What is wrong with SM, which has been working in the Korean idol market for more than 20 years?
Editor’s note: This article is from the WeChat public account “drugs” (ID :youhaoxifilm), author Dong Mengyuan, editor He Runzhen.
In the past ten months, with the news of Cui Xueli’s death, the news was quickly fermented in the China-Korea network, and “Cui Xueli’s help to the company during his lifetime” was on the hot search. South Korea’s premier entertainment company SM was once again Pushed to the cusp of public opinion.
In addition to the discussion on the Shirley incident, as a well-known entertainment empire, SM’s recent actions are also quite high-profile. On November 5th, a number of media outlets revealed that SM chief producer Li Xiuman had signed a contract with the mainstream entertainment and sports brokerage company in the United States half a month ago. The content is the global activity agent of the two main men’s teams SuperM and NCT 127. It can be seen that SM is gradually implementing its ambition to capture the global market.
Forbes magazine rated SM as the creator of K-Pop in 2013, saying that the star-making system it created in the 1990s has shown great advancement in the Korean entertainment industry. It is the top 200 small and medium-sized companies with market capitalization throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Forbes magazine named SM as the creator of K-Pop
For this evaluation, SM is indeed well deserved. In the 24 years since its founding, SM has been on the road to star-making, step by step to explain its role as a leader in the Korean idol market. From launching HOT to creating a brilliant second-generation group such as Dong Bang Shin Ki, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, and then to three generations of EXO, four generations of Red Velvet and NCT… even those who don’t follow the Korean Wave can know a little about these names. two.
Although YG and JYP are called the three major entertainment companies in Korea, SM’s performance seems to have become more prominent than the other two. As one of the earliest established in the three majors, SM took the lead in launching Korea’s first idol men’s team, and also established a complete idol training system. According to the list published by Naver Financial, a well-known financial service platform in Korea, SM is also among the sales of the three major companies from 2015 to 2018.Live in the first place.
Korea’s three major entertainment companies
For more than 20 years, there have been long-standing negative news with the aura, such as the crush on the artists, the release of many artists, and the suicide of Kim Jong-il and Cui Xueli two months ago.
Poisonous 眸 (Weixin ID: youhaoxifilm) also observed that with the changes of the times and the environment of the Korean entertainment environment, the development of SM in recent years seems to have been slightly deteriorating, no longer calm, one of the signs is from EXO No matter whether the male or female group has not exploded. In 2017, although the sales were still at the top of the Korean entertainment company, SM’s net profit once fell to 4.7 billion won, far lower than the YG and JYP in the same period.
Recently, SM frequently released large-scale actions such as engaging in blockchain and issuing electronic money, but its performance as an entertainment brokerage company was not satisfactory. In October of this year, SM and the US company jointly created the new men’s team SuperM officially debuted, mainly in the North American market, but its mini album since the release of the results compared with the emerging company BigHit’s bulletproof juvenile group is slightly bleak.
Cui Xueli’s sudden death may be just a microcosm of the operation of this giant star factory, but we are more interested in: SM, which has been working in the Korean idol market for more than 20 years, what is wrong now?
The development of Korean entertainment giants
The deputy head of SM Group said in an interview with “Daily Economic News” that the founder and chief producer of SM, Li Xiuman, has an influence on SM Entertainment and the Korean Wave, just like Steve Jobs to Apple or IT industry.
In the 1970s when Li Xiuman just entered the Korean performing arts industry as a singer, Korean pop music has not yet formed his own form, and the Japanese music scene next door is in the golden age. Like countless fans who were obsessed with Japanese singers, Li Xiuman, who was in Seoul, went to Busan, Japan, to see the show of the idol Xicheng Xiushu, because only there was a signal from Japan Radio.
In the face of Japan’s influence in the Asian music scene, Li Xiuquan is determined to have a star in Korea that can really redeem Asia.
Li Xiu Man
In the early 1980s, Li Xiuman went to California to study for a master’s degree in computer engineering, which also formed an opportunity for him to closely observe the American music scene. When witnessing the transformation of the entertainment industry in the United States, he also smelled the great potential and business opportunities of Korea at that time. After returning to China, Li Xiuman re-entered the entertainment industry. After accumulating a certain amount of savings, he began to enter the record production industry. In 1989, he established the SM project, which is also the predecessor of SM company.
After 6 years, SM plans to formally grow into SM Entertainment, but Li Xiuman’s eagerness to bring Korean music and entertainers to the world has begun to be truly implemented.
In the early days, Li Xiuman began the action of building the first men’s team. SM sought talents through various methods such as domestic competition selection and foreign recruitment. After determining five members, it began concentrated devil training. According to reports from early Korean media, the newly established SM company did not have a mature dance studio. The members practiced dance in a room without mirrors, sometimes using the reflection of light from the night, illuminated by lights. The shadow on the glass corrects the action over and over again.
In addition to adequate training preparations, the then popular free association Xu Taizhi and the children announced their understanding, and the position of the top idol group in the Korean music scene just appeared blank. With full preparation and market opportunities, SM created a five-person men’s group H.O.T in 1996, which has since become a hit.
