SM Entertainment Plans to Push Publishing Business Into North America, Europe

SM Entertainment’s publishing subsidiary, Kreation Music Rights (KMR), announced it has signed 86 songwriters to its roster since launching in September. The fast-growing music publisher also announced plans to expand into Europe and North America.

The company says its “top priority” is to recruit top songwriters around the globe, not just writers within SM Entertainment’s network. KMR began its worldwide expansion in December 2023 with the launch of its European office to recruit local talent, beginning with writers who have worked on songs for SM and K-pop artists for many years. They include the Norwegian company Dsign Music (“Genie” by Girls’ Generation, “ISTJ” by NCT DREAM) and Sweden-based songwriter duo Sunshine (“Psycho” by Red Velvet, “Highway to Heaven” by NCT 127, “Spicy” by aespa).

KMR will next expand into North America, as noted in a press release Thursday (Mar. 7), establishing a North American subsidiary and additional partnerships with local companies. According to the release, “KMR aims to maximize its synergy with SM and quickly secure market dominance in the K-pop market” while looking to be a “leading music publishing company in Asia within the next five years.”

KMR also announced that it has acquired two South Korean music publishers — Monotree and The Hub — to quickly establish its dominance in the country’s music publishing space. Monotree was founded in 2014 and has 33 songwriters on its roster, including A-list producer/writers Hwang Hyun, Yoo Ji-sang (a.k.a. G-HIGH) and Lee Joo-hyung. The Hub, which was founded in 2020 by Brian You, has 13 songwriters in its fold; KMR reports that the company had an annual sales growth rate of 53% from 2020-2023.

According to KMR, the company now consists of three distinct teams — MonoTree, The Hub and SMASH HIT — which operate like “CICs” (company-in-company), which is similar to what is known as a “joint venture” in the U.S. market. KMR notes that it plans to expand the number of CICs through more investments and partnerships in the future.