You discover a band whose music you really like, and now of course you want to know everything about them: How many albums has the group already released, what are the members called, how old are they and what is their favorite color?
K-Pop fans can also tell you exactly what their favorite band's entertainment company is called and which other groups are signed there as well.
In this article, we explain why entertainment companies play such a big role in the K-Pop scene and which famous groups share the same agency.
Entertainments
Entertainment companies are entertainment businesses, talent agencies and music producers. They take care of their artists, promote them and produce their albums. So far, so good. In South Korea, however, the bond between artists and their entertainment companies goes a little deeper. As you may know, idols sometimes train for years in their agencies before they debut. There they receive singing and dance lessons after school and often also learn acting or other skills that might turn out to be useful later on. Jihyo of Twice was a trainee at JYP Entertainment for ten years before she debuted at the age of 19 in the now very successful girl group; so she practically grew up at JYP! Although there are also trainees who train for less than a year before they debut, Jihyo is not an isolated case and a training period of four to six years is not unusual. So it is no wonder that idols who share an agency are often close friends, even if they are active in different bands.
Music collective
The artists signed to an entertainment company often form a music collective that gives concerts or releases songs together. The bands under SM Entertainment, for example, have already gone on world tours several times under the name “SM Town”.
In 2017, BoA, Kangta, Super Junior, Girls Generation, SHINee, Red Velvet and EXO sing “Dear My Family” together.
At year-end shows, festivals or award shows, too, it occasionally happens that the artists of one agency perform together. At the KBS Song Festival, a music show that is broadcast every year at the end of the year, "JYP Nation", the music collective of JYP Entertainment, performed in 2018, for example.
Twice, Day6, Got7 & Stray Kids
Especially around Christmas, many entertainment companies release a Christmas song every year in which the whole collective takes part.
K.Will, Soyou, Boyfriend, MonstaX, WJSN, Yoo Seungwoo, Brother Su, Mind U, Duetto & Jeong Sewoon
As you can see, every collective has its own name. Besides the ones we have just given as examples, there are also, among others, “YG Family” of YG Entertainment or “Cube Artists” of Cube Entertainment.
Project groups
While the artists of an agency often work together on individual songs, some entertainment companies even form their own project groups, which consist of individual members of the bands or solo artists under contract.
Fans of SHINee, EXO, NCT and WayV are probably thinking first and foremost of “SuperM”, a project group that debuted in 2019 with “Jopping” and has since released several singles, albums and even joint commercial songs.
SuperM is made up of Taemin of SHINee, Kai and Baekhyun of EXO, Taeyong and Mark of NCT 127, as well as Ten and Lucas of WayV.
Under the name “SM The Ballad”, a changing combination of artists under SM Entertainment has released two albums which, as the name suggests, contain ballads.
Jonghyun (SHINee), Kyuhyun (Super Junior), Jay Kim (formerly TRAX) & Jino (trainee at the time, vocal trainer today)
As you can see, the music collectives of the entertainment companies in the K-Pop scene are similar to a big family. Which “family” does your favorite band belong to?
Bonus: Big 3
In connection with South Korean entertainment companies, the term “Big 3” often comes up, i.e. “The Great Three”. This refers to YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment. These three have dominated the South Korean music market for years, as they continuously produce groups and solo artists who reach the top of the charts and the hearts of countless fans in a short time.
In the meantime, however, fans often discuss whether "BigHit Entertainment" with BTS and TXT already belongs to the "Big 3", which some already call the "Big 4".
