HYBE
HYBE Interactive Media (HYBE IM) secured an additional KRW 30 billion ($21 million) investment, with existing investor IMM Investment contributing another KRW 15 billion ($10 million) in follow-on funding. Shinhan Venture Investment and Daesung Private Equity joined as new investors in the company, which plans to expand its game business using HYBE’s K-pop artist IPs. To date, HYBE IM has raised a total of KRW 137.5 billion ($100 million). With the new money, the company plans to enhance its publishing capabilities and execute its long-term growth strategy by allocating it to marketing, operations and localization strategies to support the launch of its gaming titles.
Live Nation acquired a stake in 356 Entertainment Group, a leading promoter in Malta’s festival and outdoor concert scene that operates the country’s largest club, Uno, which hosts more than 100 events a year. The two companies have a longstanding partnership that has resulted in events including Take That’s The Greatest Weekend Malta and Liam Gallagher and Friends Malta Weekender being held in the island country. According to a press release, 356’s festival season brought 56,000 visitors to the island, generating an economic impact of 51.8 million euros ($56.1 million). Live Nation is looking to build on that success by bringing more diverse international acts to the market.
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ATC Group acquired a majority stake in indie management company, record label and PR firm Easy Life Entertainment. The company’s management roster includes Bury Tomorrow, SOTA, Bears in Trees, Lexie Carroll, Mouth Culture and Anaïs; while its label roster boasts Lower Than Atlantis, Tonight Alive, Softcult, Normandie, Amber Run, Bryde and Lonely The Brave. Its PR arm has worked on campaigns for All Time Low, 41, Deaf Havana, Neck Deep, Simple Plan, Travie McCoy and Tool.
Triple 8 Management partnered with Sureel, which provides AI attribution, detection, protection and monetization for artists. Through the deal, Triple 8 artists including Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, Local Natives, JOHNNYSWIM, Mat Kearney and Charlotte Sands will have access to tools that allow them to opt-in or opt-out of AI training with custom thresholds; protect their artist styles from being used in AI training without consent by setting time-and-date stamp behind ownership; monetize themselves in the AI ecosystem through ethical licensing that can generate revenue for them; and access real-time reporting through Sureel’s AI dashboard. Sureel makes this possible by providing AI companies “with easy-to-integrate tools to ensure responsible AI that fully respects artist preferences,” according to a press release.
Merlin signed a licensing deal with Coda Music, a new social/streaming platform that “is reimagining streaming as an interactive, artist-led experience, where fans discover music through community-driven recommendations, discussions, and exclusive content” while allowing artists “to cultivate more meaningful relationships with their audiences,” according to a press release. Through the deal, Merlin’s global membership will have access to Coda Music’s suite of social and discovery-driven features, allowing artists to engage with fan communities by sharing exclusive content and more. Users can also follow artists and fellow fans on the platform and exchange music recommendations with them.
AEG Presents struck a partnership with The Boston Beer Company that will bring the beverage maker’s portfolio of brands — including Sun Cruiser Iced Tea & Vodka, Truly Hard Seltzer, Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea and Angry Orchard Hard Cider — to nearly 30 AEG Presents venues nationwide including Brooklyn Steel in New York, Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas and Roadrunner in Boston, as well as festivals including Electric Forest in Rothbury, Mich., and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Armada Music struck a deal with Peloton to bring an exclusive lineup of six live DJ-led classes featuring Armada artists to Peloton studios in both New York and London this year. Artists taking part include ARTY and Armin van Buuren.
Venu Holding Corporation acquired the Celebrity Lanes bowling alley in the Denver suburb of Centennial, Colo., for an undisclosed amount. It will transform the business into an indoor music hall, private rental space and restaurant.
Secretly Distribution renewed its partnership with Sufjan Stevens‘ Asthmatic Kitty Records, which has released works by Angelo De Augustine, My Brightest Diamond, Helado Negro, Linda Perhacs, Lily & Madeleine, Denison Witmer and others. Secretly will continue handling physical and digital music distribution, digital and retail marketing, and technological support for all Asthmatic Kitty releases.
