Features
SNH48 Demoted
AKS, the company that manages Japan’s most popular female idol collective, AKB48, has announced that a sister group based in Shanghai, SNH48, will be “removed” from the AKB48 website, effectively ending its partnership with the organization.
Photo: AP Photo
The Wharehouse @ Scape, Singapore
AKS has learned that SNH48 established its own sister groups, BEJ48 in Beijing and GNZ48 in Guangzhou, last March, and says the move is in violation of SNH48’s contract with AKB48. AKS has recently decided to expand its brand “more aggressively” in mainland China, according to the website JpopAsia.com.
The company has already formed partnerships with the Chinese digital music provider KuGuo Musis and an investment management company, Zhongcai Group, as a means of accessing Chinese resources. SNH48’s unilateral action was seen as interfering with these plans.