※ Kyungpook National University Startup Support Group, together with SKT, operates the “Startup Leap Package (Large Enterprise Collaboration Track)” for startups. Based on collaboration with large enterprises, it activates startups’ ideas and technological capabilities to drive innovative growth. ITDonga introduces promising startups participating in the Kyungpook National University–SKT collaboration track of the Startup Leap Package.

The traditional music industry followed a listening-centered model in which artists released creative works and fans consumed them. However, with technological advances, music is now evolving into an interactive tool through which artists and fans communicate in real time and participate directly.


Music tech startup Verses is attempting to shift the industry paradigm through interactive music services that directly connect fans and artists. Based on its proprietary multimodal generative AI music engine, it offers “Rappie,” which creates rap content from a single line of text, and an “AI music service” that implements artists’ AI personas. Verses’ goal is to integrate music, visuals, space, and interaction into a single experience that expands the relationship between artists and fans—in other words, between people.

Verses CEO Lee Sung-wook majored in composition and studied computing convergence technology in graduate school. He also led digital transformation at a domestic mobile music company. During this process, he focused on the inherent limitation of music services as a one-way experience and said he founded Verses “to transform music into an experience of creating together.” In its early days, Verses introduced technology-based services such as metaverse offerings and, with the advent of the generative AI era, took a bold step by developing its own AI engine.

AI rap maker Rappie, advanced into an interactive service


In September last year, Verses released the beta version of AI rap maker Rappie. When a user enters just a single line of text, it simultaneously generates lyrics, rap vocals, music, and a 3D video. Everything from the avatar’s appearance to the stage background can be customized. Even without music knowledge, users can create their own rap content in three minutes and share it on social media. At the core stands the multimodal generative AI music engine “Verses Engine 2.0.”


This year, Verses will fully launch “AI Persona Chat,” an interaction-based AI music service designed to maximize emotional connection between artists and fans. The service is structured so users can converse 24 hours a day with the artist’s AI avatar, take photos, request songs, and create content together. CEO Lee explained, “In addition to chatting, we will offer various content such as mission challenges and rap performances to narrow the psychological distance between artists and fans.”

He added, “Based on an LLM, we learn the artist’s characteristics and implement their tone of voice and personality as an AI persona,” and noted, “Unlike the traditional one-to-many communication structure, we use AI technology to support constant one-on-one conversations.” Verses conducted interviews with actual idol fans and went through a process of refining the AI’s speech style and responses. Through this, “fans can enjoy a special experience, and artists gain a new revenue model (D2F, Direct-to-Fan),” he explained. Verses is verifying its AI technology against real service environments through collaboration with large enterprises and plans to unveil the service together with a major hip-hop artist in early February.

Collaboration with SKT confirms feasibility of technology implementation


Through the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) Startup Leap Package (Large Enterprise Collaboration Type) program, Verses is collaborating with Kyungpook National University Startup Support Group and SKT. CEO Lee said, “Through the Kyungpook National University Startup Support Group, we gained opportunities to advance our business structure and verify our technology, and together with SKT, we reviewed directions for AI content services that can be applied in real telecommunications and platform environments,” adding, “It was not simple mentoring; it was a process of actually meeting the standards of technological stability and scalability demanded by large enterprises.”

In this collaboration, Verses provided content and AI technology, while SKT provided the platform infrastructure. Specifically, they attempted to connect the authoring tool functions based on Verses’ multimodal engine with SKT’s services. The two companies are discussing ways to use Rappie’s rap generation function for SKT’s call waiting tones and to link it with SKT’s AI personal assistant A. (A.Dot). CEO Lee commented, “Through this collaboration, we were able to narrow the gap between what is ‘technically possible’ and what the market actually needs.”

Presenting a new D2F-based music business model


Since its establishment in 2020, Verses has proven its technological capabilities and business potential as a music tech company. Starting with an interactive single produced with an artist in 2022, it has gone on to win innovation and top innovation awards (2023) for ▲ the “AI Meta Music System” in 2023, ▲ technology for “beat-based music video generation” in 2024, and ▲ “Espa World” in 2025.

With the commercialization of the AI Persona Chat service scheduled for February, Verses is targeting annual sales of approximately KRW 3 billion this year. It plans to verify market scalability and continue to upgrade the service based on feedback. In the longer term, the company aims to establish a standard for artist AI platforms based on Verses’ engine. This is a strategy to explore new possibilities for a D2F model beyond the existing streaming revenue structure. Verses is currently collaborating with global labels such as Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG).

CEO Lee stated, “There are many companies working with generative AI engines, but ultimately the most important factor is the business model. At Verses, the constant question has been not the technology itself, but what value we can create with it,” adding, “Going forward, we aim to expand the relationship between artists and fans through music and AI and become a pioneer of interactive experiences that make artists shine.”

Reporter Kim Ye-ji, ITDonga (yj@itdonga.com)

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