More about YG Entertainment
YG Entertainment, led by rapper-turned-producer Yang Hyun-suk, is Korea’s top-tier music agency vying with SM Entertainment to win the domestic number one. Formerly named as Hyun Producing which debuted Keep Six, the company changed its name to MF Producing and led hip-hop duo Jinusean to a success. Jinuseon, co-produced by Yang Hyun-suk and Korea’s first hip-hop duo DEUX member D.O, introduced American hip-hop style to the local scene and grabbed both trend and commercial success. Afterwards, YG debuted Korea’s first hip-hop idol group 1TYME and solidified their color as black music through the big-scale performance of YG ‘Family,’ joined by all the YG artists.
In 2000s, solo singer Se7en led the success of YG while WheeSung, Gummy and Big Mama made a series of hit after YG cooperated with R&B label M-boat. Recently, Big Bang and 2NE1 have grown as Korea’s top idol groups and PSY’s “Gangnam Style” nabbed international success, which made YG Entertainment becoming the country’s top agency. YG’s sales of last year reached 99.7 billion Korean Won (approximately 94.5 million US Dollars).
This year, YG played aggressive producing in activities of their artists. One of the remarkable producing this year is a series of individual activities of Big Bang members. Starting with Seungri, G-Dragon, Taeyang and T.O.P released solo album or single in turn and received nice responses. Along with some chart success, the Big Bang members received outstanding results with their quality music.
K-pop rookie boy group WINNER members. [YG Entertainment]
In discovering new faces, YG made active movement to introduce WINNER, the winning boy group in the firm’s self-produced audition show “WHO IS NEXT – WIN” in corporation with Mnet. WINNER has already grabbed a significant number of fans through the show, slated to have a splendid debut soon. Attracting 8,000 fans to their first exclusive Japan fan meeting, WINNER also opened up Big Bang’s Japan dome tour.
In the global department, Big Bang proved their name value. The group ranked at No.5 on Japanese concert ranking this year with accumulated 719,000 audiences. From November to next January, the group hit the road around the country starting with Saitama Seibu dome, Osaka Kyocera Dome, Fukuoka Yahoo! Oku Dome, Nagoya Dome, Tokyo Dome to Sapporo Dome. According to YG, this six-city dome tour is expected to draw in a whopping 771,000 audiences in total.
G-Dragon’s second world tour “G-Dragon 2013 World Tour: One Of A Kind” attracted 361,000 fans into its Japanese destinations and the star stood at No. 17 on the Japanese concert ranking. The artist drew in a total of 570,000 audiences through the tour around the globe. PSY’s “GENTLEMAN” reached the fifth spot on the Billboard’s Singles chart and its music video surpassed 600 million hits, marking PSY as the winner of the most-watched clip on YouTube two years in a row.
About promotion and public relations, Yang Hyun-suk took a new track to introduce the company’s plan by himself through “From YG,” the direct communication channel via YG’s official blog. The chief music producer has shot to one of the opinion groups and is playing a big role on the K-pop scene. His appearance on SBS’s talent show “KPOP STAR” also helped him to connect more with the public. The office building of YG Entertainment was unveiled through MBC’s popular variety show “Infinite Challenge” and helped the company have more intimate image.
Reporter. Kwon Seok-jeong moribe@tenasia.co.kr
Editor. Choi Jin-sil true@tenasia.co,kr
Translator. Cory Lee
Editor. Cory Lee
Courtesy of YG Entertainment