SEOUL– SM Entertainment will introduce multiple music production lines, veering from the existing system of relying solely on its founder and chief producer Lee Soo-man’s capabilities, to enhance the company’s business competitiveness, the K-pop powerhouse said Friday.
SM’s co-CEOs Lee Sung-soo and Tak Young-jun unveiled the plan on the company’s YouTube channel as part of its “SM 3.0” vision.
Tak said the company will establish five production centers and multiple music labels in and out of the company under the blueprint.
“Under the ‘SM 1.0’ and ‘2.0’ systems, the company has produced intellectual property (IP) of its artists under the single leadership of the chief producer Lee Soo-man,” he said.
The new system aims to “expand the firm’s production capabilities and accelerate the speed of IP production” by distributing the decision-making power to leaders of each organization, he added.
For this, the K-pop agency will disperse its artists to five different production centers that will independently perform major functions, such as music production and star management.
In addition to the production centers, SM will establish independent labels in and out of the company for artists with musical capabilities and creativeness and a subsidiary specializing in music publishing.
“We’ll continuously secure business competitiveness by distributing SM’s production capabilities to multiple production centers and labels,” co-CEO Lee Sung-soo said.
“The decision making of the new label will be entirely held by each label’s representative,” he said, adding SM will expand its musical spectrum and strengthen its musical influence by acquiring labels of various genres that it has not focused on, such as ballads, R&B and hip-hop.
The agency’s introduction of multiple production centers and labels is seen as a move to follow the trend of K-pop agencies getting bigger amid the global popularity of the Korean pop culture. Hybe, one of its competitors, currently has multiple labels — BigHit Music, Pledis Entertainment and ADOR — while another competitor JYP Entertainment has “headquarters” in charge of each of its star artists.
SM officials expect the envisioned change will help speed up cultivation of new artists and production of new albums.
Under the new system, the company aims to debut three rookie K-pop acts and one virtual soloist this year and launch two or more new groups every year.
Also this year, the firm plans to release 40 or more albums of its artists, up 30 percent or more than the previous year, and sell a combined 18 million copies of all albums.
The chief producer Lee Soo-man will no longer work for SM through his own music production company with the termination of his contract with the agency at the end of last year, as earlier announced.
The singer-turned-music producer founded the K-pop company in 1995 and has been behind the production of SM’s leading artists, such as Girls’ Generation, EXO, Super Junior, NCT and aespa.
“Although his contract with SM as the chief producer has terminated, we sincerely appreciate his support as a shareholder,” Lee Sung-soo said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency