening Party Feature Be a “Stationhead Killer”?

We’re coming up on the 10th anniversary of the Instagram Story. While it’s become a mainstay of public communication and social media, I’m young enough to remember when IG first received criticism for rolling out a near clone of the then-sizzling Snapchat app. At this point, Facebook had already attempted to buy Snapchat for $3 billion a few years prior. However, the Instagram Story feature seemingly stalled Snapchat’s growth at a crucial time of growth, ultimately keeping Snap from soaring into the tech-god stratosphere alongside Meta with top tech companies like Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon. Today, Snap has lost more than two-thirds of its value since it went public in 2017, while Meta remains one of the "Magnificent Seven" with more than $1.4 trillion in market capitalization.

In a way that resembles the Snapchat vs. Instagram moment, the K-pop industry and larger pop-music scene may soon find itself in a similar situation after Weverse’s latest feature launch. HYBE’s global superfan app rolled out its new “Listening Party” feature that allows users to connect their premium Spotify account with Weverse to join a collective listening session where a host plays music for all participants to hear the same songs while interacting and chatting together.

When it came to Stationhead, participating in these listening sessions meant all those who joined would not only be able to up the streams for their favorite artists, but those streams would also count for the charts in several countries, including Billboard. Music fans quickly caught on to the app (and by fans, I mostly mean the BTS ARMY, who were first to adopt and use the service in a meaningful way that caught the industry’s attention). Stationhead has become part of official rollout plans for everyone from Mariah Carey and Megan Thee Stallion to TWICE and the just-debuted KiiiKiii.

Stationhead later rolled out the ability to purchase digital downloads, created more artist-friendly tools, and launched official merch shops on the platform.

On Weverse’s side, the Listening Party feature joins a host of features that already exist on the app including merch stores, digital downloads for songs and albums, exclusive content, VOD, and artist messaging.

The latest numbers have Weverse currently counting 9.4 million monthly active users and 150 million cumulative global downloads as of the end of 2024 (per MBW), with the latest numbers from Stationhead boasting a user base of 20 million and 50 percent of users between 18-25 (Billboard).

Weverse hosts fan communities for the likes of BTS, Megan Thee Stallion, aespa, AKB48, Ariana Grande, Conan Gray and many more. However, some big labels (such as KQ Entertainment with ATEEZ, Starship Entertainment with IVE and Monsta X, or TWICE, Stray Kids and NiziU’s company JYP Entertainment) have not engaged with the service (when Weverse acquired the V Live streaming app, a source told me the artist he worked with was not joining Weverse as not to want to share data and demographic information with a competitor in Weverse parent company HYBE).

While BTS fans helped Stationhead become the pop force it is today, there may be a requirement — or, at least, a strong push — for artists to utilize Listening Party instead of Stationhead.

But Listening Party comes with a few more barriers to entry.

While Stationhead is a free service, it does require a premium Spotify or Apple Music account to connect. At the same time, Listening Party currently seems to only connect with Spotify where users need a Premium account as well. Additionally, while Listening Party is available to all users, only those who pay for the Weverse Digital Membership (which currently costs $2.49 per month, per artist, and comes with additional benefits) can host parties. So, right now, Stationhead is winning in terms of cost efficiency (especially if a fan wants to host a Listening Party for multiple artists) but the costs for either are not astronomical.

Most don’t know, but TIDAL (where I worked from about 2020 to 2023) did attempt to jump into this world as well with a “Live” feature where users could stream a playlist of songs for anyone to join in, listen and the streams would count across the board. One of the issues was how TIDAL likely did not have enough users or enough users from genres interested in hosting streaming parties. However, FCC regulations also required that the service wouldn’t feature any live talk on these streams (or the feature would be considered radio, which would create a whole host of new regulations and stipulations), which made creating engagement quite difficult. (The lord knows I tried to make Live sessions happen when I was working there…)

While it doesn’t seem like Weverse is coming as aggressively as Meta did with its approach with Instagram Stories or Threads — remember how Threads was supposed to be the “Twitter killer?” — Weverse does feel uniquely primed to bite into the massive engagement and excitement that fans create in these collective listening parties and perhaps be a larger resource to more artists in the industry.

Either way, I found it interesting while researching this story that official accounts for HYBE artists like BTS and LE SSERAFIM ask fans to join a “Listening Party” (note the capitalization), perhaps as a test of the waters? Hmm.