Symphonic Distribution partnered with digital marketing platform SymphonyOS in a deal that will give Symphonic users discounted access to SymphonyOS via Symphonic’s client offerings page. Through SymphonyOS, artists can launch and manage targeted ad campaigns on Meta, TikTok and Google; access personalized analytics for a full view of fan interactions across platforms; build tailored pre-save links, link-in-bio pages and tour info pages; and get AI-powered real time recommendations to improve marketing campaigns.
Bootleg.live, a platform that turns high-quality concert audio into merch, partnered with Evan Honer and Judah & the Lion to offer fans unique audio collectibles on tour. Both acts are on tour this fall. The collectibles, called “bootlegs,” are concert recordings taken directly from the board, enhanced using Bootleg’s proprietary process, and combined with photos and short videos.
HYBE America has partnered with Alan Chikin Chow, creator of the scripted YouTube series Alan’s Universe, to form a new pop group that will be introduced to audiences through a streaming series, it was announced on Thursday (April 3).
The partnership, dubbed HYBE AMERICA X AU, will kick off with a global talent search to form the group, which will be composed of three women and three men. Those chosen will undergo HYBE’s rigorous K-pop development system in Los Angeles. The resulting series, which will be executive produced by Chow alongside HYBE America president James Shin and CEO Scooter Braun, “will follow a group of aspiring pop idol rejects enrolled at an arts academy who decide to form their own band, fusing the worlds of drama, acting, and musical performance with concurrent releases of original music and choreography,” according to a press release.
The multi-faceted project will live on Chow’s YouTube channel (which boasts more than 88 million subscribers) and “across multiple platforms that include music, merchandise, live touring, and more,” with the goal to “reimagine the fictional musical act turned real-life global popstar pathway for today’s generation,” as stated in the release.
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“The passionate global fanbase of Alan’s Universe partnered with the premier music prowess of HYBE AMERICA creates an unstoppable force,” said Chow in a statement. “Together, we stand to create a next-generation franchise with one purpose: to serve our fans with inspiring, impactful stories.”
“This partnership represents entertainment’s future—where content and music enhance each other rather than simply coexist,” added Shin. “We’re building a franchise with Alan that establishes a new model for artist development in the digital age.”
Braun added, “Alan’s extraordinary connection with global audiences makes him and this partnership unique. Together we are not only reimagining the star-making process but will help to create once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for exceptional storytelling and development.”
To apply, male and female candidates between the ages of 18 and 28 anywhere in the world can upload a singing or dancing clip to YouTube Shorts along with the hashtag #HYBEAMERICAxAU. More details can be found here.
K-pop companies SM Entertainment and HYBE were among the best-performing music stocks of the week as most stocks were dragged down by continued uncertainty about U.S. tariff policy and new data on higher-than-expected inflation.
SM Entertainment, home to NCT Dream and RIIZE, was the week’s best performer after gaining 6.7% to 107,000 KRW ($72.91). That brought the company’s year-to-date gain to 47.4% — the best of any music stock.
HYBE, which counts BTS and its solo members’ projects among its vast roster, improved 3.7% to 240,500 KRW ($163.87). On Thursday (March 27), HYBE announced that BTS songs such as “Dynamite” and “Butter” will be featured on Lullaby Renditions of BTS, out April 4 on Rockabye Baby! Music. HYBE shares are up 19.7% year to date, the fifth-best among music stocks.
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K-pop fared well during a down week for most stocks and markets in general. YG Entertainment, home of BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER, rose 3.3% to 63,500 KRW ($43.27) while JYP Entertainment was unchanged at 61,300 KRW ($41.77).
Outside of South Korea, music stocks reflected the challenging economic conditions and uncertainties that have hurt stocks in recent weeks. The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) declined 2.9% to 2,459.98, marking its fourth decline in the last six weeks. With just eight of its 20 stocks finishing the week in the black, the BGMI fell into correction territory as its value has declined 10.7% since the week ended Feb. 14. The first six weeks of 2025 were good enough to overcome the recent slump, however, and the BGMI is up 15.8% year to date and has gained 40.4% over the last 52 weeks.
Stocks took another hit on Friday (March 28) after the core personal consumption expenditures price index, a measure closely watched by the U.S. Federal Reserve, increased 0.4% in February. That put the 12-month inflation rate at 2.8%. Both figures were above experts’ expectations. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite finished the week down 2.6%, increasing its year-to-date decline to 11.7%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.5%. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 increased 0.1%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 3.2%. China’s SSE Composite Index dropped 0.4%.
