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HYBE’s plan to control competing K-pop company SM Entertainment and thwart a partnership with tech company Kakao took another step forward on Monday when Kakao, responding to a court injunction, announced it had canceled its stock purchase agreement to acquire a 9.05% stake in SM Entertainment.
Last week, the Seoul Eastern District Court granted a provisionary injunction against SM’s plan to issue new shares and convertible bonds. The judge ruled that SM had made its decision without shareholders’ consent. It was a remarkable win for SM’s controversial founder, Lee Soo-man, and for HYBE, the reigning K-pop company and home to boyband BTS.
For weeks, SM’s management has been trying to wrest control of the company from Lee, who has been found guilty of embezzlement and exercised iron-fisted control over the company he founded in 1995. After SM made a deal with Kakao, Lee turned to HYBE, which became SM’s largest shareholder on Feb. 22 after it acquired a 14.8% stake from Lee, whose production contract with SM was canceled as of Dec. 31.
On Monday, HYBE sent a letter to SM demanding that “the current [SM] Board of Directors should fulfill its duty of care and duty of loyalty towards SM and actively exercise the right to terminate the business cooperation agreement, which contains clauses that are disadvantageous to SM and advantageous to Kakao,” according to a statement that described the letter.
With the injunction in place, HYBE also called for SM to exercise its right to withdraw the recommendation of the director candidate nominated by Kakao. SM had put forward Jang Yoon-Joong, Kakao’s global strategy officer, as a part-time director.
SM and HYBE are pushing competing visions for SM’s future before shareholders vote on a new board of directors at SM’s annual general meeting on March 31. SM wants to partner with Kakao – owner of the Melon music streaming service and KakaoTalk messaging service – to better monetize its intellectual property and launch a joint venture in the U.S.
Called “SM 3.0,” the road map calls for SM to break from the single-producer system maintained by Lee until his removal. Instead, SM wants to develop artists through multiple labels and production centers in Korea, Japan, Southeast and the U.S.
HYBE calls an SM-Kakao tie-up an “unfair partnership” that would give Kakao permanent and exclusive rights to distribute SM’s music, protect SM’s equity at the expense of other shareholders and create conflict of interests that favor Kakao. “We believe that these details demonstrate the bias and irrationality of the current SM management who approved such arrangements,” Jung Jinsoo, HYBE’s chief legal officer, wrote in a letter to SM shareholders on Thursday (March 2).
J-Hope and J. Cole‘s collaboration “On the Street” has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (March 3) on Billboard, choosing the BTS member’s meaningful team-up with the rap star as their favorite new music release of the past week.
“On the Street” brought in 80% of the vote, beating out new music from Nicki Minaj (“Red Ruby Da Sleeze”), Morgan Wallen (One Thing at a Time), Kali Uchis (Red Moon in Venus), Marshmello and Manuel Turizo (“El Merengue”), and others.
The pair’s hip-hop collab follow J-Hope’s many accomplishments as a solo artist in 2022, including his bold Jack in the Box project and his prominent Lollapalooza set. The BTS member uses the new single to express his gratitude toward the fans who helped make it all happen. Cole effortlessly slides on the beat, charismatic and confident alongside the K-pop star as he speaks of his own unique come-up story.
“On the Street” is particularly meaningful to J-Hope. While BTS has long shared their admiration for the North Carolina-raised rapper –revealing in 2013 their reinterpreted take on J. Cole’s “Born Sinner” with “Born Singer,” which was only officially released last year on Proof — J-Hope has always shared how Cole is one of his ultimate favorite singers.
“On the Street” is J-Hope’s first new solo song since hopping on “Rush Hour” with Korean R&B singer “Crush.” J. Cole dropped a surprise song in mid-January with “Procrastination (Broke),” acting as a thank you to producer Bvtman and “every producer out there cooking up and sharing their work with the world.”
Trailing behind Hope and Cole’s track on the fan-voted poll was Minaj’s latest track “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” with nearly 12% of the vote. The new single follows her hit single “Super Freaky Girl,” which earned the Queen of Rap her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2022.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.
BLACKPINK‘S Jisoo is gearing up for her long-awaited debut solo music project.
The K-pop star announced through social media on Sunday (March 4) that her first solo music release will arrive on March 31. The teaser included a mysterious “Coming Soon” poster featuring a bright red piece of cloth in the middle a beautiful green field.
“See you soon,” Jisoo captioned the image on Instagram. The teaser poster was also shared through BLACKPINK’s official Instagram account.
