SM Entertainment is a leader of the Hallyu Wave that has clearly shaped the K-Pop industry from the very beginning and is still a pioneer today - especially when it comes to unusual and innovative concepts. The label was founded in 1998 by Lee Soo-Man and is known for popular artists such as Girls Generation, EXO, NCT and Aespa. But SM already celebrated great success in 1996 with the very first K-Pop idol group, H.O.T! In this article you'll learn everything you need to know about the history of one of the biggest entertainment companies in the South Korean music industry!
K-Pop idols, whether groups or solo artists, have been delighting their fans for many years with multifaceted music that keeps evolving from year to year. Behind the idols we love so much are the entertainment companies, which in most cases are responsible for their success. They decide on the style, the music and the concept of their artists; they promote them and take care of their schedules. On top of that, they sometimes train the artists for years in advance - until they are ready to step onto the stage.
And that's far from everything. The K-Pop genre itself was co-founded by the entertainment companies. It's thanks to their efforts since the 1990s that the genre has become what we know today!
That's why we don't want to miss the chance to introduce you to a few of the giants of the entertainment industry! In this and the following articles, we'll take a look at the history of SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and HYBE Corporation.
SM Entertainment
There's hardly a K-Pop fan who doesn't know NCT, Red Velvet, EXO or Girls Generation. Some of these names are probably even known to non-fans these days. That's why nobody can really deny that each of these groups is an essential part of the K-Pop scene. They all belong, how could it be otherwise, to the SM Entertainment family! Their label mates include many other big names such as BoA, TVXQ and SHINee.
But where did it all begin? Well, if we want to tell the story from the very beginning, there is one person we can't get around:
SM Entertainment’s founder Lee Soo-man
Most people know him as a businessman, manager and producer, but he also had a singing career in the past. Lee Soo-Man debuted in 1972 in a band called “April and May (4월과 5월)”. He later left it for health reasons. Until the early 80s, he was still active as part of the indie band “Sand Pebbles”, the trio “Masamtrio” and the band “Lee Soo-Man and the 356 Days (이수만과 365일)”. Eventually he decided to leave the entertainment industry to study computer engineering and went abroad for it. There, however, he was inspired by the rise of stars like Michael Jackson to change the Korean music industry, and he changed his plans.
He returned to Korea in 1985 and worked as a DJ and host for 4 years, until he had gathered enough experience and money to start a company.
In 1989, Lee Soo-Man founded an entertainment company called “SM Studio”.
(“SM” stands for the initials of Lee Soo-Man.)
The very first artist signed by SM Studio was the singer, dancer and rapper Hyun Jinyoung. He debuted in 1990 and left SM about four years later.
During that time, SM developed a comprehensive in-house system. From concept all the way to production, control stays “in-house”, i.e. within the company. This laid an important foundation.
Today, SM Entertainment is a multinational entertainment company that operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management company, concert production company and music publisher!
In February 1995, SM Studio was finally officially renamed and has been called SM Entertainment ever since! “Jung Hae Ik” was appointed CEO and was replaced several times over the years. Lee Soo-Man is a member of the board and, to this day (2022), is the largest shareholder of SM Entertainment with a stake of 18.72 percent. This gives him the administrative rights.
Things really took off with the debut of the five-member boy group H.O.T in 1996! H.O.T is considered the very first K-Pop idol group. They followed the success of the three-member boy band “Seo Taiji and Boys”, who debuted in 1992. Seo Taiji and Boys revolutionized Korean music. They mixed Korean pop with elements of American music. Among other things, they incorporated rap into their music and added English lines to their lyrics. They also combined the new music style with hip-hop choreography, and that's how K-Pop was born. Seo Taiji and Boys inspired the artists who followed to experiment more with their style and their music.
1996 - 2002: H.O.T & the 1st Generation of K-Pop
H.O.T. is considered the first K-Pop idol group because it followed the new music style and, beyond that, a "formula" developed by SM Entertainment that idol groups still use today: choreographed and synchronized dances + coordinated outfits + catchy music (simple, easy-to-remember melodies) + good looks! Check out their debut music video:
So you can see why SM Entertainment can, without exaggeration, be called a co-founder of K-Pop! With H.O.T, the company officially ushered in the “1st Generation of K-Pop”, which lasted from 1996 to 2002. Until 2002, SM successfully produced several more idols, such as the first K-Pop girl group S.E.S. (1997), the six-member boy group Shinhwa (1998), the duo Fly To The Sky (1999) and the solo singer BoA (2000), and was thereby a leader of the first generation until the end.
