the kpop edition

[acchikocchi]

1. So give me the lowdown on SM Entertainment as a corporation. How do they recruit/train/market/etc., especially in comparison to JE? Info on shady business practices and lawsuits and things of that sort also welcome. XD ...How does the Korean music industry and market compare to the Japanese in general, actually? There is no such thing as tldr in comments here.

2. Favorite Korean artists/songs/albums/music videos? I am woefully ignorant. Pop, not pop, what have you - hit me. (Assume I know basically no one except Park Ji-yoon, since that's... true. Oh, and BoA.)

Comments

[akamaru07.livejournal.com]

I was into Korean entertainment since 2005 but have been out of the circulation for like 2 years now (focusing on KAT-TUN :D) so I can't really provide much detail but that despite the fact that they produce successful artists, they're management style is bad/shady - like they run them to the ground with work but they take the bigger share.

My favorite K-pop artist is Shinhwa. They were recruited, trained and launched under SM Ent but has moved on since 2003 - am I glad! They had legal battles with SM as well after they refused to sign a second contract with the company.

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

Oh! Shinhwa! I do know Shinwha! :D Wow, they managed to get out from under the company's thumb? I didn't realize that - that sounds like quite an achievement. *_* Good for them! (I'm - I'm kind of surprised these contracts aren't for life. XD)

(Hee, KAT-TUN is quite distracting that way. ♥)

[akamaru07.livejournal.com]

Haha you know them! They're the only Korean group I like :D The rest are too young for me :P

There's been a lot of stories behind it like the contract expired and they didn't renew. It seemed like SM only wanted to renew Hyesung's contract then but being more like brothers than bandmates they opted out as a group. There were also rumors about Eric buying off their contract. They're lucky that contract was only for 5 years! (1998-2003)