Big Hit Entertainment has announced huge news today, news that’ll shake the entire dynamics of the Kpop industry as we know it.
Today, I’d like to talk about the sudden interesting announcement made by Big Hit Entertainment and discuss why and how it’ll change the entire Kpop industry.
The Kpop industry has been dominated by what many refer to as the big 3, which are the three giants SM, YG, and JYP. They’re considered the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea and house some of the best most talented idols. They contributed to the formation of hallyu wave as we know it today.
For a long time, the industry was dominated by the big 3 presence. In recent years, that started to change. Indie artists, Kpop groups and soloists from small companies started to make a name for themselves and do well in domestic and international charts.
BTS is a hugely popular story of the victory of an underdog. Currently, they’re the biggest Kpop group in the world and one of the biggest boy groups in general as well.
BTS managed to help Big Hit Entertainment rise to what it became today. They went from near filing for bankruptcy to generating the most profit among all Kpop entertainment companies in South Korea (with one act ALONE).
The industry as we know it is changing. Big Hit Entertainment has also announced the news today that can potentially change the face of the industry as we know it.
On July 29, it was announced that Big Hit Entertainment acquired Source Music, an agency that is best known for forming popular girl group GFRIEND. This means that GFRIEND is now a part of Big Hit. In business, this is a clever move that shall help Big Hit rise even more in the near future.
Source Music also has many talented female idol trainees which will add to Big Hit growing empire as they plan on expanding and producing more Kpop acts and groups in the future.
Big Hit told news outlets that the current executives of Source Music will remain in the agency, which is great news because it means that GFRIEND won’t lose its distinct theme.
Bang Shi Hyuk expressed his excitement in a press release; he talked about how optimistic he was of this acquisition. “I expect that this acquisition will be successful,” he told news outlets.
Source Music founder also expressed his excitement. In case you didn’t know, the two founders go way back. They also worked on a girl group called GLAM which debuted to a promising start before disbanding due to one member huge controversy.
This acquisition will strengthen Big Hit, now it houses a huge boy and girl group.
Source Music Kpop idols are expected to grow through Big Hit know-how, platforms, and strategies. It’ll give them the push they need to expand.
But that is not enough to justify the title of this article. The other exciting news is that Big Hit is also in talks to acquire another agency besides Source Music. News outlets are claiming that the particular agency Big Hit is looking to acquire is home to many famous idol groups.
News outlet Newsen reported on that but did not give particular details about the possible deal, however, it is expected to be acquired in 2020.
Big Hit also plans on moving to a bigger building, Source Music will be moving to that building as well in 2020.
Big Hit is trying to establish itself as a huge conglomerate that houses not only one big act but multiple big acts that found success in Korea, Asia, and the world. GFRIEND is one of the biggest currently promoting girl groups in South Korea.
If Big Hit acquires another agency that also has many popular kpop idols, it’ll only strengthen its status in this industry; Big Hit has the potential to dominate the market as they acquire more successful acts through their agencies.
This means that we’ll probably be referring to the big 4 soon or big 3 (minus YG) if YG fails to recover the devastating blow it took due to its founder and artists recent controversies.
Not too long ago, Big Hit also announced its plans to debut a girl group and recruited a former SM director for that mission. The girl group is expected to debut under a subsidiary but it’s considered to be a part of Big Hit.
In business, it’s very risky to rely on one source of income solely. With Big Hit’s current state, acquiring is the fastest way to grow.
When done right, acquiring the right Kpop groups will only strengthen them. The majority of Big Hit’s income comes from BTS. The boys are nearing enlistment and will more likely begin solo activities as members start to enlist.
Jin was in born in 1992 and is expected to enlist in 2020 or 2021 according to current military laws. Big Hit has been heavily promoting BTS as one entity and with each member enlisting that will become difficult. This also likely means the biggest source of income will decrease. BTS carry a huge value as a group but it is unknown how big of a value each member carries since Big Hit never took that route.
Finding and acquiring agencies that have already worked hard on making a name for themselves is a great business decision. You save money (in the long run), time and effort because others have already done the heavy lifting.
