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Three weeks into 2018, Korean music label JYP Entertainment surpassed YG Entertainment as the second-highest valued K-pop company. This week through Thursday, JYP Entertainment Corp. rose 22 percent on South Korea's KOSDAQ and reached a market capitalization of 552 billion won (around $516 million USD). The label jumped past YG Entertainment Inc., currently valued at 533 billion won (around $498 million). The shift moves JYP into the No. 2 spot of the “Big 3,” the trio of South Korean entertainment companies that have dominated and shaped the state of K-pop over the past two decades.
JYP, founded in 1997 by Korean singer-songwriter Park Jin-young, houses many of Korea’s biggest acts, including the widely-popular girl group TWICE. It is now second only to SM Entertainment Co., the home to acts including EXO and Girls’ Generation, which is valued at 829 billion won (around $772 million).
The market flip comes at a time when JYP Entertainment has seen immense, long-lived popularity from multiple acts, especially TWICE and former miss A member Suzy. TWICE, a multinational nine-member act, saw hit after hit top charts ever since their debut in 2015. Last year saw the act release four chart-topping singles in Korea, propelling them to become the best-selling K-pop girl group of 2017. They also began to pursue the Japanese market more dedicatedly, releasing their first original Japanese-language music. Suzy, meanwhile, is one of South Korea’s most popular young singer-actresses, and she released her first solo EP last year. Another is set to be released on Jan. 29.
Many of JYP’s boy bands have also added to the company’s rising value. GOT7 has topped Billboard’s World Albums chart, an indicator of K-pop fans’ listening preferences in the States, on multiple occasions and have a dedicated fanbase of "IGOT7s" around the globe, while JYP's newest group Stray Kids’ unofficial album (dubbed “pre-debut”) Mixtape landed at No. 2 on the same chart earlier this week. The pop band Day6 also saw steady interest grow in 2017, thanks to the quintet’s monthly release project that resulted in two LPs and a recent stateside tour.
The past year also saw JYP invest further into the Chinese market, with subsidiary agency NCC Station Entertainment and China’s Tencent Music Entertainment Group pairing up to create the juvenile band “Boy Story.”
JYP’s value increase is particularly impressive in light of the disbandments of both Wonder Girls and miss A, two of K-pop’s most emblematic girl groups of the past decade. Boy band 2PM also went on hiatus as members began to fulfill their mandatory Korean military service, while soloist and 2AM member Jo Kwon switched labels after being under JYP for 16 years.
YG Entertainment’s value loss largely rests on the agency’s lack of output in 2017 from their K-pop groups. Legacy acts BIGBANG and 2NE1 struggled as the former shifted towards impending-hiatus after they become a temporary quartet following T.O.P enlisting in the military in February, and later facing legal trouble over marijuana usage; the latter released their final song following their 2016 disbandment. Newer acts WINNER and Blackpink saw hits with the likes of “Really Really” and “As If It’s Your Last,” respectively, but the boy band and girl group only released a total of five original songs combined over the 12-month period.
Other prominent artists under the agency, including Epik High, G-Dragon, AKMU, Taeyang, and Psy, released new music that saw varying levels of success, and overall YG failed to keep the momentum it had seen in previous years in 2017. The company is rumored to be producing a new girl group, and YG’s founder, Yang Hyun-suk, is currently hosting the televised competition show Mix Nine, which will produce both one male and one female team. YG boy band iKON also plans to release a new album later this month.
The Big 3 place-swap reflects the changing state of K-pop as we move further into 2018, following a 2017 that saw many industry norms get turned on their head as the Korean music scene continues to evolve and pursue new markets.
