HYBE
After shaping some of the biggest acts in global pop, HYBE is setting its sights on Latin music with an ambitious new reality series from its subsidiary, HYBE Latin America. Billboard has exclusively learned that production kicks off this week in Mexico City on the yet-to-be-titled project, which aims to form a new all-male pop group.
The series will train and develop 16 contestants from countries including Mexico, Brazil, the U.S., Peru and Spain, narrowing the field to a final five by the end of the season this fall.
The series’ format and execution differs from other reality talent competition in multiple key ways. First and foremost, it’s HYBE’s first artist development venture of this scale focused entirely on Latin talent, combining the development discipline the company has applied in K-pop with Latin American cultural and artistic sensibility.
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Further, instead of airing as a carefully formatted weekly television show, the reality show is a multi-platform production that integrates long-form storytelling, performance content and behind-the-scenes narratives distributed across streaming, social and music platforms.
The project also features a roster of mentors that may be unprecedented in a Latin reality show. It includes director and choreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, The Descendants) as executive producer; Charm La’Donna (Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 Super Bowl, Bruno Mars) as head choreographer; and Robert J “RAab” Stevenson (SZQ, Rihanna) as head vocal coach.
“This project is about much more than music. It’s about reimagining how Latin talent can be discovered, developed and presented to the world. We are building the foundation for the next generation of global Latin artists with the highest creative and production standards,” said J.H. Kah, CEO of HYBE Latin America, who is leading efforts on the venture, in a statement.
The new project joins a roster of properties that includes newly-announced talent competition Pase a la Fama, which HYBE Latin America developed with Telemundo. The competition show seeks to find the next regional Mexican band and premieres on Telemundo June 8 with Ana Bárbara, Horacio Palencia and Adriel Favela as judges.
This show, however, doesn’t have a partner network.
While contestants officially arrive in Mexico this week (beginning May 12), preproduction for the show has been underway for months. Hundreds of applications poured in from across Latin America and the U.S., leading to an initial shortlist of 300 candidates. From there, 16 finalists were selected to begin intensive training at a custom-built “bootcamp” located in Mexico City’s Parque Bicentenario.
The bootcamp will include some 30 instructors, including vocal coaches, producers, fitness trainers and choreographers and is supported by Weverse, HYBE’s extremely successful social media/fandom platform.
HYBE Latin America
courtesy of HYBE Latin America. ©️ 2025 HYBE Corporation.
Make no mistake — this is a distinctly Latin production. The show is being helmed by two seasoned Colombian producers: showrunner Jaime Escallón (X Factor, Survivor) and production designer Lucas Jaramillo. Both serve as executive producers and co-creators of the format, with a clear mission to build a production environment that authentically reflects Latin culture.
“This is different from other talent reality shows in that it takes place in a space designed for the city to participate in,” says Jaramillo, noting that production is working closely with Mexico City government and fans will be allowed to actually visit the space and be part of performances and media experiences. “That’s why we’ve developed a cultural program that’s both artistic and media driven, and includes things like podcasts. This is a show that’s alive.”
The project is HYBE Latin America’s latest venture after launching in 2023 with the acquisition of Exile Music, the music division of Spanish-language studio Exile Content, led by Isaac Lee, who is now chairman of HYBE Latin America. The company has moved quickly since then. With offices in Mexico City, Miami, and Los Angeles, the division houses labels such as DOCEMIL Music and Zarpazo Entertainment.
Though economic uncertainty lingers, some music companies’ stocks got boosts following their first quarter earnings releases this week, while a better-than-expected jobs report on Friday (May 2) lifted stocks across the board.
K-pop companies were among the top performers of the week. Led by HYBE’s 13.8% gain following its first quarter earnings report on Tuesday (April 29), the four South Korean companies had an average share price gain of 10.3%. JYP Entertainment rose 11.7% and SM Entertainment, which announces earnings on Wednesday (May 7), improved 9.0%. YG Entertainment gained 6.6%.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) rose 3.6% to 2,690.13, its fourth consecutive weekly improvement. At 2,690.13, the BGMI has improved 19.1% since a two-week slide and stands just 2.4% below its all-time high of 2,755.53 set during the week ended Feb. 14.
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Music stocks slightly outperformed the Nasdaq and S&P 500, which rose 3.4% and 3.1%, respectively. Foreign markets were mostly positive but more subdued. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 rose 2.2%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index gained 0.5%. China’s SSE Composite Index lost 0.5%.
