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All about Hybe Corporation, the home of BTS, TXT and Co!

by Helen Bosch
Big Hit Entertainment logo
Big Hit Entertainment logo

K-Pop Blog> Overview > Entertainments

When Bang Si Hyuk founded Big Hit Entertainment in 2005, he probably never even imagined in his dreams that he would later produce one of the most famous boy groups in history. Thanks to BTS, Big Hit is now one of the biggest and most successful entertainments in South Korea and Bang Si Hyuk himself is a billionaire! The label has gone through a few changes over the years. Among other things, it is now known as HYBE Corporation. HYBE is still mostly known for BTS, but can now count some other popular artists like TXT, Enhypen or more recently Le sserafim to its family.

Entertainments in South Korea have been shaping the history of K-pop since the 1990s and have had a significant impact on the development of the genre. Although Big Hit Entertainment was only founded in 2005, it can keep up with the Big 3 - SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment & YG Entertainment - and is now even often mentioned in the same breath as these three giants who are known for continuously producing hits. If you're interested in the history of Big Hit Entertainment, you've come to the right place! First, let's get acquainted with the person who started it all:

Bang Si Hyuk - Founder of Big Hit Entertainment.

big hit entertainment (hybe corporation) founder Bang Si Hyuk

Bang Si Hyuk started working as a composer and songwriter when he was still in college. In the 1990s, when he was 20 years old, he met Park Jinyoung, who was the same age and would later become known as the founder of JYP Entertainment. The two often wrote songs together. When Park Jinyoung started his own label in 1997, which was then called "Tae-Hong Planning Corp," Bang Si Hyuk joined the company as a composer, songwriter and producer. In the same year, the two worked together on the debut album of the boy group g.o.d, which was produced by the label EBM (now SidusHQ). Bang Si Hyuk later arranged other songs by g.o.d. such as "One Candle" and "Road." The boy group became one of the most successful and best-selling K-pop groups of the early 2000s. At the latest since their success, Bang Si Hyuk is known as a "hitmaker". He produced many more songs over the years for artists like Rain, the Wonder Girls, 2AM and of course BTS. Specifically for his success with BTS, Bang Si Hyuk was awarded the "Best Producer Award" at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in 2016 and the "Songwriter Award" at the Melon Music Awards. So he still lives up to his title to this day!

In 2005, Bang Si Hyuk left JYP to start his own label: Big Hit Entertainment!

The first artist Big Hit signed was the vocal trio 8Eight, which consists of two male and one female member. The trio debuted in August 2007, and a year later Big Hit Entertainment signed a management contract with JYP Entertainment. From then on, the two labels were jointly responsible for the management of the four-member ballad group 2AM , which JYP had formed in the show "Hot Blood Men" in early 2008.

In 2010, 2AM's Lee Changmin and 8Eight's Lee Hyun debuted as a project duo called "Homme" under Big Hit Entertainment. That same year, Bang Si Hyuk laid the foundation for his future success by recruiting Kim Namjoon, who is now known worldwide as RM of BTS!

But before the boy group took its first steps, Big Hit Entertainment first formed its very first girl group "Glam" in 2012, for which the label again collaborated with another entertainment: Source Music was founded in 2009 and managed Glam's activities. It was also the first girl group for Source Music.

The group disbanded in 2015 after only three years. The reason was a scandal of one of the members: Dahee. In 2014, it turned out that Dahee, together with a model named Lee Jiyeon, blackmailed actor Lee Byunghun with a compromising video. The two women demanded 5 trillion won - about $4 million - and threatened to release the video if the actor did not pay. In January 2015, the court sentenced Dahee to one year in prison. However, at Lee Byunghun's request, the sentence was changed to two years of probation. On the same day Dahee was sentenced, the other members of Glam ended their contracts with Big Hit and Source Music and the girl group officially disbanded.

Fans believe that the chaotic end of Glam is the reason why Big Hit Entertainment did not debut a new girl group for the next seven years.

2013 - 2019: BTS & TXT enter the stage.

Two years before the end of Glam, in 2013, the new boy band BTS made their debut. The first songs and albums did not last long in the charts, but BTS still won several newcomer awards at the end of the year. With "Skool Luv Affair" the boy group topped the Korean Gaon album charts for the first time in February 2014! From then on, things kept going uphill. In 2015, BTS won in a music show for the first time with the song "I Need U" from the album "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life" and in 2016, the boys sold one million copies of an album (Wings) for the first time! The following years BTS also recorded international successes and today they are probably the most famous boy band in the world! At the beginning of their career, BTS attracted attention especially with profound song lyrics and even today do not shy away from taboo topics.

global boygroup/ kpop superstars BTS: 2016 album

Already in 2017, Big Hit Entertainment announced plans for a new boy group, but it took almost two years until they were put into action. In March 2019, however, the time had come: the five-member boy group TXT debuted with the album "The Dream Chapter: Star." As TXT was the first new group from Big Hit Entertainment since the debut of BTS six years earlier, fans had high expectations in advance. These were even exceeded! The debut album topped the Korean Gaon album chart and the American Billboard World album chart. With the title song "Crown," the boy group also took the top spot on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. No K-pop group before them had accomplished this so quickly after their debut!

Coinciding with TXT's debut was a change in Big Hit Entertainment's leadership. Yoon Lenzo, who had been the label's chief business officer until then, was appointed co-Ceo alongside Bang Si Hyuk. He focused on the business aspects of the company and Bang Si Hyuk focused on the creative processes from then on.

2019 - 2021: Acquisitions & partnerships

weverse plattform logo

Just a few months later, in mid-2019, Big Hit Entertainment acquired the video game company "Superb" and another label it had previously worked with: Source Music. Around the same time, Big Hit Entertainment also developed Weverse, a Korean app and platform that provides various exclusive digital content and enables communication from the label's artists with their fans. In addition, there is the Weverse Shop, where Big Hit sells fan merchandise and subscriptions to the exclusive content on the Weverse platform. The content includes, for example, educational and entertainment videos and updates from the label.

Big Hit's efforts to expand the company had begun a year earlier. In the second half of 2018, the label partnered with CJ E&M, an entertainment and mass media company, to create "Belift Lab." Belift Lab is a joint agency owned 48% by Big Hit and 52% by CJ E&M. Artists under Belift are thus jointly produced by the two companies. In 2020, Belift organized a survival show in which 23 talented trainees competed for a place in a new boy group. The seven winners debuted in December of the same year as Enhypen! Enhypen was able to show success very quickly. For example, the boy group sold more than 310 thousand copies of their debut album "Border: Day One" in just one day. It became the best-selling debut album of the year! So Enhypen had well deserved the "Next Leader Award", which was given to them just two weeks after their debut at "The Fact Music Awards".

kpop girlgroup formis_9: from our memento box group image teaser

In May 2020, Big Hit took over another label: Pledis Entertainment. It continues to operate independently, but its artists - including Seventeen & fromis_9 - have since been supported by Big Hit and increasingly marketed outside of South Korea. Just a month later, Big Hit also acquired KOZ Entertainment, which is home to rapper, producer and songwriter Zico, among others.

In 2021, Big Hit Entertainment was facing a major restructuring. But before it happened, the label acquired nearly 18% of YG Plus, a media and advertising agency owned by YG Entertainment. In exchange, YG's artists joined the Weverse platform. Big Hit also announced a strategic partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG), a Dutch-American multinational music company. Under this partnership, the two companies plan to collaborate on music and technology. One of the biggest goals is to jointly debut a global boy band. The group will be put together as part of a casting show to be aired later this year. Big Hit will select and train the talents, while UMG will produce and distribute the music.

2021: Big Hit Entertainment becomes Hybe Corporation

In March 2021, 16 years after Big Hit Entertainment was founded, the label was renamed "Hybe Corporation". Among other things, the new name highlights the fact that Big Hit has evolved and now encompasses many more business units than before.

hybe corporation logo

Hybe Corporation operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing company. In addition, Hybe has gathered some subsidiary companies under it. In April, the corporation established a new subsidiary: the record label Big Hit Music. In this way, Hybe has, so to speak, transferred the label business to the subsidiary. Big Hit Music is thus responsible for BTS and TXT.

To make the change really complete, the company also moved: To the newly built headquarters in Yongsan. Yongsan is a district in the center of Seoul. Furthermore, in June 2021, founder Bang Sihyuk stepped down from his position as CEO to focus more on producing music again. However, he continues to be the chairman of the board of directors.

Even after the restructuring, Hybe still acquired other companies and formed partnerships. For example, Hybe partnered with Japanese streaming platform "Showroom" to improve services in Japan, among other things.

2022: Le sserafim

In January this year, Hybe released a series of comics on the "Webtoon" platform centered around boy groups BTS, TXT, and Enhypen. The BTS comic was viewed more than 15 million times in the first two days!

hybe corporation/ source music girlgroup le sserafim: im fearless poster

More recently, in May 2022, the six-member girl group Le sserarfim made its debut. It is managed by Source Music and thus belongs to Hybe Corporation. This makes Le sserafim the company's first girl group since Glam disbanded in 2015! Anticipation was high not only because of this, but also because of the members, some of whom were already very familiar to the public. Kim Chaewon and Miyawaki Sakura were previously members of the project group IZ*ONE. IZ*ONE was formed in 2018 through the popular survival show "Produce 48" and was extremely successful until it disbanded in 2021 as planned. Hundreds of thousands of fans mourned the loss of IZ*ONE and eagerly waited for the members to debut again, this time in permanent groups. That is why there was great excitement when Chaewon and Sakura were confirmed as members of Le sserafim. Another member, Huh Yunjin, was also featured in the survival show Produce 48 and had already caught the attention of a lot of K-pop fans there.

Le sserafim debuted with the album "Fearless." Already during the pre-order phase, over 380,000 copies were sold and on the day of its release, another 175,000! On May 10, eight days after their debut, the girl group won in a music show.

However, the success was marred by a scandal a short time later. Former classmates of member Kim Garam raised bullying allegations against the singer. Kim Garam resigned from all activities and has been on hiatus ever since. Hybe Corporation and Source Music denied the allegations against Garam and stated that she would not leave the group. We can only wait and see what happens next.

Despite the ongoing scandal, Le sserafim is a successful addition to the Hybe family that will continue to grow in the future. Today, Hybe is able to keep up with the leaders in the entertainment industry thanks largely to the success of BTS. In fact, Hybe Corporation's sales figures surpass those of the Big 3, which is one of the reasons why some K-pop fans even refer to it as the Big 4 instead of the Big 3: SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and Hybe Corporation. Others say Hybe Corporation can't yet match the long-lasting history of the Big 3, which began back in the early 1990s. But all agree that Hybe is at the top of the Korean music industry, wielding great influence not only in South Korea but around the world.

Divisions & Subsidiaries

It's easy to lose track of Hybe's numerous businesses. That's why we've summarized all of the corporation's divisions and subsidiaries for you here. The following list shows just how broadly Hybe Corporation is positioned. The company has almost built itself a small empire!

Hybe Corporation is divided into three divisions : Hybe Labels, Hybe Solutions and Hybe Platforms.

Hybe Labels supports all the record labels that are part of Hybe Corporation. These are Big Hit Music, Belift Lab, KOZ Entertainment, Pledis Entertainment, Source Music and the label ADOR, founded in 2021. The latter has no artists signed yet, but is preparing for the debut of a girl group in 2022.

Hybe Solutions specializes in video content, learning and games. Currently, two subsidiaries are supported by Hybe Solutions: The game company Superb and HYBE Edu. HYBE Edu creates learning content to support fans who want to learn the Korean language and learn more about the culture.

Hybe Platforms is the technology division under which the subsidiary "Weverse Company" operates. This company takes care of the Weverse Platform, the Weverse Shop and the live streaming platform "V Live". V Live was founded by Naver Corporation in 2015 and transferred to Weverse Company in March 2022.

In addition to the divisions and subsidiaries, there are also the branches Hybe America and Hybe Japan, which take care of Hybe's overseas businesses. This includes, for example, the activities of artists in Japan and America.

Social Media

Hybe labels logo (yellow)

Hybe Corporation has a Youtube channel where all music videos and other content from its artists are published, as well as a Twitter account with news:

Youtube // Twitter

Currently (July 2022) Hybe Corporation has the following artists under contract:

Big Hit Music: BTS, TXT & solo singer Lee Hyun (formerly a member of 8Eight)

Belift Lab: Enhypen

Source Music: Le sserafim

KOZ Entertainment: Zico & Dvwn

Pledis Entertainment: Seventeen, fromis_9, two former members of NU'EST (Baekho & Minhyun), two former members of Pristin (Yehana & Seungyeon), Bumzu and Nana (formerly a member of After School)

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