History
1997–1999: Formation and first generation K-pop artist
Park Jin-young, founder of JYP Entertainment
Park Jin-young, founder of JYP Entertainment
JYP Entertainment was founded in 1997 by South Korean singer-songwriter Park Jin-young (named after his stage name, J. Y. Park) as Tae-Hong Planning Corporation, which eventually became JYP Entertainment in 2001. In 1997, the company signed its first artist and female solo artist, Pearl.
In 1999, entertainment company SidusHQ introduced the future members of boy band Groove Over Dose (g.o.d) to Park as their producer and mentor. In cooperation with SidusHQ, JYP oversaw the formation of g.o.d, which would make their debut appearance on January 13, 1999.[7] While the group itself was managed by SidusHQ, their first album, Chapter 1, was produced by Park.[8]
2000–2009: Early success and second generation K-pop artists
In December 2000, JYP signed Rain as a trainee, who made his debut two years later in May 2002.[9][10] Rain would then rise to become a commercial success throughout and beyond Asia,[11] which was seen when his third studio album, It's Raining, went on to record cumulative sales of over 1 million copies in seven Asian countries, including Korea.[12]
On December 27, 2002, the company's first boy group was a four-member vocal oriented group Noel, but they failed to attract popularity. JYP then turned its focus towards the duo brothers One Two in 2003. In 2004, after the boy band g.o.d.'s group contract with SidusHQ ended, they signed a contract with JYP.[13]
g.o.d has won four Grand Prizes for Best K-pop Group Artist.
Other notable artists that debuted under JYP from the years 2000 to 2005 include Park Ji-yoon, Byul, Lim Jeong-hee, Ryanga Rhanga, and Ivy.
Wonder Girls in 2008. They became the first Korean group to enter the Billboard Hot 100.[14]
In May 2006, JYP formed its first girl group, Wonder Girls,[15] who became a commercial success and was the first South Korean group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009 when their song "Nobody" charted at No. 76.[14][16] Their success lead to a management deal with the Jonas Group, which allowed the Wonder Girls to open the Jonas Brothers's world tour in select cities.[17]
In 2007, Rain left JYP and established his own agency called J. Tune Entertainment, but stated that he kept his collaborative relationship with J. Y. Park.[18]
In 2008, the competitive reality series Hot Blood Men was created, pitting two teams of male trainees against each other for the chance to debut. The winning group, One Day, was later split into two boy bands, 2PM and 2AM; both debuted that same year.[19] 2AM was jointly contracted with Big Hit Entertainment.[20] Later in October, JYP opened the JYP Beijing Center as their China branch. In that same year, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) included JYP in its roster of high-profile clientele.[21][22]
Expanding its endeavors into the drama production industry following in the footsteps of SM Entertainment Group's SM C&C and CJ E&M (now CJ ENM)'s Studio Dragon, JYP jointly established the TV drama production company Holym with KEYEAST Entertainment in June 2009.[23] Holym later announced its first major TV drama production, Dream High, in 2010.[24]
2010–2017: Joint ventures and third generation K-pop artists
In March 2010, JYP made a joint venture with SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, Star Empire, Media Line, CAN Entertainment and Music Factory Entertainment to establish KMP Holdings, the official distributor of releases from these companies.[25] On December 28, 2010, it was announced that JYP has become the largest shareholder of J. Tune Entertainment.[18][26] The subsidiary AQ Entertainment was later formed and introduced the Chinese-Korean girl group Miss A.
Miss A in 2013. They became the first act have their debut song reach atop the Gaon Digital Chart.[27]
In November 2011, the US-based subsidiary JYP Creative was established and it was reported that Park invested approximately US$1.2 million in the branch. However, after a year of operation, the company reportedly saw a net loss of around US$1.5 million by the end of 2012, forcing the CEO to liquidate the branch and close all US operations, including the New York branch.[28] The same year, Park Jimin, winner of the competitive TV series K-pop Star, and Baek Yerin, a female trainee and contestant on the show Star King, debuted as the duo 15&.[29][unreliable source?]
