We all witnessed the rise of BTS as an international phenomenon out of this very small peninsula which speaks a language concentrated to that specific area . BTS is the epitome of the expression “ Music transcends languages and boundaries ’’. Before them of course there were other kpop artists but it was nothing like what BTS is today . And this change came about when this small company called BigHit Entertainment decided to do something different than what the leading players in the industry were doing at that time .
For decades the Korean music industry was dominated by the “ Big 3 ” as they called them - SM Entertainment , YG entertainment , JYP entertainment . Groups coming out of companies other than them struggled to gain the attention of the audience . The concept of Kpop Idol was at its peak . Perfect boys and girls were trained for years and even decades at times to debut . And amidst all this , Bang Shi Hyuk , a renowned producer cultivated an idol group which took upon the challenge of presenting their imperfect personas . BTS was very different to what the others were . They were heavily involved in their music production . In their early days they struggled to gain traction in South Korea . What worked in their favor is this decision to promote their work overseas . They derived the focus towards social media which was the new playground for fandoms now . They exploded on Twitter and slowly almost every avid user of Twitter had an idea of who they were . They were constantly trending . This put them on a world map .
Fast forward to 2021 , BigHit Entertainment rebranded and expanded itself as HYBE Corporation . With the help of visions of Bang Shi Hyuk , both BTS and now Hybe have been on roll . Currently they are the only music company in South Korea with a valuation of over 1 trillion Won . They have shares of YG Plus , Pledis Entertainment and many more smaller companies who now work under the same umbrella . The most recent acquisition which made headlines was becoming the largest shareholder in SM Entertainment which has been a leading company for so long . They are revolutionizing the whole Kpop industry and for all good reasons .
Hybe is much more than what BigHit Entertainment was . It is no longer a music label out of South Korea , it has become a multinational lifestyle platform . Included in Times 100 most influential businesses for 2 years consecutively , Hybe is slowly spreading its wings . A very successful IPO gave them much more freedom to pursue what they want to achieve . Even during the pandemic when almost all of the businesses were suffering , the kpop music industry was okay thanks to online content they put out and the audience which grew many times over .
Now there are many who are concerned about the monopoly of HYBE over the Kpop music scene , but if we consider the positive sides of it , the values that the company was made over are mostly artist oriented and will bring about a difference in the kind of products we will see going forward . As seen in the case of BTS and other BigHit artists , they enjoyed more artistic and personal freedom as compared to artists who belonged to other companies . Now with Hybe and the success of BTS as an example every one can speak up for themselves .
The next thing which will decide the fate of Hybe for at least next few years is to produce and promote artists who can fill a void created by military enlistment of BTS . With ventures in multiple dimensions of entertainment this might not be such a difficult obstacle for this giant of a corporation .
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