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

[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)