The BGMI was pulled down by Spotify’s 6.5% decline and a 4.2% drop by German concert promoter CTS Eventim. Warner Music Group, one of the index’s largest companies, dropped 2.7% to $31.56.
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) gained 2.7% to $14.38 after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating on TME shares to buy from hold. Universal Music Group rose 2.0% to 25.99 euros ($28.12) after Wells Fargo upped the rating on the company’s shares to overweight from equal weight and increased the price target to 33 euros ($35.70) from 28 euros ($30.29).
Music streaming company LiveOne had the week’s biggest decline at 14.1%. The company announced on Wednesday (March 26) that subscribers and ad-supported users surpassed 1.4 million.
Radio company iHeartMedia fell 6.8%, putting its year-to-date loss at 23.0%. Satellite broadcaster SiriusXM dropped 3.1% to $22.75, though it’s still up 1.7% in 2025.
On Sunday (March 23), two days after a South Korean court ruled that ADOR, an imprint of K-pop giant HYBE, retains the right to manage the groundbreaking girl band NewJeans, the five-member act performed its first and possibly only concert in Hong Kong under a new moniker, NJZ — a result of its attempt to break free from the label. After debuting a new song, “Pit Stop,” the group announced to the sold-out crowd that it was going on hiatus “out of respect for the court’s decision.”
The pronouncement added another twist to a nearly year-long battle between HYBE-owned ADOR and its biggest act, who allege they were mistreated by the label. (ADOR disputes these claims.)
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It’s a fight that could have industry-wide ramifications. The country’s five largest pop music organizations argued at a press conference in February that if NewJeans/NJZ was allowed to break its contract with HYBE/ADOR, it could “break the K-pop industry from the inside,” according to Seoul newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily.
A separate lawsuit to determine if NewJeans/NJZ can legally terminate its contract with ADOR begins April 3, but if the court sides with HYBE/ADOR and the group refuses to make new music, industry insiders wonder whether a legal win would be a pyrrhic victory for HYBE.
HYBE/ADOR and NewJeans/NJZ declined to comment on the financial impacts of the disagreement. An ADOR spokesperson said only that its exclusive contract with NewJeans/NJZ is legally binding and called the group’s performance in Hong Kong as NJZ and its “unilateral announcement of a suspension of activities” regrettable. The members of NewJeans/NJZ filed an objection to the court ruling against its independent activities on Monday (March 24).
HYBE is the company behind one of the highest-selling K-pop acts of all time, BTS. When members of BTS took time away from the group for military service in recent years, the company sought to diversify beyond its tentpole artist with other acts — often through imprints like ADOR — and such acquisitions as Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, Atlanta hip-hop label Quality Control and Latin music company Exile Music Group.
In its fiscal 2024, HYBE reported its highest revenue-generating year in its nearly 20-year history, having generated revenue of 2.25 trillion Korean won ($1.58 billion). But operating profit, a financial metric that subtracts operating costs like legal fees from a company’s gross profit, fell 38% from the prior fiscal year to 184 billion won ($128.7 million), a decline the company attributed to BTS’ temporary break, a shift in sales mix due to new debuts, and strategic investments in infrastructure and new businesses.
The controversy with ADOR and NewJeans/NJZ coincided with a steep decline in HYBE’s share price in 2024. HYBE stock was priced at 230,500 won ($172.33) on April 19, the day HYBE launched an investigation into whether ex-ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin — who is a defendant in the lawsuit — usurped management of NewJeans/NJZ. Min was asked to resign, and in the weeks that followed, HYBE accused Min of trying to take ADOR independent and, with it, NewJeans/NJZ. On Sept. 23, after a YouTube video of the NewJeans/NJZ members demanding that Min be reinstated went viral, HYBE’s stock price plunged to a 52-week low of 158,000 Korean won ($112), down 31.5% from that April high.
While its share price has rebounded — on Tuesday (March 25), it was worth 240,000 Korean won ($163.49), 14.5% from a year ago — the dispute with NewJeans/NJZ may lead to sunk costs.
