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SM Entertainment

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SM Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Company typePublic
IndustryMusic & Entertainment
FoundedFebruary 14, 1995
FounderLee Soo Man
Headquarters
South Korea Seoul
,
South Korea
Key people
Kim Young Min
Chief Executive Officer
Lee Jong In
Chief Financial Officer
Lee Soo Man
Director
Han Sae Min
Director
Nam So Young
Director
ProductsMusic & Entertainment
ServicesMusic & Entertainment
Revenue₩98,536,225,756 (2010)
OwnerLee Soo Man (27%,2010.06)
Neowiz Internet (7.83%,2010.06)
파트너스엠앤에이투자조합(7.35%,2010.06)
Number of employees
965 (as of March 2010)
SubsidiariesSM TinTin Hall (2000)
SM Entertainment Japan (2001)
SM Academy (2003)
SM Pictures (2007)
SM Amusement
SM F&B Development
SM Entertainment USA (2008)
WebsiteOfficial Site

SM Entertainment is a talent agency, producer, and publisher of Korean pop music, founded by Lee Soo Man. Initially, "SM" was an abbreviation of the agency founder's name, but now stands for "Star Museum." Once the home to top-selling groups such as H.O.T., S.E.S., and Shinhwa, its current roster of recording artists include BoA, f(x), Girls' Generation, The Grace, Kangta, Shinee, Super Junior, TRAX, TVXQ and Zhang Liyin. SM Entertainment also co-publishes Avex Trax releases for Japanese artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and Kumi Koda, as well as Johnny's Entertainment acts like Arashi and KAT-TUN. The company celebrated its ten-year anniversary with a party on February 15, 2005. Its current CEO is Kim Young-min.

History

After graduating from Seoul National University and pursuing his own career as a singer, Lee Soo-man surveyed teenage girls on what they wanted to see in music groups and started the boy band H.O.T. and girl group S.E.S.. Both groups became successful during the late 1990s. Soon thereafter, Lee created Shinhwa, and once again, the band attained the same popularity and success, continuing Lee's streak of successful artists.

However, problems began appearing in SM Entertainment following the breakup of H.O.T. Some assumed financial issues to be the problem, but real reasons have never been officially disclosed. S.E.S. disbanded a year after H.O.T., and a few years later in 2003, SM Entertainment would see the departure of Shinhwa as well, though the group shifted towards a new management instead of breaking up and continued their success outside of SM Entertainment. In the following years, some of its newer ventures, such as Isak N Jiyeon and Black Beat, failed to attain the popularity achieved by earlier SM artists.

The agency later found new successes in many other acts. SM Entertainment debuted a solo singer BoA in 2000, a five-member boy group TVXQ in 2003, a four-member rock band TRAX in 2004, a four-member girl group The Grace and a thirteen-member boy group Super Junior in 2005, a solo singer of Chinese descent Zhang Liyin in 2006, a nine-member girl group Girls' Generation in 2007, another five-member boy group Shinee in 2008 and a five-member girl group f(x) in 2009.

In addition to marketing to domestic audiences, many artists have been aggressively promoted in Japan, as part of the company's recent blue ocean strategy to export Korean talent to larger overseas music markets. SM first entered into a joint venture with VAP to release music of S.E.S., then Avex to debut and release music of BoA, TVXQ, The Grace, TRAX and Ahyoomee and just this recently, with Nayutawave Records to release music of Girls' Generation in Japan as well. Super Junior M and Zhang Liyin have been heavily promoted in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Major Timeline

1990s

In February 1995, SM Entertainment set up its capital fund at ₩50,000,000. In January 1996, SM Entertainment purchased land for a recording site and manufactured its contents for broadcasting companies like KBS, SBS, HBS, KMTV, M-NET). In April 1997, the head office was transferred to the Yadang ri Kyoha myon Paju Kyungki do part of Seoul. In October 1998, Kim Kyoung-wook was awarded the position of CEO. In August 1999, a paid-in capital increase of ₩25,000,000 (5,000 shares) and free issue of 225,000 shares (₩112,500,000) occurred. In that same year, SM Entertainment built a branch office in Apgujung dong Kangnam gu, Seoul.