At the start of the year, reports surfaced that Jisoo’s much-anticipated solo debut was finally in the works, making her the fourth and final member of the group to branch out with her own music. Jennie‘s “SOLO” arrived in 2018, and both Rosé’s -R- and Lisa’s Lalisa dropped in 2021.
In late February, Korean entertainment label YG Entertainment confirmed that Jisoo was preparing to release solo music in 2023.
“BLACKPINK’s Jisoo is currently working hard on recording her solo album,” YG said in a statement at the time, according to Smoopi. “While carrying out a busy world tour schedule since last year, she finished the album jacket photo shoot and worked on music production whenever she got the time in order to keep the promise with fans. She will greet [fans] soon with good news.”
Jisoo touched on going solo during an interview in May 2022. “I’m not sure how much I want to go solo yet,” she told Rolling Stone at the time. “The music I listen to, the music I can do, and the music I want to do — what should I choose? I love songs with lots of instruments. I love different bands and rock music. What do people want from me? There’s a chaos of conflicting questions. So I’m still tilting my head in confusion. I’m not sure what will happen with my solo plans this year.”
BLACKPINK’s second full-length studio album, Born Pink, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in October 2022. The girl group previously debuted and peaked at No. 2 in October 2020 with its debut release, The Album.
BLACKPINK announced earlier last month that the Born Pink World tour will head to Australia and Mexico. The four-piece will make its epic return to headline this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, four years after making its debut at the festival in 2019.
Check out Jisoo’s solo music announcement on Twitter below.
TOKYO — A court ruling in South Korea on Friday added further confusion to K-pop’s biggest corporate shakeup in years: the rollercoaster battle for control over SM Entertainment, the once-industry leader bedeviled by corporate governance concerns, which rival HYBE is eager to take control of.
The Seoul Eastern District Court granted a provisionary injunction to block SM from issuing new shares, which Kakao, a Korean tech giant, had agreed to buy as part of a partnership deal between the two companies. The court ruled that SM’s decision was taken without shareholders’ consent, accepting the argument from SM founder Lee Soo Man, who has been battling SM’s management over the future of the company he created in 1995.
The ruling marks a win for HYBE, K-pop’s largest agency and home to boy band BTS, which in recent weeks acquired a 14.8% stake of SM shares from Lee – and announced plans to take control and overhaul SM’s management and board of directors. HYBE was offering shareholders a premium to boost its stake up to 40%, but the market price has since exceeded the offer price. SM’s management has slammed HYBE’s acquisition as a “hostile takeover.”
Following the ruling, HYBE, in a statement, thanked the court for the “appropriate” ruling. “With this result, everything should now fall back into place,” the company said.
In a statement from his lawyers, Lee said the decision “clearly confirmed that the resolution by SM’s current management to issue new shares and convertible bonds was made in an unlawful attempt to influence the company’s control and governance.” The attorneys added that “if SM’s current management further attempts to commit unlawful acts in the future, we will respond firmly by taking appropriate legal actions.”
A Kakao spokesperson said late Friday that the company didn’t immediately have a comment but “plans to issue a response after internal discussions.” A SM spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached.
Lee and the company he founded are widely considered trailblazers, developing K-pop’s signature formula of visually driven performances and dance pop, and tirelessly knocking on overseas markets’ doors. But in recent years SM’s output has slowed, which its management has blamed on the founder-led single-pipeline structure.
SM’s co-CEO Lee Sung-su, a nephew of the founder’s late wife, has lashed out at the uncle with a litany of accusations, from using artists’ music for personal gains to tax evasion through a Hong Kong-based paper company. Shareholders in recent years have also objected to the founder’s ballooning producer fees, which he was receiving via a separate entity he owned.
Kakao in February agreed with SM’s management to buy 9.05% of SM shares, as part of a wider partnership agreement. The messenger-app-and-search-engine company, which has successfully expanded into e-finance and music, was going to distribute SM’s music and related content on its platforms. Kakao has also acquired several entertainment agencies in recent years, leading some, including HYBE, to argue Kakao was trying to gain managerial control over SM. Both SM executives and Kakao have rejected the claim.
With an annual shareholders meeting scheduled for March 31, SM and HYBE are expected to spend the coming weeks courting SM investors, which includes South Korea’s National Pension Service.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER aren’t so much the next big thing in K-pop. They’ve already arrived.
The five members wrote their names in the record books with The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION, which blasted to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart earlier this month, their first leader.
