Kakao Entertainment and SM join hands to accelerate global expansion

Kakao Entertainment (Kakao Entertainment) and SM Entertainment (SM), who have joined hands with the goal of global expansion of K-pop, are speeding up business cooperation. The two companies, which established a new foundation for overseas activities by launching an integrated North American corporation in August, began to expand their stage by promoting world tours of their idol groups. We are also determined to focus on discovering next-generation stars by mobilizing our production know-how for creating content in various fields.

●Spurring global expansion

The two companies have been cooperating in various ways since Kakao Entertainment became SM’s largest shareholder in March. In particular, we are focusing on strengthening our network with local experts by establishing an integrated corporation in North America, which is considered the center of the entertainment industry.

A representative example is SM’s new group Rise, which debuted last month. The group signed a contract with RCA Records under Sony Music Entertainment, a large American record label, and began promoting and releasing their first single album ‘Get a Guitar’ locally.

It is considered unusual for a new group to sign with a global record label before their official debut. Rise rose to popularity with its debut album, selling over 1 million copies in the first week of release, and will sequentially release new singles in November and December.

The expansion of the global reach of existing groups is also noticeable. Following the English single ‘Better Things’ in August, SM’s Espa released a remix of ‘Better Things’ featuring Brazilian DJ Tropkillaz on the 22nd of last month. Recently, a world tour has been held in a total of 14 cities, including Los Angeles, North and South America, and Europe.

Ive, a girl group under Starship Entertainment under Kakao Entertainment, will kick off its first world tour ‘Show What I Have’ at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul on the 7th prior to releasing its new album ‘I Have Mine’ on the 13th. In addition, The Boyz under IST Entertainment, a Kakao Entertainment label, Cravity under Starship, and Woods under Edam Entertainment are holding overseas performances one after another, increasing their contact with global fans.

●Diversification of auditions across the world

Building on their previous achievements, the two companies plan to focus on expanding new talent through global auditions. SM is preparing to debut by selecting members of NCT New Team, a new unit of NCT, through the audition program ‘NCT Universe: Last Start’, which ended on the 14th of last month. It was the first time SM attempted an audition program that attracted attention.

Recently, the ‘SM 3.0’ system was reorganized and a new goal was set to debut more than two teams per year. Starting in 2006, we plan to continue to select new talent through global auditions that discovered Red Velvet’s Wendy and Joy, NCT’s Johnny, and Mark. Earlier this year, large-scale auditions were held in Japan, Thailand, and Australia.

Kakao Enter has decided to maintain global auditions such as ‘Kakao Enter Friends Global Online Audition’ and ‘Kakao Enter Junior’ targeting media and music sectors every year. We are continuously holding new auditions through affiliated labels such as IST, Starship, Edam, and Antenna. IST, which includes The Boyz and Weekly, held the ‘2023 IST Global Audition’ across Asia, including Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, from May until recently, and on the 1st, the ‘IST Musician Audition’ was held to discover new talent in various genres. ‘ was opened additionally.

Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com