As with A&R across the music industry, the model for producing a K-pop supergroup is costly at the outset. It can cost between 1 billion Korean won ($681,000) to 10 billion won ($6.8 million) up front, according to a K-pop executive quoted in Korea JoongAng Daily. K-pop companies first pay off debt, then investors, before paying the artists. If the artists break their contract to go to another agency before ultimately turning a profit, the agency is left holding the bag, the executive told the paper. Bunnies, the official fan club of NewJeans/NJZ, criticized this statement, saying the group is seeking creative autonomy and a better deal.
NewJeans announced in February it wanted to go by a new name — NJZ — and member Pham Ngoc Han, who goes by Hanni, told CNN she hoped the new name would help the group turn “this rough period into something more exciting.” ADOR requested Billboard refer to the group as NewJeans, saying, “The Korean court … confirm[ed] ADOR’s status as the legitimate exclusive management agency of the NewJeans members and prevent the Artists from entering into advertising contracts independently without ADOR’s approval.”
The five women in the group — who perform as Minjin, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein and Hanni — formed NewJeans/NJZ in 2022, and they now range in age from 18 to 21. Several have said they are concerned the legal battle with ADOR would define their careers.
“We’ve known from the start that this journey wasn’t going to be easy and even though we accept the court’s ruling and this whole process, we had to speak up to protect the values that we believe in,” the members said at the end of their hour-long headlining performance in Hong Kong on Sunday, adding it’s a decision they “don’t regret at all.”
For over a year, the K-pop industry has been embroiled in a heated debate over the girl group NewJeans. In fact, even the name “NewJeans” has become a point of contention following the group’s announcement in February that they would be rebranded as NJZ. However, their management company, ADOR, has disputed the legitimacy of this name change. While the group has requested to be referred to as NJZ, no legal ruling has been made on the matter, leaving the existing contract intact. As a result, from a legal standpoint, NewJeans remains the more accurate designation for the time being.
Amid ongoing legal uncertainties, NewJeans is moving ahead independently. This March, the group is scheduled to perform at ComplexCon Hong Kong, where they are reportedly debuting a new song. This move appears to be an attempt to further establish their rebranded identity as NJZ. After all, performing NewJeans’ hit songs while adopting a new name could be seen as contradictory.
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Music organizations and associations in Korea are closely monitoring the NewJeans situation. In February, five major organizations — the Korea Management Federation, Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association, Record Label Industry of Korea, Recording Industry Association of Korea and the Korea Music Content Association — issued a statement expressing concerns over NewJeans and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin’s independent activities. Their primary issue is “tampering,” with suspicions that Min has been attempting to remove NewJeans from ADOR.
The statement from the five organizations reads, “For the past 10 months, we have observed a growing trend, in which certain parties attempt to resolve private disputes through media campaigns and unilateral public statements instead of proper negotiations or legal procedures, including former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin’s press conferences, NewJeans member Hanni’s appearance at a National Assembly audit, and the group’s independent activities.”
NewJeans fans argue that these five organizations are merely echoing ADOR/HYBE’s stance. However, the key issue at hand is their emphasis on the importance of “adhering to legal processes.”
At a press conference on Nov. 28, 2024, NewJeans members announced that “their contract with ADOR would officially end at midnight on November 29th.” They stated, “We have had enough conversations and sent certification of content, but there were no responses during that time. As ADOR and HYBE have breached the contract, we are terminating it.”
Since then, NewJeans has continued its individual actions and reiterated its stance in interviews with foreign media. In a CNN interview last month, the group emphasized, “We have completely lost trust in ADOR. We believe we will win this battle against HYBE and ADOR.” Through Japan’s TV Asahi, a subsidiary of Asahi Shimbun, they stated, “Right now, there are very few media outlets in Korea that carry our voices. Instead of letting that discourage us, we will enjoy our activities.”
International fans who have closely followed NewJeans’ statements may be more inclined to side with the group. However, with both the lawsuit verifying the validity of their claims and the injunction application still ongoing, their assertions remain one-sided. In this context, foreign media that present NewJeans’ perspective without providing balanced coverage of the ongoing legal dispute risk spreading misinformation.
NewJeans and ADOR remain deeply divided, locked in a tense standoff. On March 7, the Seoul Central District Court held the first hearing on ADOR’s provisional injunction request to “maintain the status of agency and prohibit the signing of advertising contracts.” Both parties presented conflicting arguments and failed to reach a resolution.