Being under the same umbrella and attached to the name BTS is enough to give upcoming girl and boy groups that push they need.
What do you guys personally think of this move?
I hope they acquire pledis
OMG yesss that’s what I was thinking
Fire the people in charge that’s treating pledis groups like crap
Pledis doing great on thier own with the help of seventeen.. So bighit shoukd leave pledis alone…
it’s about time for nu’est and seventeen
Exactly
It’s a long shot but what if they buy out YG? BlackPink, Winner, AKMU(I think), and ikon? Maybe this is the road to ot7 iKon… I’m really grasping at straws here I just want to try to be hopeful.
No i hope they wont buy yg artists axcept for AKMU and IKON cause Blackpink cant sing
Your so true blackpink really cant sing But the other groups from yg is quite good like ikon is really improving
I hope it’s cube so the G-idle and the rest of the great artists will be part of BIGHIT.. this group write, compose and produce their songs, a great company beside you is definitely an advantage
It’s probably going to be JYP because Bang PD nim and JYP go wayyy back before Big Hit Entertainment was even made
Probably not because jyp is doing great
If they are happy, i am happy too. I hope everything works out. BigHit really working smart.
Bighit doesn’t accept sht like Yg. So STOP BEING HOPEFUL. LMAO
I just hope everything goes smoothly and that nothing too bad will happen to each agency and group (something always goes wrong), especially BTS and BigHit because they matter the most to me. I also hope that fandoms won’t start ‘wars’ because of this.
Majority on both fandoms welcome each other. I was shock to an extent that I can’t believe both fandoms are very heart-warming individuals. They are open and mostly of them understand this news very well. Though there are few who can’t accept this news, but to what I’ve seen, they are giving time to those.
I hope it’s cube. I mean cmon, they need a better management. Besides, they’ve been losing investors(?) for a while now. Or maybe pledis?
Was thinking the same thing though. I aslo hope its CUBE… Time for some GIDLE BTS interaction!!
Also CLC and Pentagon interactions
That will be dope
I won’t mind it though it will be amazing
I’m auditioning for the girl group
i really hope that bighit and yg can be friend because in yg have many group than source music then for all information i not ship blackpink and bts it’s because again yg have new ceo rightjust give second change to yg entertainment,that’s all weird because we have big 3 ENTERTAINMENT AND WHY SOURCE MUSIC.I CAN’T ACCEPT and don’t hate me,i just give my explain in my brainmy English is broke sorry
thats because bighit and soumu have been helping each other from the start. and dont expect bighit to befriend yg when yg dont treat them as one.
BECAUSE SOURCE MUSIC UNPROBLEMATIC AND SHITTY COMPANY LIKE YG LFMAO.
Am I the only one who thinks this is not a good idea , I mean yeah sure business wise it’s a great step but BIGHIT artists have their own charm and counting Gfriend as one of their groups it just doesn’t seem okay to me , I’m not saying I don’t like Gfriend but like BIGHIT is so good working on its own , It’s gonna become the top Company soon …But this merging or Ent. Companies just loses its own Uniqueness and Charm ..
And how would they lose their charm and uniqueness
bts stays as bts, gfriend stays as gfriend. sooo i dont get why u think that way.. ++soumu is also a good company, theres no problem at all
++ i bet they talk abt the merging way way backk (maybe before their artists’ debut??) and just announced it publicly now
Can’t wait for the girl group
I don’t think you really understand this article
As an ARMY, that WAS something I was proud of tbh. This might even result in other ARMY’s demanding BIGHIT to “adopt” problematic entertainment. They Will lose fans, might as well let it naturally happen when Jin enlists. GFriend? Idek who they are, they are in the 5 biggest girl group, but they should’ve “adopted” something like pledis or cube. I’m not even a fan of those, but I think Bang-PD can make it right. I’m wrong. That’s it.
hahahaa I wish that Im one of the girls that would debut under bighit
GFRIEND is what matters to me. I hope this gives them the opportunity to be known worldwide.