Universal Music Group (UMG) gained 4.3% to 25.86 euros ($29.23) following a quarterly earnings report showing that recorded music subscription revenue grew 11.5% and overall revenue improved 11.8%. JP Morgan analysts’ conviction on UMG “remains very high,” and the strong quarter “should help rebuild confidence and share price momentum” dented by Pershing Square’s sale of $1.5 billion in UMG shares, analysts wrote in an investor note on Tuesday.
Spotify finished the week up 3.7% to $643.73 despite its shares dropping 3.4% on Tuesday after the company’s first-quarter earnings report included guidance on second-quarter subscription additions that seemed to underwhelm investors. Gross margin of 31.6% beat Spotify’s 31.5% guidance. Loop Capital raised Spotify to $550 from $435, while Barclays lowered it to $650 from $710. UBS maintained its $680 price target and “buy” rating. Guggenheim maintained its “buy” rating and $675 price target.
Live Nation, which reported first quarter earnings on Thursday (May 1) and predicted a “historic” 2025, gained 2.3% on Friday and finished the week up 0.7%. A slew of analysts updated their price targets on Friday. Two were upward revisions: Jefferies (from $150 to $160) and Wolfe Research (from $158 to $160). Two were downward revisions: Rosenblatt (from $174 to $170) and JP Morgan (from $165 to $170).
Nearly all streaming stocks posted gains. LiveOne was the week’s top performer, jumping 18.0% to $0.72. Chinese music streaming companies Cloud Music and Tencent Music Entertainment gained 11.6% and 7.1%, respectively. French music streamer Deezer gained 1.4% to 1.44 euros ($1.63) after the company’s first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Abu Dhabi-based Anghami fell 3.1% to $0.62.
Cumulus Media fell 33.% to $0.14. Most of the decline came on Friday as the stock ceased trading on the Nasdaq and began trading over the counter.
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While many public companies are struggling amid the backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty and the looming threat of global tariffs, music company executives are beating the drum for music as a stable place to invest. Despite a plateauing of the growth curve, revenue from streaming subscriptions continues to drive relative stability at Spotify, Unversal Music Group […]
South Korea’s HYBE used its artists’ heavy touring schedule and strong merchandise and licensing revenues to overcome a slight drop in recorded music sales in the first quarter of 2025.
In the historically slow first quarter, total revenue rose 38.7% to 500.6 billion KRW ($350 million), the second-lowest quarterly revenue since the first quarter of 2023. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 47.3 billion KRW ($33 million) was up 19% from the prior-year period.
“Typically, the first quarter is a period when artists take a break after busy year-end activities and prepare for new albums and projects,” CFO Kyungjun Lee said during the earnings call Tuesday (April 29). “Therefore, in Q1, we had relatively fewer album releases and content offerings, thus posting a slightly lower profitability compared to the prior quarter.”
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Recorded music revenue fell 5.9% to 136.5 billion KRW ($95 million), with streaming accounting for almost half of recorded music sales, said CEO Jaesang Lee. “While album sales fluctuate quarter over quarter depending on release schedules, steady streaming revenue serves as a stable source of profit. Streaming helps mitigate recorded music sales volatility in quarters like this quarter, when the number of new albums is relatively smaller.”
Concerts revenue jumped 252% to 155.2 billion KRW ($108 million). CEO Lee cited the “huge success” of tours in South Korea, the U.S., Japan and elsewhere in Asia by J-Hope, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN and BOYNEXTDOOR. Additionally, J-Hope’s solo shows in Mexico “marked the beginning of active expansion to the Latin market,” he added.
Merchandise and licensing improved 75.2% to 106.4 billion KRW ($74 million). Whereas concert-related merchandise was most popular in the past, HYBE has found success with artists’ character-driven merchandise, such as for Seventeen’s MINITEEN, a group of animal representatives for the band. “All the character products have been selling really quickly, and many items are in high demand, resulting in additional rounds of pre-order sales,” said CFO Lee.
Content revenue fell 32.7% to 41.2 billion KRW ($29 million). It included sales of the Seventeen in Carat Land Memory Book and BTS 7 Moments, an archive of group members throughout 2022 and 2023 that includes a 66-minute video and 180-page photo book.
CEO Lee also teased details of Big Hit Music’s upcoming boy band that will debut in the third quarter of 2025. He described the five-member group as “a next generation creator crew that pursues self-expression in completely new styles and senses” and will perform “very original music that has not existed in the past.”
Separately, a seven-member, all-Japanese boy band called aeon will debut in June. Created by YX Labels, HYBE’s Japanese operation, the group formed from a TV show that aired in Japan on Nippon TV from February to April.
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.