H.O.T
As the first true idol men’s team in Korea, the emergence of H.O.T undoubtedly opened a new era of Korean boom. Prior to this, members of Korean group members often had their own divisions, and the division of dance, rap or singing was distinct, and there was no awareness of the combination of stage expression and MV effects.
Inspired by American experience, Li Xiuman noticed the trend of music visualization earlier than the Korean music planners at the same time. When selecting and training the HOT members, they clearly defined the goal of each member to sing well. Betting a lot of energy on the arrangement of the dance and the presentation of the stage effect.
The growth rate of H.O.T and the aura of the head are amazing, and few groups have been able to talk about it today after more than 20 years. On the day of their debut, they sang the title song “Anti-Bullying” in the popular program “Happy Saturday and Saturday”.The descendants of the scholars had an unprecedented response, and soon the album sales exceeded 1 million.
Because it is too popular among Korean youth groups, the Korean media described the society as having “H.O.T syndrome”. In the years after the active years, they not only set the fastest sales record of concert tickets in the history of Korean performing arts, but also sang the works to Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Beijing workers.
H.O.T allowed SM to achieve its local fires when it was first established, and it also entered the Chinese and Japanese markets. The word “Korean” first appeared in China, and the media used to describe the influence of H.O.T in China. Its group member Wen Xijun once revealed in the Korean talk show “Non-Summary Talks” that H.O.T took a lot of advertisements in the Chinese market and earned about 100 billion won in just one year. At the time, Chinese students who came to study in South Korea because of H.O.T were no longer a minority.
After that, SM continued to replicate the success myth of HOT, and launched the SES and myth combination in the two years after the HOT debut; in the era of the idol group after the 21st century, SM did not show weakness, creating Super Junior, EXO and other phenomenal male group myths have also created a girl group legend, f(x) and other women’s group legends.
Girls Generation
In fact, the success of SM’s push group is not only a simple copy or an opportunity. In the view of the drug lord, SM has been able to cross the idol market for more than 20 years, and it is inseparable from the fact that it always dares to be the first to eat crabs and its leading production and planning capabilities at the industry level.
When everyone thinks that Japan is popular and Europe and America R&B is fresh, SM took the lead in creating the concept of all-round idol combination and created a trainee system. When HOT became popular and everyone started to form idol groups, SM realized that the competition in the local market It was fierce and took the lead in using BoA, Dong Bang Shin Ki and Super Junior to capture the Japanese and Chinese markets.
In terms of group form, when everyone is building a group of 3 to 6 people, it is the first to launch Super Junior, a 13-member group, to make songs and stage performances more diverse and attract more fans. When everyone began to emulate large groups, it also took the lead in launching a small team model in a multi-person group. In 2006, the sub-combination Super Junior-KRY was launched.
And always dare to go ahead and break the biographyThe courage of the system is largely derived from SM’s commitment to selecting and cultivating talent, as well as self-confidence in its high-quality idol production process.
After 1997, after the launch of H.O.T, Li Xiuman proposed the concept of CT (Culture Technology), emphasizing the need for extraordinary technology behind cultural products. Behind this set of ideas, the process of creating an artist is equivalent to the factory manufacturing of goods, from material selection, processing to sales, corresponding to the selection and training of the early stage, the production and production of the medium-term works, and the promotion and agency in the later period.
In the selection of artists, SM holds various drafts every year. Locals such as “Weekend Draft” and “Youth Selection Conference” will also set up “Global Interview” activities in different countries. In addition, they will also be at the art competitions. The streets set up scouts to dig. Li Xiuman once said in a report that after selecting the potential talents through audition, it takes at least three to seven years for them to receive training in music, dance and acting before they can create a “near perfect” star. .
Promotion of SM “Global Interview” Event
After the artist is preparing to debut and debut, the SM family’s plan is also very innovative. At the beginning of HOT, fans often held white balloons to create an atmosphere. Since then, SM has established white as the exclusive color of HOT, encouraging fans to wear white raincoats and white balloons in various occasions and events where HOT is attended to form a unified white. The ocean has also born a culture of aid. As a result, Korean groups that debut later will generally announce a color as a support color by the brokerage company.
In the planning of EXO, SM company created the concept of “EXO Planet”, which means superstars from outside the Milky Way. Each member has a specific super power, and the parallel group of China and South Korea has a “double birth” design. set. Moreover, this “world view” will continue to improve with the release of the album, fans can find a “conceptual analysis” by looking for music, Python’s clues, greatly enhancing the sense of participation. Therefore, many fans of EXO said that watching their MV is like watching a series of movies or novels with a complete world view, it is very easy to immerse them.
It can be said that in the middle and late stage of this star-making line, SM always plays new tricks.
The failure of standard production?
It’s always a step ahead of the market, coupled with the perfect production lineAt the end, let SM be the first to win in the late 20th century, and still shine in the era of idols after the 21st century.
However, this brilliance seems to have gradually faded in the past two years. According to the financial report information of SM from 2010 to 2018 summarized by the Huayi Brothers Research Institute, SM achieved double growth in revenue and net daily growth from 2010 to 2014, reaching a maximum of 373.4 billion won in 2014. However, after 2015, its operating profit began to decline significantly.