As a result, it is challenging to take a definitive stance between ADOR or NewJeans. The most prudent thing to do right now is to wait and see how the court reaches its decision, based on the various claims and substantial evidence presented by both parties.
This is precisely the position shared by the five music industry organizations in Korea. On Feb. 27, they held a press conference titled, “Let’s Keep a Promise: Without Record Producers, There is No K-pop!,” where they declared:
“No one can confirm the cancellation of a contract before the court’s judgment, and we must all accept the legal outcome, whatever it may be. This is the only way to protect our industry amid conflict and dispute.”
For now, the K-pop community watches and waits for the court’s decision — a ruling that could have lasting implications for NewJeans, ADOR and the entire industry.
This article was written by Austin Jin and originally appeared on Billboard Korea.
HYBE shares closed the week up 4.9% to 245,500 won ($167.94) after the company teased the return of BTS in 2025 during its fourth-quarter earnings release on Tuesday (Feb. 25), effectively leading a strong week for K-pop stocks amid an overall down period for both music stocks and markets in general. Among other K-pop companies, YG Entertainment gained 8.8%, JYP Entertainment improved 2.4% and SM Entertainment rose 0.9%.
HYBE partially attributed its 38% decline in 2024 operating income to the BTS hiatus that began in 2023 when several of the group’s members were forced to step away to complete South Korea’s required military service. But the company said it believes operating profit will improve in 2025 “through the comeback of 21st-century icons BTS” and payoffs from investments in the company’s social media-superfan platform, Weverse.
The K-pop giant’s revenue increased 4% to $1.58 billion last year, with recorded music revenue, the company’s largest source of income, dipping 11.3% but concerts revenue jumping 25.6% as the number of performances rose from 125 in 2023 to 172 in 2024. HYBE’s South Korean labels generated 15% more streaming revenue internationally even as streaming fell 17% at home. Revenue from U.S. labels (Big Machine and Quality Control) fell 16%.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) had more losers than winners this week as it fell 2.3% to 2,613.79. Just seven of the index’s stocks finished in positive territory, and outside of K-pop stocks, none gained more than 2%.
Markets had a rough week owing to inflation and recession fears. Amidst talks of U.S. tariffs on foreign imports, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is now predicting U.S. gross domestic product, a measure of the country’s economic activity, will decline 1.5% in the first quarter. The S&P 500 finished the week down 1.0% to 5,954.44 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, weighed down by Nvidia’s weaker-than-expected first-quarter guidance, fell 3.5% to 18,847.28. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was an outlier, gaining 1.7% to 8,809.74. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index sank 4.6% to 2,532.78. China’s SSE composite index dropped 1.7% to 3,320.90.
Live Nation shares fell 4.1% to $149.48 — the concert promoter’s second consecutive weekly decline. Wolfe Research lowered its Live Nation price target to $165 from $175 and Citigroup raised Live Nation to $175 from $163. Despite those declines, the company’s shares are up 10.6% year-to-date and 47.5% over the last 52 weeks.
Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) fell 4.2% and 4.2%, respectively, with UMG slated to report fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday (March 6). Sphere Entertainment Co., which reports quarterly earnings on Monday (March 3), dropped 7.0% to $46.90, lowering its year-to-date gain to 2.8%.
Chinese music streamer Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) fell 15.3% to $14.40. On Friday (Feb. 28), the company announced a change on its board of directors, as Matthew Yun Ming Cheng retired from the board and was replaced by Wai Yip Tsang, the current financial controller of Tencent Holdings. In announcing Tsang’s appointment, Cussion Pang, executive chairman of Tencent Music Entertainment, said Tsang’s “deep financial background, extensive experience and business insights will be a tremendous asset to TME.”
iHeartMedia shares fell 15.3% on Friday and ended the week down 16.1% following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings release on Thursday (Feb. 27). The radio company said it expects first-quarter revenue to fall in the low single digits and forecasts full-year revenue will be flat compared to 2024.
The largest decline of the week came from Cumulus Media, which fell 20.0% on Friday and finished the week down 19.1% after the radio company released fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. Cumulus’ revenue fell 1.2% in the fourth quarter and was down 2.1% for the full year.
