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The South Korean music label behind Okay-pop sensation BTS is attempting to export its star “production system” to the US because it accelerates a world acquisition push.
The firm is on the hunt for labels all over the world to compete with trade giants together with Universal Music Group and Sony, Hybe chief govt Jiwon Park informed the Financial Times.
Hybe will debut a six-member lady group known as Katseye within the US subsequent 12 months, marking the primary take a look at of the label’s mannequin abroad. With its slick manufacturing and trendy stars, Okay-pop has gone world after dominating the charts in South Korea for many years.
“K-pop is no longer performed by Korean singers only,” mentioned Park. “Rather, it is a genre of music produced with the Korean system.” He added that the corporate was “thinking hard over how to build fandoms” within the US.
“It is not easy to create an outlier like BTS again,” he admitted, noting that the boy group, at the moment on hiatus, plans to have a reunion in 2025 in spite of everything its members full navy service in South Korea. “But we continue to test audience reaction in the US.”
BTS has contributed an estimated Won14.3tn ($11bn) to the nation’s economic system over the previous decade, in accordance with the Hyundai Research Institute.
Okay-pop idols are identified for his or her enthusiastic fan bases and the gruelling, years-long coaching earlier than their debut. Management corporations spend years creating an act, choosing remaining members for a bunch after coaching a number of potential candidates.
The US group “is an attempt to globalise and localise K-pop’s methodology”, mentioned Park. “We hope that Katseye will succeed in the US and prove that the K-pop’s success formula of developing and training high-quality artists works regardless of regions and nationalities.”
Hybe’s new group comes after the corporate has made a sequence of US acquisitions lately. In 2021 it took over Ithaca Holdings, a label based by Justin Bieber’s former supervisor Scooter Braun, for greater than $1bn.
Braun serves as chief govt of Hybe America and is working to develop its operations within the US, together with orchestrating BTS member Jung Kook’s solo challenge.
This 12 months Hybe acquired Atlanta-based hip-hop label Quality Control Music for Won273bn and Latin music firm Exile Content for an undisclosed value.
“We are trying to expand our portfolio and create a system based on strong IPs like Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony to compete better on the global stage,” mentioned Park. “We can make additional acquisitions in the US and Japan. We are looking for good assets there.”
Hybe this 12 months failed to amass SM Entertainment, the Okay-pop document label behind boy band EXO and lady group Aespa. Hybe’s chair Bang Si-hyuk had mentioned there was a have to create a “national champion” to tackle the US giants.
The label misplaced the acquisition battle after the music affiliate of Kakao, operator of South Korea’s dominant messaging app, launched a better tender supply to purchase a 35 per cent stake in SM for Won1.25tn.
Despite the failed try, Park pressured that the corporate had managed to dispel investor worries about its dependence on BTS by creating different common teams, similar to NewJeans and Seventeen. Park mentioned he anticipated the abroad acquisitions to assist the corporate scale back its reliance on Okay-pop.