图源华谊兄弟学院
The enlightener of the Asian idol industry seems to have lost the favor of fortune, and the standardized production line that has been tried and tested has not kept up with the speed of the times.
The most obvious manifestation of this is that the new regiment has not been able to support the existence of its predecessors.
Even if SM has new groups and artists constantly launched, most of the impressions for SM are still in the EXO era. With the changes and membership of members in recent years, the influence of EXO in the market is gradually worse than before.
EXO was the first group to receive the four-year album of the year in the history of MAMA. It also won the four-year record award at the Golden Disk Awards of the Korean Golden Record Awards, but most of the years marked next to the award were stagnant in 2016. .
EXO wins a grand prize at MAMA
In the new generation of men’s groups, SM launched the experimental NCT in 2016, but it has not been eye-catching in terms of popularity and performance. NCT’s “NCT 2018 Empathy” ranked 14th only in Hanteo’s 2018 album sales year. Although EXO’s “Don’t Mess Up My tempo” and “Love Shot” both ranked in the top ten, they ranked third and seventh respectively.
In contrast, the results of BigHit’s combined bulletproof youth league undoubtedly prove the status of its new generation of male group hegemons. At 20In 18 years, the bulletproof not only sat in the first place in the Gaon list and the album sales, but also won the championship with YouTube and Naver search volume. At the same time, in the overseas market, three albums have entered the “Billboard 200” list so far, and the single has also been on the list for two consecutive weeks, which has refreshed the best score of the history of Korean music in Billboard.
The WANNA ONE combination that won the second season of “Produce 101” was also very impressive last year. They ranked second in both Gaon album sales and Naver search volume, followed by bulletproof.
In the 2018 ranking of Gaon, EXO entered the top three in terms of album sales, but it did not enter the top ten in terms of sound source accumulation. Although today’s EXO is still an important weapon for SM, it seems to be less sharp than it was in the golden age of 2013 to 2016.
2018 Men’s and Women’s Team Results for Fan Integration
The situation of the women’s team seems to be less optimistic.
Girlhood has created the highest peak of SM women’s group performance, and even represents the era of a Korean women’s group. According to fan statistics, they have recorded more than 100 songs since their debut. In 2009, “Gee” sold 24,000 copies in the first week of the H list, setting a record for the women’s group sales. After that, the first week of “Genie” was 40,000 and the first week of “OH” was 60,000. The record is refreshed. It can be said that at the peak of the few times, only they can break their own records.
However, since the three members of the family have been exposed in 2014, and Jessica’s retreat, the popularity of the girlhood has been hit hard. Later, Xu Xian, Tiffany, and Xiuying also left, and the five-member Girls’ Generation team was even more difficult to continue to make a rain in the entire Asian market.
The new squad of Oh! GG was formally established last year and launched the single “Lil Touch”. Although it broke the record of the first day of SM oil pipe, it did not appear on the stage of the major TV stations. At present, the five people have a busy schedule, and no new works have been released since the “Lil Touch”. Many fans are worried that in the era of the four-generation rule and the rise of the five-generation women’s group, the Oh! GG road will become more and more difficult.
SM launched the women’s team Red Velvet in 2014, trying to create vitality and dark mysteryA combination of styles. Although the group was ranked in the top ten in the Korean music source and album list of 2018, but the first generation of the four-generation women’s team, it is undoubtedly the TWICE launched by JYP in 2015.
In the past two years, TWICE has been the first in both audio and album performances, and its third mini-album “TT” has posted more than 100 million YouTube hits in 72 days. YG’s Blackpink also showed no signs of weakness, and the results were bitten with Red Velvet, taking turns to be the second generation of the four-generation women’s team.
Obviously, although SM still has names in the men’s and women’s groups, it is no longer in the most shining position.
There are Korean netizens who have counted the total sales of Korean men’s teams in Japan and South Korea since 2018. From the top ten, SM has taken six of them, including H.O.T, mythology in the first generation, Dong Bang Shin Ki, SHINee and Super Junior in the second generation group, and EXO in the three generations. However, in the four-generation regiment, the Bulletproof Youth League took the lead and SM did not appear on the list.
It is not difficult to see that in the era of a group of organizations, SM played the role of leader; in the second generation, Korean entertainment flourished, and the three majors were strong, and SM still shines; three generations, EXO Presenting the rule of the rule; but after four generations, it gradually lost the hegemonic position.
Today, the market structure of Korean performing arts companies is changing, and the rapid rise of emerging companies is constantly challenging the three major positions. In terms of operating profit alone, BigHit reached 32.5 billion won in 2017, surpassing SM’s 25.6 billion, YG’s 25.8 billion, and JYP’s 17.9 billion. From the perspective of combined performance, the Bulletproof Youth League is the most direct explanation of its strong performance.
图源华谊兄弟学院
A lot of fans of the Bulletproof Youth League said that unlike SM’s standardization and perfection, the bulletproof place is its human touch. They said that although the value of bulletproof may not be available to everyone, fans can feel that each of them has