HYBE is partnering with Grammy-winning producer and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder to form a new boy group, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 19). The project, to be led by Tedder alongside HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk and HYBE America CEO Scooter Braun, will kick off with a global talent search. Once the members of the group […]
Artists such as Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion and Conan Gray helped Weverse, HYBE’s social media/fandom platform, grow its users by 16% in both the U.S. and Canada in 2024, the company announced Wednesday (Jan. 22). Weverse users also saw strong growth elsewhere, rising 21% in Brazil, 14% in Mexico, 22% in Japan and 54% in Taiwan. Originally a platform for K-pop groups, the platform has grown along with HYBE’s global expansion and posted 19% user growth across all territories.
Those statistics and more come from the new 2024 Weverse Fandom Trend Report, a recap of the platform’s tremendous growth and a testament to fans’ interest in their favorite artists. Joon Choi, president of Weverse Company, called 2024 “a transformative year” that expanded the platform’s artist communities, fan engagement and commerce activities. “Weverse remains committed to innovating its services to meet the evolving needs of artists and fans, solidifying its position as the center of global fandom culture,” he said in a statement.
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As much of the music industry begins to focus on better serving superfans, Weverse has already established itself as a money-making destination for fans of a select group of artists. The platform launched in 2019 and last year introduced a subscription tier that provides ad-free viewing, video downloads for offline access, high-quality streaming and language translation. “Digital membership, we believe, is the very first cornerstone of the future evolution [of Weverse],” Choi told Billboard in December.
Like a typical social network, Weverse allows artists to publish messages and content and gives fans an opportunity to leave comments. In 2024, Weverse Artists on the Weverse platform shared approximately 206,000 posts and fans generated 370 million posts. SEVENTEEN had the highest number of posts while ENHYPEN had the most comments. The platform also allows fans to send direct messages to artists — a perk for subscribers. Last year, artists sent 698,000 direct messages to fans and fans sent 96.36 million messages to artists. More than half (55%) of artists on Weverse send direct messages to fans at least every two days. Fans also sent 4.88 million personally decorated digital letters. Jung Kook received the most fan letters while LEEHAN of BOYNEXTDOOR responded to the most fan letters.
Weverse also hosted 5,787 live broadcasts on Weverse Live, the platform’s live streaming feature, totaling 4,779 hours of content in 2024 (artists don’t only live stream concert performances on Weverse Live and in fact usually opt for casual interactions and Q&A sessions with fans). Weverse Live videos were viewed 426 million times by 11.25 million unique Weverse users in 2024, while the top live stream of the year was “Missed You a Lot” by Jung Kook, which amassed 23 million real-time views.
E-commerce separates Weverse from a typical social network. Through Weverse Shop, Weverse sold 20.6 million pieces, a 13% increase from 2023. Physical merchandise such as albums and collectibles improved 10%, while Weverse Shop also sold 3.4 million pieces of digital merchandise, including artist memberships and online content, a 24% increase. Other than Weverse’s home market of South Korea, the United States and Japan were the top markets for merchandise. The top-selling digital items were artist memberships: BTS ARMY memberships were most popular in Oceania, Latin America and Europe while SEVENTEEN’s CARAT memberships were most popular in North America.
HYBE and JYP Entertainment were among the few music stocks to make gains this week as markets stumbled globally. HYBE, home to BTS and its members’ solo projects, rose 7.2% to 215,500 won ($146.19), its best closing price since Nov. 20, thanks to Friday’s news that BTS member J-Hope willsoon release new music and commence a world tour starting in Seoul on Feb. 28. JYP Entertainment, which has had global success with Stray Kids and ITZY, rose 5.6% to 71,600 won ($48.57) after the company announced it will launch a new boy band, Kickflip, on Jan. 20.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) slipped 1.4% to 2,126.33, marketing the fourth time in five weeks the index has lost value. Only five of the 20 stocks finished the week in positive territory. Other than HYBE and JYP Entertainment, only CTS Eventim (up 3.4%), Believe (up 3.2%) and Universal Music Group (up 1.1%) posted gains. Three stocks (Cumulus Media, Deezer and Anghami) were unchanged while 12 stocks had losing weeks.