In 1997, SM was the first entertainment company in the industry to also expand into foreign music markets such as Japan. In addition, the company introduced the trainee system we know today, in which talents are selected through auditions and then trained intensively for several years.
2003 - 2011: TVXQ marks the beginning of the 2nd Generation of K-Pop
With the debut of SM Entertainment's five-member boy group TVXQ in 2003, who became one of the best-selling K-Pop acts of their time, the second K-Pop generation began according to general opinion, and it ended around 2011. Opinions differ on this. Some say it ended as early as 2009, while others name 2010. Since the beginning and end of a generation aren't officially announced, the dates are often vague. So don't be surprised if you notice slight shifts in the dates in other articles. SM once again led the way and continued to dominate the scene - together with JYP and YG Entertainment - with successful groups like Super Junior (2005), Girls Generation (2007), SHINee (2008) and f(x) (2009).
In the meantime, the company also debuted other acts such as Isak N Jiyen (2002), Shinvi (2001) and Black Beat (2002), but most of them disbanded after 5 years or less with little success and are therefore not remembered. The rock band TRAX (2004) and the a cappella girl group The Grace (2005) might ring a bell if you've been in the K-Pop scene for a long time. But even though the two groups lasted longer, their activities gradually fizzled out until they disbanded.
In February 2010, SM Entertainment's founder Lee Soo-man stepped down from the company's board in order to focus more on SM's business abroad and on developing its artists.
Before the year was over, the label's first project group was formed: SM the Ballad. As the name suggests, it is a ballad group made up of singers from SM Entertainment. Jay of TRAX, Kyuhyun of Super Junior, Jonghyun of SHINee and a trainee named Jino released an album titled “Miss You” in November 2010. Jino left SM in 2015 and debuted a year later in the boy group “Pentagon” under Cube Entertainment!
2011 - 2020: 3rd Generation of K-Pop
In March 2012, SM Entertainment made it very clear that they see their artists as a family. Kangta (formerly of H.O.T), BoA and most members of Super Junior and Girls Generation each received 680 shares of the company - 690 shares are worth about $27,700! The members of younger groups such as SHINee or f(x) each received 340 shares, worth around $13,600. In total, 47 of the agency's artists became shareholders of SM Entertainment!
One month later, in April 2012, the Korean-Chinese boy group EXO debuted, with whom SM targeted not only the Korean but also the Chinese market from the start. It's not entirely clear who started the 3rd generation, precisely because there is disagreement about which year it began, but quite a few would see EXO as its kickoff. Either way, we can say that SM Entertainment didn't let up and, even after a good 15 years, still knew how to thrill K-Pop fans worldwide.
At the end of 2012, several SM Entertainment artists performed under the name “SM The Performance” at the annual music festival “SBS Gayo Daejeon” on December 29. The project group, consisting of U-Know of TVXQ, Eunhyuk & Donghae of Super Junior, Taemin & Minho of SHINee and Kai & Lay of EXO, performed a cover of the song “Spectrum” by the Russian-German music producer Zedd. They had re-recorded the song with vocals by U-Know, Donghae and Taemin. The focus, however, was on the choreography; after all, most members of the project group are known for their talent for dance. “Spectrum” was the first and last song of the group, which has had no further activities since.
SM The Ballad, on the other hand, made a comeback in 2014! The lineup was changed, though. SHINee’s Jonghyun was the only member of the original quartet to return. Joining him this time were Changmin (TVXQ), Yesung & Zhou Mi (Super Junior), Taeyeon (Girls Generation), Krystal ( f(x) ), Chen (EXO) and the Chinese singer Zhang Liyin. Together they released the second SM The Ballad album “Breath” in February 2014.
The massive success of EXO was followed in August 2015 by the debut of Red Velvet. Red Velvet was the first new girl group from SM since the founding of f(x) in 2009 and gained popularity very quickly! By then, SM Entertainment was seen as a guarantee of success, and fans had high expectations of every new artist from the agency. These were mostly met, and so it's no wonder that SM is still regularly named as part of the “Big 3” to this day. The term is used by K-Pop fans for SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, since all three labels continuously produced successful artists. When exactly the term came up is unclear, but it is still used today and so keeps showing how much influence these three labels have.
