Advertisement
Opinion | NewJeans vs Le Sserafim, NCT vs NCT: how K-pop labels manufacture in-house rivalry between groups to fatten their profits
- In the 1960s, Motown Records pitted The Marvelettes against The Supremes. Today, K-pop labels are using the same tactics to increase interest and sales
- From contention between groups signed to the same label to fan feuds, healthy competition makes for healthy profits
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Looking at the current state of K-pop, it feels like the biggest competition for many acts is being produced by the companies that launched them.
Advertisement
The rosters of some of the biggest names in the industry in 2022 are full of active K-pop groups that, while not necessarily designed as competition for one another, certainly help fill up space.
At Hybe and its subsidiaries, while BTS are clearly in a league of their own there is also the prominent, multimillion-selling group Seventeen. Then there’s the newer Tomorrow X Together boy band, and the even newer Enhypen. This year, Hybe also has launched two girl groups, NewJeans and Le Sserafim.
SM Entertainment, a long-term K-pop power player, has done things a bit differently – girl groups such as Red Velvet, Aespa, and Girls’ Generation haven’t launched one after the other and each targets different audiences. But on the boy band front there are the interconnected, and clearly rival, subgroups within NCT.
These music labels are far from the only two doing this. At JYP Entertainment, another K-pop leader, girl groups abound, with Twice, Itzy, Niziu and Nmixx all currently active in the South Korean and Japanese music scenes. Many other medium-sized and smaller agencies similarly have a multitude of acts.
Advertisement
Advertisement