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Music stocks were dragged down by numerous market forces this week. Stocks fell sharply on Friday (Jan. 10) following healthy employment numbers that investors likely interpreted to mean the U.S. Federal Reserve would not seek to lower interest rates at its meetings in January or March. Also, data from the University of Michigan released Friday showed consumers’ expectations for future inflation rose to 3.3% from 2.8%. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite fell 2.3% to 19,161.63 and the S&P 500 dropped 1.9% to 5,827.04. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 8,248.49. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 1.3% to 3,168.52. South Korea was an outlier as the KOSPI composite index rose 3.0%.
Warner Music Group (WMG) shares dropped 5.4% to $29.33 after three analysts lowered their price targets ahead of WMG’s quarterly earnings release on Feb. 6. Guggenheim lowered its WMG price target to $40 from $44 after taking into account an expected 1.5% foreign exchange impact on the latest quarter’s revenue and a 1.7% impact on revenue for the full fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2025. Guggenheim also dropped its recorded music licensing estimate while maintaining its recorded music subscription revenue growth forecast in the “high single-digit” range. Evercore lowered WMG shares to $35 from $36. UBS lowered WMG to $41 from $43 and maintained its “neutral” rating.
Spotify, which announces fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 4, fell 1.5% to $459.53. Goldman Sachs raised its Spotify price target this week to $550 from $490. Spotify shares have fallen in five of the last six weeks and are 9.3% below the all-time high of $506.47 set on Dec. 4.
Music streaming company LiveOne had the index’s biggest decline, dropping 12.4% to $1.20. Radio broadcaster iHeartMedia fell 11.7% to $1.88. SiriusXM continued its losing streak, sinking 6.8% to $20.83. SiriusXM shares fell 58.3% in 2024 and have dropped 16.4% in the last three months. K-pop company SM Entertainment sank 5.1% to 68,900 won ($46.74).
Four K-pop companies’ stocks fell in value by an average of 19.0% in 2024, a significant reversal of fortune after gaining an average of 30.0% the prior year.
Some of the K-pop companies’ declines can be attributed to the poor showing of Korean stocks in general. The KOSPI composite index, an index of all stocks traded on the stock market division of the Korea Exchange, fell 9.6% in 2024. Korean stocks especially suffered from political turmoil in the year’s waning weeks. Since South Korean Prime Minister Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec. 3 through the end of the year, the KOSPI fell 4.3%.
But collectively and individually, HYBE, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment fared worse than the South Korean stock index. The South Korean companies are expanding beyond their home country, establishing roots in the Americas and exporting their K-pop model of artist development to local markets. Many of the new projects have yet to pay dividends, however, and a lack of new releases or concerts by major artists often resulted in lower revenue and profits in recent quarters.
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YG Entertainment, home to BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER, fared the best, dropping 10.0% to 45,800 won ($31.07). In the third quarter, YG Entertainment’s revenue dropped 42% year over year while a 14.8 billion won ($10 million) net income in the third quarter of 2023 turned into a 937 million ($636,000) net loss.
BTS’s label HYBE fell 17.2% to 193,400 won ($131.18), with its third-quarter net profit dropping 99% on lower concert and recorded music revenue. In the second quarter, HYBE set a company record for quarterly revenue but its operating profit fell 37.4%. The company was also hampered by controversies in 2024. Chairman Bang Si-hyuk is reportedly being investigated by South Korean regulators over a profit-sharing deal with early investors that led Bang to realize a $285 million profit from the company’s 2020 initial public offering. HYBE has also been embroiled in an ongoing feud with Min Hee-Jin, the former CEO of HYBE’s ADOR imprint.
SM Entertainment, the home of aespa and NCT Dream, sank 17.9% to 75,600 won ($51.28). In the third quarter, net profit fell 95.6% on 9% lower revenue. In the second quarter, net profit was down 70.3% while revenue increased 5.9% from the prior-year period. The company has a new North American joint venture with Kakao Entertainment that launched in late 2023 and has produced a new British boy band, dearALICE, launched through a BBC miniseries.
Faring the worst was JYP Entertainment, home to Stray Kids and iTZY, which plummeted 31.0% to 69,900 won ($47.41). In the first three quarters of 2024, JYP’s revenue was down 1.6% and net profit was 30.4% lower than the prior-year period. In the second quarter, an absence of major artist activity caused the company’s revenue to drop 36.9% from the prior-year period while its net profit fell 95% year over year. JYP was able to rebound in the third quarter, however, as revenue and net profit were up 22.1% and 11.7%, respectively.