The landlords have no surplus food
"What you looking at?I’m fearless huh."
Wearing boxing gloves and singing "We are fearless". The new girl group LE SSERAFIM, a subsidiary of Hybe, has been standing in the spotlight of the crowd since its debut.
"BTS Junior Sister" and "Hybe's First Girl Group" are in the halo, coupled with the addition of members of the popular talent show girl group I*ZONE, LE SSERAFIM has undoubtedly become the most popular newcomer group in May. Breaking through the highest sales record of the first week of the debut album of a girl group, their MV exceeded 10 million views within 19 hours, and they looked bright and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before they became a trending group.
But the storm comes faster than cheers. In the "Music Bank" program on May 13, LE SSERAFIM defeated the Korean national trend singer Lin Yingxiong with a "playing score" of up to 5,348 points and won one of the program. However, this score is far higher than the normal range, and the corresponding score of Lin Yingxiong showed an abnormal 0 points. Compared with the sales volume of albums, listening times and fans of both parties, Lin Yingxiong has an absolute advantage. What comes with a trophy is the accusation of "stealing the prize" and "injecting water".
wave after another, and campus bullying controversy also plagues this freshman group. Long before his debut, Jin Jialan, a member identified as the "group center", was proved to have a history of campus bullying. But in Hybe's official statement, the situation was summarized as "Kim Jialan was a victim of school bullying due to punishment". In order to "focus on treating Jin Jialan's injured mind", LE SSERAFIM will "temporarily act in a five-person system."
's behavior undoubtedly angered South Korean netizens who already regard school bullying as a felony. Hybe's position seemed to be intentional against public opinion, like adding fuel to the fire, which ignited more fierce protests.
"Hybe's new girl group is really fearless. Is there something you dare not do?" Angry Korean netizens put forward the slogan of "resisting LE SSERAFIM". Under the storm, LE SSERAFIM is no longer the group of fearless confident girls, but has become a bully who acts recklessly and does not know how to reflect on the public.
Hybe's girl group story writes the beginning of light and beautiful, but now it is falling into a heavy trough of darkness. Looking back at Hybe's history of making a fortune, such a plot twist is not incomprehensible.
From bankruptcy to top of income
In 2005, a musician named Fang Shihe signed a contract agreement with JYP Entertainment, one of the three major entertainment companies in South Korea. He has created classic songs such as "Candy in Your Ear" and "You Can't Let You Go Even if You Die". He was once the "Chief Producer of JYP", and is full of confidence and plans to build his own music empire. Fang Shihe named his company Big Hit, which means "a great victory" - this is the predecessor of Hybe.
Fang Shihe took a photo with LE SSERAFIM members
At that time, in the Korean entertainment industry, SM, JYP and YG showed a three-legged stalemate. SM is rich in "standard idols" with good looks. JYP uses "sexy and pure" as its business route. YG specializes in the random and casual Hip Hop, and has already had its own unique operation methodology. Under the pressure of the three giants
, Fang Shihe's journey was not smooth. For a long time, Big Hit was not doing well, and its few artists performed mediocrely, and no new blood was introduced. It was not until 2010 that Hybe launched its national auditions for the first time to find trainees for the new boy group.
In June 2013, the male idol group "BTS" composed of 7 artists officially debuted. BTS takes "real teenagers" as its main concept. It explains the confusion and thinking of adolescence through European and American pop styles, and then further attracts fans through group variety shows, and gradually grows into a first-line boy group with excellent sales and views.
Relying on BTS' successful turnaround, Big Hit has more financial resources to achieve its goals.Time comes in 2019, and new keywords have emerged on Big Hit's path: "acquisition" .
In July of that year, Big Hit announced the acquisition of Source Music, a member of the popular girl group Gfriend; in May 2020, Big Hit took action again, announcing that it would become the largest shareholder of Pledis Entertainment, and bringing the trendy boy groups SEVENTEEN and NUEST under its command; in November of the same year, Big Hit announced the acquisition of KOZ Entertainment, and ZICO, which has dominated major audio lists for many years, also joined the Big Hit family. The acquisition has rewritten Big Hit's industrial layout. BTS is no longer the only artist group under it, and the "Big Hit family" is growing.
SEVENTEEN
And Big Hit's ambition is not limited to artist agency companies. What Fang Shihe really wants to create is a comprehensive entertainment company that integrates local idols, overseas entertainment, platform supply, game development, etc. In March 2021, Big Hit Entertainment removed the "Entertainment" suffix and officially announced the name to Hybe.
On Hybe's official website, this blueprint consists of three independent and mutually supported main lines: Label, Solution and Platform. The transformation from the role of "operating party" to the "platform supplier" is a new step taken by Hybe. The original Big Hit Music and the acquired Pledis and Source Music will form the Label Project as independent labels, responsible for artist training and music production. Solution means expanding business on the existing basis and extending Hybe's business territory to overseas markets and gaming fields. Platform has launched a new fan community platform Weverse, which is equipped with functions such as online performances, live viewing, and peripheral sales to establish a communication bridge between artists and fans.
, based in Korean pop, goes overseas and expands its market, once again using its acquisition skills and has wholly owned its European and American record companies such as SB Projects and Big Machine, and well-known singers such as Justine Bieber and Ariana Grande are being represented by these companies. Hybe's move is obviously to further take root in the European and American markets, and to transform from a Korean entertainment company to a world-class comprehensive entertainment giant.