Ermmm let’s not forget that the original staff of source music will remain with GFRIEND so they won’t lose their uniqueness.
I was expecting that JYP ENTERTAINMENT is the agency that they will acquired since they’ve been a friend since BTS are trainee
At the end of the day, it’s just business and the main concept of business is finding a way to generate profit and stay relevant, especially in the music industry. BigHit was probably one of the only music companies that I can say didn’t care much about that cause if they did, we wouldn’t be listening to music written by the members themselves. They’re authentic and original, that’s why everyone loves them. I just hope that the whole dynamic of BigHit doesn’t change and they stay original. Sadly TXT isn’t as original as I hoped they’d be but I know as they mature, they’ll get there considering who their role models are. This merger could either make or break this company cause I expect every sound coming out of this company to be original as I’m sure most fans do to. Changing that will drive fans away. But logically speaking, it’s a good idea. Imma miss bangtan when they’re gone though…
This is such a wise move for Big Hit. Although reading “nearing enlistment” breaks the heart of ARMYs but it’s inevitable and having solo acts is part of their growth cz they can’t be a boy band forever, so it is just wise for Big Hit to acquire more talents, esp, established ones? to maintain that growth & expansion in their company. At the same time, it will also benefit BTS to have a stable company to go back to & continue their careers after their military service. So happy to see Big Hit as a growing family. They deserve all of these cz of how they show care for their artist, mainly BTS, not just cz they generate a big profit, but cz it’s the humane thing to do. To greater success in the future.
This make sense
It’s a good thing that bang CEO is thinking of their company but it’s just a sudden news for all the ARMY nation not only Armies but all the Korea nation…..
They should acquire TS Entertainment. That company is HELL. Sonamoo hasn’t even had a comeback for two years now!
I’m sorry but bighit will never become part of the “big 3”, even though they’re becoming a huge angency, “big 3” is a term that references to the 3 entertainment companies that started the hallyu wave in the late 1990s, even if bighit becomes bigger than those companies, bighit still won’t be a part of them…its the truth
JYP were not big in the 90’s they only debuted their first act in 2001. YG only formed in 1996 and only found significant success in 2003. SM entertainment are really the only one of the three that started the Hallyu wave back in the 1990’s the other two merely joining and extending it later. Big Hit is now making more money than all three combined. The Term Big three is most likely going either going to include Big Hit, as YG is in freefall atm,[unless Big hit buys them and cleans their curently dismal reputation]. or fall out of use and be replaced by the Big four… [or possibly big 5 if pledis keeps gaining success with Seventeen). The big three is not a club, just a term used by journalists etc, to describe the three compnies that have dominated the market for the last decade or so. That dominace seems to be ending as not only have Big Hit managed to break out but also Pledis with Seventeen, Starship, though also small are set to really make waves With Monsta X, currently enjoying a successful US and European tour. Essentially, the market for Kpop is no longer just i Korea, or Even Asia, so their is a lot more money to be had, and so the industry is most liely going to see more companies enjoying success than just the three largest. Sorry for the long reply, but i just think saying that ‘BIG HIT will never be part of the big three’ seems a bit redundant now. Time for Korean groups [and maybe fandoms] top stop fighting one another and step into the international market, where they clearly belong.
I hope nothing bad happens and things goes as planed
BangChin is OTP
I hope it’s CUBE. I KNOW YOU ARE AWARE OF (G)I-DLE Issue before…
SOYEON started writing for the group because their Debut kept getting delayed.
So she took it upon herself to write a song so they can debut faster.
THAT’S How LATATA was BORN!!
“At first, i really didn’t know i’d be writing these songs.
But our debut was getting delayed because we didnt have a song.
So that’s when i thought, i should write our songs, and started writing a title track”
IMAGINE THIS REALITY GOING ON IN CUBE?? SOYEON ALSO WROTE and Composed FOR CLC “SAY NO”
I hope it is CUBE, these talented girls deserves a better Home
I m asking for auditions for girl india patna bihar in big hit & source music