On November 6, 2015, exactly 10 years after Super Junior's debut, SM Entertainment announced that the boy group would now have its own exclusive label! Label SJ was founded by SM to create an ideal management system for Super Junior. Label SJ is a subsidiary of SM Entertainment, but works independently and takes sole responsibility for the management of the boy group and its individual members as well as the production of their albums. Label SJ was the first label that SM founded exclusively for a group or an artist.
A few months later, in January 2016, Lee Soo-Man announced a new boy group called NCT (Neo Culture Technology). What attracted the most attention was the statement that NCT has unlimited members! It began with the debut of the unit NCT U in April 2016. In that year alone, two more units stepped onto the stage - NCT 127 (July 2016) & NCT Dream (August 2016) - which partly consist of already known members. However, new talents kept joining as well. In the future, NCT can therefore keep growing infinitely through new units. In 2019, the Chinese unit WayV debuted, which is even managed by its own subsidiary - Label V. Currently (2022), NCT has 23 members, making it the largest K-Pop group of all! So SM Entertainment has once again managed to create something new and stand out!
Between 2018 and 2020, the 4th Generation of K-Pop began.
The exact year is highly disputed. Some, for example, would count groups like Stray Kids and Ateez, who debuted in 2018, as part of the fourth generation. Others still see them as part of the third generation.
The first group of the fourth generation from SM Entertainment is probably SuperM. SuperM is a “supergroup” that released its debut album “SuperM” in October 2019. It's a “supergroup” because it consists of members of SM’s already existing, successful boy groups: Taemin of SHINee, Baekhyun & Kai of EXO and Taeyong, Ten, Lucas & Mark of NCT. SuperM is therefore a kind of cross-section through the history of SM, especially since, with Taemin of SHINee from the second generation, two different K-Pop generations are represented.
If fans had to choose who SM’s representative of the fourth generation is, they would certainly agree on the four-member girl group Aespa, who debuted in November 2020. With Aespa, SM once again drew attention with an unusual concept.
Each of the four members has a virtual counterpart, called “ae”. These ae appear in the music videos and album photobooks and are part of the “SMCU (SM Culture Universe)”.
The SMCU is a fictional storyline meant to unite all of SM's artists. The storyline basically says that there are two dimensions: the real world, in which we humans live, and the alternative dimension “Kwangya”, ruled by the villain, the “Black Mamba”. The members of Aespa tell parts of the story in their songs, such as in their debut song "Black Mamba". In addition, SM has so far uploaded two episodes of the SM Culture Universe to YouTube, in which Aespa, their ae and the Black Mamba play the leading roles. Who will join the SMCU next, we don't know yet, but we can't wait to see how it continues!
As you can see, SM Entertainment keeps challenging itself and, with new and unusual concepts, remains a leader of the K-Pop scene now and in the future! All the more so because the label not only celebrates groundbreaking successes with its artists but also revolutionizes the entertainment industry in general.
In April 2020, for example, SM launched a series of online concerts called “Beyond Live” in collaboration with the online platform “Naver”. Beyond Live is the world's first paid concert streaming service! Fans can watch the concerts live online. Beyond Live is not only a replacement for traditional concerts, which was urgently needed because of the worldwide Corona pandemic. Through the use of technologies such as augmented reality, the events become unique. The online concerts have elements that traditional concerts can't offer. In addition, real-time interactions between the performing stars and the fans sitting in front of the screen live are made possible. The first “Beyond Live” concert was held by SuperM in front of 75,000 viewers from over 109 different countries!
In August 2020, SM Entertainment teamed up with JYP Entertainment. The two labels founded the “Beyond Live Corporation", which was officially launched in December 2021. Since then, not only concerts by SM but also by JYP’s artists have been broadcast live. By now, other entertainment companies also produce similar live concerts.
After the success of SuperM, SM Entertainment finally announced a female “supergroup” too in December 2021! “GOT the beat” has seven members: the solo artist BoA, Taeyeon & Hyoyeon of Girls Generation, Seulgi & Wendy of Red Velvet and Karina & Winter of Aespa!
Even more than SuperM, GOT the beat is a cross-generational group! BoA comes from the first K-Pop generation, Girls Generation from the second, Red Velvet from the third and Aespa from the fourth. There is probably no better representation of SM Entertainment's history than this girl group! They debuted in January 2022 with “Step Back”.