In 2021, Hybe's total market value reached an astonishing RMB 53.748 billion, more than three times the total market value of the three major entertainment companies. Hybe also ranks first in terms of sales, net profit, etc. Under the influence of the epidemic, the three major societies were slightly tired: JYP's sales were only one-sixth of Hybe's, and its net profit also fell year-on-year; SM operated in losses for two consecutive years, with a net profit reduction rate of 396%; although YG turned losses into profits, its net profit was low, sales fluctuated greatly, and its future was not clear. Judging from the financial report, 's current Hybe is comparable to the three major societies, and is even better than .
Hybe has been written in more than ten years as a myth from being unnamed to being at the top of income. But under the pride of spring, hidden worries are slowly emerging.
Don't put eggs in one basket
Build investments, profits have been growing year by year, Hybe is like a rising star in the Korean entertainment industry. However, in the fans' evaluations, the status of the "three major entertainment companies" is still stable, and Hybe can only rank fourth. Where did
Hybe lose?
"It's not Hybe's BTS, but BTS' Hybe" , this is a sentence that fans often say. Although the discourse is exaggerated, it also reveals a clear fact: despite its extensive business, the Solution department has not yet achieved profitability, and Weverse has not yet achieved a market advantage. Hybe's high income comes almost all from Label's artist operations, and what has a decisive impact is BTS' revenue.
Although Hybe's reliance on BTS' income has been reduced from 90% to 75% after acquiring Pledis, this is still a dangerous proportion. This means that once BTS' popularity declines, Hybe's revenue will also shrink significantly.
Now, BTS, as the Hybe head group, has ushered in a crisis that must be faced. According to the South Korean Military Service Law, all healthy men of appropriate age must serve in the military in accordance with the law. For male artists, a two-year gap in military service means a decline in popularity and a loss of fans.
Although in December 2020, the South Korean parliament reviewed and passed the amendment to the Military Service Act, aliased as the BTS Act, which delayed the latest military service age from 28 to 30, and it cannot change the fact that BTS members must serve. The oldest member of the group will reach the latest service age by the end of 2022; if all members enlist in the army at the age of 30, BTS will be unable to complete the activity for about seven years.
Even if the popularity is as popular as BTS, we must think about the risks brought by military service; and for Hybe, finding a second ace to share the crisis has become the most important task at the moment. Compared with the three major entertainment companies, SM, JYP and YG, Hybe's business territory is vast and rich, but it seems to be inadequate.
launches a new group every 1-2 years to ensure that the company's newcomers continue to be replaced, and all groups can maintain high popularity through the "old leads the new" method. Even if they cannot lead, they will never fall behind. This is a stable development path determined by the three major entertainment companies for many years. Even if one of the combinations has a decline in popularity or a sudden change, the precisely arranged "safety network" can still ensure the company's stable operation. Without a combination of , it can always be in the flowering period, but as a collective entertainment company can achieve the full spring season .
This is not difficult to explain why "acquisition" has become the background color of Hybe's operations for a considerable period of time. For Hybe, who has strong financial resources and urgently needs to expand artists and is full of wings, instead of spending a lot of time and energy to build a newcomer group, it is better to just throw out a piece of money and buy companies with popular artists. Men's group, girls group, solo artist, Hybe's "shopping cart" covers almost all idol types.
is easy to acquire, but it is difficult to maintain a group. The acquired Gfriend and NUEST have now been disbanded. The choice of members to not renew their contracts has caused fans to doubt Hybe's business policy. The group's itinerary is small and the original shooting plan has been cancelled for no reason, which has made Hybe accused of "squeezing out the value of the group and throwing it away", and therefore has been named the "combination crusher".
Gfriend
Therefore, Hybe, which spends money like flowing water, seems to have not achieved the desired results. In terms of men's group, although SEVENTEEN is very popular, its military service period overlaps with BTS and cannot share risks; while the new male team TXT and ENHYPEN have no worries about military service, they have no obvious advantages in the fiercely competitive Five-generation male team. As for the girl group, Formis_9 has a dismal popularity and is even more difficult to take on the responsibility of supporting the company. The acquisition of
is not smooth, so Hybe has to take action himself. Since last year, creating a new girl group with a wider audience and no risk of military service has become Hybe's focus. In 2021, Hybe launched several girl group plans: "I-LAND 2" selected through talent shows, the global women's group talent show program jointly launched with Geffen Record, a subsidiary of Universal Music, and a new girl group training program hosted by ADOR. Hybe, whose girl group experience is almost 0, was finally forced to take this step.
"I-LAND 1" debut group ENHYPEN
. LE SSERAFIM, which debuted in May this year, does not belong to any of the above-mentioned projects. are not so much the ingenious work created by Hybe after many years, but rather the emergency insurance that was pushed to the table by Hybe during the countdown to the military service of BTS. The MV of the debut song with simple costumes and no plot, the weak singing skills exposed when fully opened by Mai Anke, some members' practice time lasting four months, and lack of careful consideration and investigation all reflect the hasty debut of this group. Fading away the halo of a large company, LE SSERAFIM's performance in all aspects is difficult to satisfy.
The skill behind the scenes is weak, but he is eager for more applause in front of the stage. Whether it is trying to protect the controversial members or stealing an award through "water injection", it is probably a few dangerous moves that Hybe has to take to quickly achieve the next trend of the girl group. The toughness of methods reflects the powerless response. Behind the "willful act" is the anxiety of where to go.
He wrote about the counterattack of the myth. It is still an unknown whether Hybe can change the hidden danger of uneven foundations of this commercial building.
article | Wang Ziyue
edit | Zhao Pu
Reference materials:
1. Financial report observation of the four major Korean entertainment companies (Part 1): HYBE that reaches the top as soon as it enters the game, a new pattern of horizontal and vertical connections East-West Entertainment
2. Entertainment method | The ultimate model of capitalization operation of music labels - taking BTS brokerage company HYBE as an example Pan-entertainment legal research
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