Spanning five tracks, the EP is the South Korean vocal group’s third top 10-charting effort, following Minisode 2: Thursday’s Child (No. 4 in 2022) and The Chaos Chapter: Freeze (No. 5 in 2021).
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Everything would appear to be headed in the right direction, and with their first chart crown, TXT was anointed the top musical act in the U.S. by leading the Billboard Artist 100 chart for the first time. With that feat, TXT joins some heady company. The other K-pop acts to top the Artist 100 are BTS, BLACKPINK, SuperM, TWICE and Stray Kids.
Late night TV viewers just caught the rush. On Monday night (Feb. 27), the lads stopped by The Late Late Show With James Corden for a performance of “Sugar Rush Ride,” lifted from TEMPTATION.
If proof was needed that TXT is hot, James Corden’s intro was drowned out by the wall of sound created by the studio audience. The screams didn’t stop there.
Watch TXT’s debut U.S. TV performance below.
Korean music company HYBE is more than getting by with its primary artist, BTS, on hiatus and its members pursuing solo projects and preparing for military duty. In 2022, HYBE’s revenue grew 41.6% to 1.78 trillion won ($1.41 billion at the Dec. 31, 2022 exchange rate), the company announced Tuesday (Feb. 21).
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 23.9% to 328.8 billion won ($260.5 million). Margins were thinner that in previous years, however. Last year’s operating margin (as a percent of revenue) fell to 13.4% from 15.1% in 2021 and 18.3% in 2020. Adjusted EBITDA margin dropped to 18.5% from 21.1% in 2021 and 20.2% in 2020.
HYBE breaks revenue into two main categories: artist direct-involvement and artist indirect-involvement. Direct involvement revenues cover such things as recorded music, touring and management. Recorded music sales improved 47% to 553.9 billion won ($438.9 million) and was the largest single revenue source. Concert revenue jumped 470.1% to 258.2 billion won ($204.6 million) as artists returned to touring after scaling back performances during the pandemic.
BTS may be taking a break but it’s still HYBE’s sales leader in album-loving Korea. Four HYBE artists were in the top 10 of Korea’s year-end album tally: BTS was No. 1 with 5.75 million units, Seventeen was No. 3 with 5.56 million units, Tomorrow X Together was No. 5 with 2.78 million units and ENHYPEN was No. 8 with 2.64 million units. Le Sserafim was the No. 15 artist with 1.29 million units. As a point of comparison, the top album in the U.S. last year, Taylor Swift’s Midnights, sold the equivalent of 1.8 million units.
Artist indirect involvement revenue grew only 9.7% in the calendar year. Merchandising and licensing improved 24.8% to 395.6 billion won ($313.5 million) and fan club revenue grew 47.1% to 67.1 billion won ($53.2 million).
In the fourth quarter, HYBE’s revenue grew 16.9% to 535.3 billion won ($424.2 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022. Recorded music revenue jumped 76.4% to 149.1 billion won ($118.2 million) and was the largest single source of revenue.
BTS’s global success has allowed HYBE to diversify itself and rely less on the K-pop super group. In 2017, Korea accounted for 72% of HYBE’s revenues compared to 14% for Japan and 9% for North America. In 2022, HYBE had grown 19-fold from 2017 and had almost evenly balanced business between its three main markets: Korea (33% of revenue), North America (32%) and Japan (28%). The rest of the world contributed just 7% of HYBE’s 2022 revenue — but that could change if the company’s newest investment works as expected.
HYBE’s recent acquisition of a leading stake in competing K-pop company SM Entertainment is an opportunity to develop in markets where it currently has little presence. CEO Park Jiwon explained during Tuesday’s earnings call that HYBE artists can benefit from SM Entertainment’s strong network and infrastructure in China and Southeast Asia. Likewise, HYBE believes it can help SM Entertainment in the North American market.
HYBE latest acquisition didn’t impact 2022 results but will help expand its presence outside of Korea in 2023. On Feb. 8, HYBE purchased QC Media Holdings, the parent company of Atlanta-based hip-hop label Quality Control Music, the home of Migos and Lil Baby, for $300 million. Quality Control will sit under HYBE America and the leadership of CEO Scooter Braun, whose Ithaca Projects was acquired by HYBE in 2021.
Australian audiences will get a taste of BlackPink’s record-busting antics when the K-pop superstars drop by mid-year for an east-coast run.
The BlackPink [Born Pink] World Tour will set down at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena for a brace of dates (June 10 and 11), followed by a pair of shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena (June 16 and 17).
