Known as the 3 biggest companies in the Korean entertainment industry, SM – YG and JYP Entertainment have different ways of managing artists.
K-pop fans will surely be no stranger to 3 big companies, SM, YG and JYP Entertainment. These are the top “entertainment tycoons”, owning cult idols in the Korean entertainment industry. With a powerful force, each company has a different direction and path. Therefore, many fans are curious about how these three companies manage their personnel. How did they make their idols both unique and suitable for the audience’s tastes?
YG: Leading the trend but also having a lot of scandals
Referring to YG, fans will immediately remember the image of cool and quality artists. This company is known as the “king of trends” with BIGBANG, 2NE1, PSY, WINNER, iKON, or BLACKPINK. These are all idol groups leading music trends in the K-pop market. They are the pioneers to bring new genres of music closer to the public. Even the fashion styles of the above idols are always sought after by young people.
However, YG Entertainment is a company entangled in many scandals. In 2019, YG began to struggle with a series of domestic scandals, from dating, internal conflicts to more serious scandals. During this time, the company’s stock plummeted. Many fans expressed disappointment with Mr. Yang Hyun Suk’s management because they thought that he did not have many strict management measures to his idols
However, YG has begun to revive and is still influential in the K-pop market. BIGBANG has been awaited by the media and K-pop fans alike. Meanwhile, BLACKPINK and TREASURE are the two main active groups, bringing in revenue for the company.
JYP: Invest only for a short period of style, focus on idol’s personality but still have a lot of scandals
JYP is known as the company that focuses on the artist’s personality the most. Park Jin Young – the founder of the company used to be very confident in his ability to select talented idols with integrity. However, this is only true for first-generation idols, recently, JYP has been constantly infamous for the scandals of Stray Kids or ITZY members.
However, it cannot be denied that JYP’s music always attracts the tastes of the audience. Wonder Girls, g.o.d, Bi Rain, 2PM, TWICE are all idols with huge fandoms in both domestic and international markets.
However, they are only invested by the company at the time of their debut. Later, JYP showed even more superficiality in the care and training of artists. Some say they even seeing idols as a tool, exploiting their time and health to make money.
SM: Focusing on visuals and vocals, but putting more emphasis on making money from fans
In contrast to the two organizations mentioned above, president Lee Soo Man concentrates on idols’ visuals and vocal skills. As a result, the majority of the company’s idols have excellent visuals. Super Junior, SNSD, EXO, NCT, Red Velvet, and aespa are all groups famous for their outstanding appearance.
Furthermore, each group has a strong vocal line. Thereby, SM singers usually have an advantage when performing songs with high notes.
SM Entertainment, on the other hand, is not well-liked by many fans since it follows the capitalist model of making money from fans. Talking about business, certainly, no one can take the top position with this company. Lee Soo Man even split groups into units and issued a slew of promotional items. As a result, SM has grown into a strong economic ‘powerhouse’ in the K-pop industry.
Despite having distinct methods to managing and training idols, YG, JYP, and SM Entertainment have all been successful. Fans, on the other hand, continue to expect them to address their flaws so that artists can thrive in the competitive K-pop market.