2000s

In early 2000, SM Entertainment agreed to share the split from 5,000 won to 500 per a share. In mid-2000, the company was approved and listed in KOSDAQ as 041510. Late that year, SM Entertainment and Avex Trax signed a contract for music licensing and Asia agency. In December 2000, SM established an affiliation with Fandago Korea. In January 2001, SM Entertainment established an overseas joint-venture corporation as SM Entertainment Japan Co., Ltd. In March of the same year, Kim Kyoung-wook was appointed the company's third CEO. In May of the same year, SM Entertainment spent 10 billion won to organize its first joint-venture investment fund on the music industry. In April 2002, an additional 1,341,180 shares was added and in June 2002, the third-party paid-in capital increased another 61,048 shares. In late-2002, SM Entertainment was awarded the Grand Prix of Ministry of Culture and Tourism for Culture Contents for Export award in music. In 2003, it established its affiliation with Starlight Corporation Ltd and was awarded for the best music contents in Korea. In February 2004, the third-party paid-in capital increased another 271,428 shares. In April of the same year, the head office moved from Paju, Kyungi to Apgujung dong,Kangnam gu, Seoul. A month later, it established its affiliation with C-Cube Entertainment Corporation. In May 2005, the fourth CEO, Hur Dah-shin. In August 2010 Kim young-min took office.[1] Kim Young-min (born April 13, 1970 is a graduate of Korea University majoring in Sociology. In September 1999, Kim Young-min joined SM Entertainment as a team leader of overseas business and during 2001 to 2005, he was the CEO of Fandango Korea.[2]

Expanding into other markets

SM Entertainment Japan was established in 2001. SM Entertainment, along with SM Entertainment Japan, is preparing to establish a new headquarters in Beijing, China.[3] SM Entertainment will also set up its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong.[4] The company announced its plans to debut BoA in the United States under SM's new subsidiary label, SM Entertainment USA, on October 21, 2008. BoA has now returned to Korea and made a comeback with her new album "Hurricane Venus".

Controversies

TVXQ/DBSK lawsuit

In late July 2009, three of the members; Hero(Kim Jae Joong), Micky Mouse(Park Yoo Chun), and Xiah Na Nga(Kim Jun Su), submitted an application to the Seoul Central District Court to determine the validity of their contract with SM Entertainment.[5][6] Through their lawyers, the members stated that the 13-year contract was excessively long and that the group's earnings were not fairly distributed to the members.[7] Early termination penalty of their contract will cost them 2 times the profit that the group is estimated to earn for rest of the contract period (over ₩11 billion, or around US$9.2 million).[8] The news was enough to cause SM Entertainment's stock price to drop over 10% on the KOSPI.[9]

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the three members. They have claimed that the contract was unfair and the members were left out of proper profit distribution.[10] In response, SM Entertainment called a press conference and claimed that the lawsuit a big fraud, stating that the lawsuit was not about unfair contracts or human rights, but a scam motivated by the three members’ greed over their cosmetics business. The three members remained silent except to say through their lawyers that they hoped SM Entertainment would respect the court’s decision.[11]

In response to the lawsuit, 120,000 TVXQ fans (Cassiopeia) filed a petition against SM Entertainment’s long-term contracts to the Seoul District Court.[12] Cassiopeia also filed for compensation from SM Entertainment for the cancelled SM Town Live Concert, as both SM and TVXQ initially stated that the concert would go on as planned; the concert was cancelled a week before its scheduled date.[13] Now, the three members that left SM, debuted as JYJ under another company.

M.net Asian Music Awards boycott

Prior to the show, SM Entertainment announced that they will be boycotting the M.net Asian Music Awards, questioning the validity of the award ceremony.[14]

Roster

SM Town, which started in 1999, is the project name for SM Entertainment's summer and winter vacation albums. SMTown albums consists of current SM Entertainment artists. Each SMTown album consists of one SMTown song and a song from each artist or group.

Current

Recording artists

Composers

Actors

Former

Disbanded

Left the company

Discography

Main article: SM Entertainment discography

See also

References

  1. ^ About SM - History of SM
  2. ^ About SM - CEO Profile
  3. ^ About SM - Introduction of SM
  4. ^ SM Entertainment Sets Up Asian HQ in Hong Kong
  5. ^ "TVXQ Feuds With SM Entertainment". The Korea Time. 2009-08-02. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  6. ^ "Is TVXQ Headed for Breakup?". KBS World. 2009-08-03. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  7. ^ "TVXQ to Stick Together Despite Legal Dispute". The Korea Times. 2009-08-03. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  8. ^ Yahoo.co.kr. Retrieved August 26, 2009
  9. ^ Thomson Reuters. Korea Hot Stocks - Hankook Tire, S.M. Ent, Ssangyong Motor. Forbes.com. August 3, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  10. ^ "Will TVXQ Stay Together?". KBS World. 2009-10-28. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  11. ^ "SM Entertainment Calls the TVXQ Suit a Big Fraud". KBS World. 2009-11-02. Retrieved November 2, 2009.
  12. ^ "TVXQ vs. SM Entertainment Trial Begins". KBS World. 2009-08-21. Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  13. ^ "TVXQ Fan Club Files for Compensation for Cancelled Concert". KBS World. 2009-09-03. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
  14. ^ Han Sang, Hee (November 22, 2009). "Music Awards Has Fresh Yet Disappointing Start". Korean Times. Retrieved December 13, 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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