Since the ‘80s, the
Asian music industry has evolved a small group of powerful music studios who
function roughly the same way that a powerful ballet studio might here in the
U.S. They select a group of children at a very young age—generally between 10
and 12 years old—and begin training them to be pop stars. They spend hours in
the studio, go to special schools, and learn to dance, sing, and perform like
the professional idols they will one day be. When they’re old enough, the
studios generate pop songs for them and group them into boy bands and girl
bands, most of which go on to drop major hits all over Asia.
Before they even
debut, however, studios allow the kids to appear on TV shows, special group
performances, and more—grooming them for popularity long before they officially
join a group. It’s very similar to what Disney does in the U.S., first with the
Mickey Mouse Club in the late ‘90s, then with its crop of ongoing children’s
and teen’s TV shows that propel its young stars into solo careers: Miley Cyrus,
Hilary Duff, Zac Efron, and so on.
The music industry
in Korea is what the U.S. industry might look like if all pop studios did what
Disney does. Pop music in Korea is more heavily focused around studio culture
than most other Asian countries, though it’s an influence that’s spreading.
Though there are many artists who fall outside of studio culture, most chart-toppers
in recent years have come from studio bands: DBSK/TVXQ, Big Bang, 2NE1, Super
Junior, as well as solo artists Rain and BoA to name a few of the biggest.
Since all of these
bands have contracts under the same studio, studios often like to play mix-and-match
with the performers. Performers from various groups within the same studio
often do guest appearances in one another’s videos. So if you want to get full
access to a band and its members, it’s helpful to know which studio they’re in.
The “Big Three” studios
SM Entertainment
Formed in the
mid-’90s, SM Town signs its members young and holds them to long, demanding,
and controversial contracts. Wildly popular boy band DBSK caused a scandal when
three of its members sued for a release from their 13-year-long contract, won,
and split the band. Earlier this year, however, numerous members of the
studio’s most successful bands became company stockholders, which suggests
performers may have more control over their livelihoods in future.
Among the most well-known
names associated with SME are: BoA, TVXQ (DBSK), Super Junior, Girls'
Generation (SNSD), SHINee, f(x), and EXO
(EXO-k & EXO-m). SME also holds regular TV specials for its bands
and tours them all in a massive performance group called SM Town.
JYP
Founded in the late
‘90s, JYP is smaller and less-insidious than SME, but its stars have proven
just as capable of turning out hits. Artists associated with JYP include: 2AM,
2PM, Miss A, Rain, Wonder Girls, and MBLAQ. JYP’s all-studio group is called JYP
Nation.
YG
http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/straitstimes.com/files/20140914/omgygfamily1e.jpg
YG Entertainment has
longstanding ties to hip-hop and rap communities outside the studio culture,
which could explain why rapper PSY signed with them two years ago, after he’d
already hit it big. Their string of international successes could be another
factor: YG doesn’t have a lot of artists, but the ones it has are huge: Big
Bang, 2NE1, Se7en, and PSY are all international hit-makers.
Other artists
Other major artists
not signed to the Big Three, but big in their own right include 4Minute, After
School, Beast, Brown Eyed Girls (B.E.G.), FTISLAND, IU, KARA, T-ARA, and INFINITE.
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