SM Town & SM Station
All singers of SM Entertainment together form the music collective “SM Town”. Under that name, all of SM's idols have gone on world tours together several times. Since 1999, 14 SM Town summer and winter albums have also been released! Most recently, the Christmas album “2021 Winter SM Town: SMCU Express” was released. It was the first SM Town album in 10 years!
SM Station is a digital music project in the framework of which a digital single was released every Friday. The goal was above all to showcase SM's artists and producers. They also had the chance to collaborate with artists from other entertainment companies. So far there have been two “seasons” of SM Station. The first ran from February 2016 to February 2017 and includes 52 songs. The second ran from March 2017 to April 2018 and includes 57 songs.
Subsidiaries
As already mentioned, SM Entertainment is by now much more than just a record label. Of course it is known above all for its idol groups, but SM also has a number of actors, TV personalities, models and even athletes under contract. The actors include, besides big names like Kang Hana, Moon Gayoung and Woo Dohwan, a few idols with an acting career. These are, for example, D.O of EXO, Key of SHINee or Joy of Red Velvet.
If you do a little research, though, you'll see that Kang Hana, Moon Gayoung and co. are represented by the management agency “KeyEast”. KeyEast is simply one of the many subsidiaries of SM Entertainment. Over the years, SM has built itself almost a small empire!
Other subsidiaries include, for example, further entertainment agencies like SM Japan and SM U.S.A, which, among other things, take care of the activities of SM's artists abroad. In 2020, “SM Classics” was also founded in collaboration with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. SM Classics releases newly arranged orchestral versions of well-known songs by SM Entertainment’s artists. So there are now orchestral versions of End of a Day (SHINee Jonghyun), Red Flavor (Red Velvet) and Make A Wish (NCT U). The content SM releases is thus becoming more and more varied!
In addition, the subsidiaries also include a travel company, a wholesale company in the food industry and more! So SM not only leads the entertainment industry but combines it with culture and wants to contribute to the growth of the economy.
Of course, the label has also been honored for its efforts.
Besides general recognition, SM received, for example, the Export Award for Cultural Content and Music from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Lee Soo-Man himself was named by Billboard in January 2020 as one of the most influential figures in the music industry worldwide!
Over all these years, SM Entertainment has been involved in scandals and lawsuits several times.
Probably the best known is the lawsuit by three former members of TVXQ against the label. Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu sued over their 13-year contract, which they had to sign before their debut. They also stated that they were treated unfairly when it came to pay. As a result of the lawsuit, the Korea Fair Trade Commission issued a new regulation in 2009, according to which contracts may in future run for a maximum of seven years. That's why most idols today have a 7-year contract. The three won the lawsuit, left SM Entertainment and formed the trio JYJ.
Han Geng of Super Junior also sued SM in the same year because of his disproportionately long contract term and unfair pay.
From 2014 to 2015, three of EXO’s Chinese members sued independently of each other over discrimination and unfair pay. In his lawsuit, Luhan specifically cited that SM had favored the Korean members of EXO.
Jessica Jung left Girls Generation and SM Entertainment in 2014 because of conflicts between her business activities and Girls Generation's schedule. Jessica said on social media at the time that she was kicked out without warning, while SM claimed that they had been in talks with Jessica for quite some time. She had allegedly opened her business without consulting them and thereby affected her group's activities.
In 2015, No Minwoo of TRAX also sued over his contract and left the label. Since then it has been quiet when it comes to legal disputes.
Social Media
Besides the social media accounts of the individual artists, SM Entertainment also has its own general accounts, where news and videos of all of the label's artists can be found:
YouTube // Instagram // Twitter // TikTok
Currently (June 2022), SM Entertainment has the following artists under contract:
Groups: TVXQ, Girls Generation, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT & Aespa.
If Label SJ is counted as well, Super Junior is of course included too.
Solo singers: Kangta (formerly of H.O.T), BoA & J-Min
Of course, all members of the idol groups who have released their own albums are also listed as solo singers at SM. By now, these include all members of TVXQ and SHINee and some of Super Junior, Girls Generation, EXO, Red Velvet and NCT.
Three members of Girls Generation - Tiffany, Sooyoung and Seohyun - are still members of the girl group but have left SM Entertainment. Their group activities continue to be managed by SM, but their respective new agencies are responsible for their solo careers.
As you can see, with Kangta and BoA, even idols from the first K-Pop generation are still active. SM Entertainment is a piece of K-Pop history, and we're curious what the versatile label has in store for us in the future!