However, the ”originally announced Auckland show will no longer be feasible” due to “unforeseen logistical challenges,” reads a statement from promoters Frontier Touring.
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The Australian dates should sell like hotcakes – if recent chart performance is a good indicator.
Lisa, Jennie, Rosé, and Jisoo smashed chart records in these parts with Born Pink. Its lead single “Pink Venom” flew to No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart last August, making BlackPink the first K-pop group to do so, beating the No. 2 start for BTS’ 2020 hit “Dynamite.”
Born Pink went on to debut at No. 2 on the national albums survey.
BlackPink has a special connection with this country. Rosè (aka Roseanne Park) was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and raised in Melbourne. At age 15, the world of K-pop came calling when, at her father’s suggestion, she auditioned for South Korean music company YG Entertainment.
The rest is history – and a growing list of shattered records.
Just last week, Lisa nabbed a hattrick of Guinness World Records and, earlier in the month, they were announced as headliners for Coachella 2023 — a booking that would make the quartet the first Asian act to do so.
BlackPink is currently on an extensive tour through Asia.
General public tickets for the four Australia shows go on sale next Thursday (Feb. 9).
BlackPink Australia Tour June 2023:
June 10 — Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneJune 11 — Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneJune 16 — Qudos Bank Arena, SydneyJune 17 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
BigBang‘s Taeyang and BTS‘ Jimin gave us a studio vibe last week, with the release of their eagerly awaited collaboration “Vibe.”
Now, the K-pop legends team-up for a live “Vibe,” which arrives Thursday (Jan. 19), via YG Entertainment subsidiary The Black Label and BigHit Music.
The new cut is accompanied with a performance video, which shows the boy band veterans working their musical magic in a spacious living room, draped in clean-and-comfy white curtains, decorated with house plants, and with a six-strong band in support. It’s a chilled vibe.
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The original cut of “Vibe” and its official music video simultaneously arrived Jan. 13, marking Taeyang’s first solo track since he was discharged from his mandatory service in the South Korea military in Nov. 2019. His last solo single was 2018’s “Louder,” recorded for the Winter Olympics, and his most recent solo album was 2017’s White Night.
“Vibe” became Jimin’s first official solo release since BTS announced that they were going on hiatus to allow its members to focus on their solo ventures (he last appeared solo on the 2022 collaborative track “With You” with Ha Sung Woon).
For those keeping score, Jimin is the final member of BTS to release a solo project since the band announced that they were taking that break, breaking millions of hearts in the process.
K-pop fans were so eager for the collaboration, “Vibe” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs before the song was released.
Taeyang and Jimin took the reins on the composition, along with Teddy, founder of The Black Label and a long-time collaborator and producer for Taeyang and BigBang. The Black Label songwriters and producers Kush, Vince, and 24 were also on board.
Watch Taeyang and Jimin’s live version of “Vibe” below.
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BTS got a triple dose of good news when the 65th annual Grammy nominations were announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15). The group is vying for best pop duo/group performance for the third year in a row with “My Universe,” a collab with Coldplay. They are up for best music video for “Yet to Come.” And they are nominated for album of the year as featured artists on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres.
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It’s the first time the K-pop sensations have been nominated in more than one Grammy category in any given year.
BTS was nominated for best pop duo/group performance with “Dynamite” (2020) and “Butter” (2021). They are the only act to be nominated three years in a row in this category since it was introduced as part of a Grammy revamp of its category structure in 2011.
This category is home to both ongoing groups/duos and collaborations by solo artists. Looking strictly at ongoing groups and duos, Coldplay has had the most nods in the category (five), followed by Maroon 5 (four), BTS (three), and The Chainsmokers and Florence + the Machine (two each).
“My Universe” is the second collab by two groups to be nominated for best pop duo/group performance. Coldplay was also involved with the first, “Something Just Like This,” a 2017 collab with The Chainsmokers.
Three members of BTS – J-Hope (Jung Ho-Seok), RM (Kim Nam-Joon) and Suga (Min Yoon-Gi) — are also credited as songwriters on the Coldplay album, so they would have been album of the year nominees even if BTS were not listed as featured artists.
The other nominees for best pop duo/group performance are ABBA’s “Don’t Shut Me Down” and three collabs by solo artists – Camila Cabello featuring Ed Sheeran’s “Bam Bam,” Post Malone & Doja Cat’s “I Like You (A Happier Song)” and Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ “Unholy.”
The other nominees for best music video are Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Doja Cat’s “Woman,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was” and Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film.