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—BTS won’t go straight into promo mode in June. According to a report from the HYBE shareholders meeting in Seoul on March 31, company CEO Jason Jaesang Lee shared that all seven members will have completed their military service by June, but will need “time” to decide their next move. Lee said BTS’ label is in talks with producers regarding music, but there is no set timeline or path for what’s “next” for BTS until further discussions. (Star Today)

➥ In follow-up: Seems as though NewsNation did not have the exclusive scoop on BTS’ future plans.

—BLACKPINK producer Teddy dropped the latest single with his new group today. Four-month-old group izna is the seven-member girl group formed through the K-pop survival show I-Land 2: N/a (the second season of the I-Land show that created ENHYPEN, this time with Teddy as the lead producer) who dropped “SIGN” today with Teddy co-producing. If you’d expect BLACKPINK badass-ery, “SIGN” is sweet, synth-y bubblegum pop that gets strangely more addictive the more you listen.

It’s not the type of song that will easily connect with international listeners, but the Teddy factor alongside izna having major It Girl energy makes me think it’s worth a listen.

—After a string of highly successful shows in Europe to start the year, ATEEZ announced a new North American tour. The 2025 world tour [IN YOUR FANTASY] IN NORTH AMERICA run currently has five stadium shows set at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium, Arlington, Texas’ Globe Life Field, New York’s Citi Field, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and the Estadio GNP Seguros stadium in Mexico City. If tickets sell fast enough, additional dates throughout tour also seem likely for ATEEZ’s on-fire live streak. (ATEEZLIVE.com)

—K-pop kingpin Jay Park is returning with first tour in six years: “Presented by Live Nation and MORE VISION, the tour promises fans an electrifying showcase of Jay Park’s impressive catalog, spanning over 16 years in the industry. Park has cemented himself as one of the most versatile and influential artists in the global music scene since his 2008 debut.” (Beat Magazine)

While touted as a “world tour” on its official marketing and press releases, Park currently only has dates across Asia, Australia and New Zealand until late August. No word on whether it’ll extend further.

—Tuesday, April 1: J-Hope of BTS is set to release his latest set of remixes for new single “MONA LISA,” which should make a splash on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, with his Remix so fine EP.

—Friday, April 4: With the release of the new, surprise English “Loose,” ENHYPEN seems as if they could be gearing up for a breakout pop moment. The septet has been upping their mainstream collaborators with the likes of Cirkut, JVKE, and Rob Grimaldi, as well as recent collaborations with Ava Max, Flo Rida, and Bella Poarch.

Will it be the group’s “Dynamite” moment? Unclear as ENHYPEN has yet to really solidify itself with any radio play in the States to date, but the timing does feel right after the guys’ massive 2024 and their ROMANCE : UNTOLD album securing the highest rank among K-pop acts on both the 2024 IFPI Global Album Chart and Global Album Sales Chart (only behind Taylor Swift on the sales chart).

For whatever style the song might be, the unexpectedly creepy teaser has me all the more intrigued.

—April 4: The physical version of ZEROBASEONE’s recently released BLUE PARADISE album will be available in the U.S. for the first time this Friday, April 4. While ZB1 are sensations in Korea where they were formed on the popular survival competition Boys Planet, the group doesn’t have the same chokehold in the U.S. Seeing if the group can land on the Billboard 200 will help see where they rank in the States.

—April 4: xikers, the newest boy band from KQ Entertainment and younger brother group to ATEEZ, will release their House of Tricky: Spur EP. xikers have been a bit hit-or-miss on the U.S. charts (their first and third EPs in the House of Tricky series charted within the Top 100, while the second and fourth missed it) but both the physical and digital will drop on the 4th to give maximum benefits to the young group.

—You need to watch these adorable and charming clips from Billboard’s Women in Music Awards.

-To introduce Jennie as this year’s Global Force honoree, Kali Uchis, who features on Jennie’s Ruby album, gives a genuine speech shouting out her accomplishments, noting how launching her own record label is “not easy to do” and that Ruby is “a good album”

-Jennie gives a nervous, but ultimately cute and powerful speech accepting her Global Force award, shouting out her BLACKPINK members and mother

-After mentioning their connection by both performing at Governors Ball, Suki Waterhouse presents aespa with the Group of the Year award

-aespa accepts the Group of the Year award as fans are audibly excited and cheer for each member