In 2012, JYP Pictures signed a contract with China Eastern Performing Arts Group to co-produce a movie Hold Your Hand, featuring actors who belonged to JYP.[30]
On June 20, 2013, the plan to merge the publicly listed JYP Entertainment (which houses artists such as 2PM, 2AM and Wonder Girls) and the non-listed JYP (which houses artists such as J. Y. Park, Sunmi, Park Ji-min, Baek Ye-rin and Lee Jung-jin) as a single company was announced.[31][32] The shareholders' meeting regarding the merger was held on September 13. The meeting concluded with the approval of the merger, effective starting from October 17.[33] Thus, artists under the non-listed JYP will become part of the post-merger JYP Entertainment. In addition, Miss A and Baek A-yeon, who had been part of the now defunct AQ Entertainment—as the result of the merger, also joined JYP Entertainment.[34][35]
On August 25, 2013, it was revealed that JYP and KeyEast Entertainment reached an agreement to terminate their joint production enterprise, Holym.[36][unreliable source?]
On November 17, 2013, JYPt partnered with Smile Gate to promote the game CrossFire with 2PM and Miss A.[37]
Got7 in 2019.
In January 2014, the seven talent agencies behind KMP Holdings formed a collective bond partnership and bought 13.48% of KT Music's stocks, leaving KT Corporation with only 49.99%.[38] That same month, Got7, the label's first boy group since the debut of 2PM and 2AM in 2008, made their debut.[39][40]
2AM's joint contract of Big Hit with JYP expired later that April, after which three of the 2AM members returned to JYP, while member Lee Chang-min stayed with Big Hit in order to continue with his solo career and as part of the duo Homme.[20] In late August, JYP Pictures and Dongyang World Culture Communication produced the drama Dream Knight, starring Got7 members.[41]
Season three K-pop Star winner Bernard Park signed a contract with JYP to start his solo career, eventually making his debut on October 6, 2014.[42] On December 17, 2014, it was reported that J.Y. Park sold the company's HQ building in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul to Choi Ki-won, the sister of SK Group's chairman Choi Tae-won, for about $7 million, on the term that JYP will still use the building for three years on rent.[43][44]
The success of Twice led JYP Entertainment to become the largest South Korean entertainment company.[45][46]
The subsidiary Studio J was formed on January 9, 2015, in line with JYP's goal to "promote free and deep artists that create authentic music rather than appealing to the mainstream demand." The first artist on Studio J's roster was G. Soul, who debuted on the same day.[47][48] In March 2015, it was announced that 2AM members Seulong and Jinwoon departed from JYP Entertainment because of their contract expiration, while Jo Kwon renewed his contract. Despite this development, the company stated that 2AM remained intact and will be promoting as a group in a similar set-up as that of boy band g.o.d.[49]
On April 15, JYP signed a contract with Jax Coco, a Hong Kong-based coconut product company. Under the agreement, JYP and Jax Coco planned to launch coconut oil, coconut flakes, and other related products at major department stores and supermarkets in South Korea.[50]
Two groups were formed by JYP later in 2015: the rock band Day6 which debuted on September 7,[51] and the girl group Twice, whose members were chosen from the competitive reality show Sixteen,[52] and debuted on October 20.[53]
Venturing into the Chinese market, JYP established a music distribution partnership with China Music Corporation on February 19, 2016.[54] This was followed by JYP jointly establishing Beijing Xin Sheng Entertainment Co. Ltd. with Tencent Music Entertainment in the same year,[55] which oversaw the debut of the Chinese boy band Boy Story.[56] Got7 member Jackson Wang later announced his solo endeavors in the country.[57]
On July 1, 2017, JYP acquired a property worth 20.2 billion KRW (US$18 million) in Seongnae-dong, Gangdong District, Seoul to be used as its new office.[58] A partnership with DailyMotion, Europe's largest video platform, was also signed to open its artist channel on its platform to secure a more global fan base.[59][60]
2018–2020: Further success and fourth generation K-pop artists
On January 31, 2018, it was reported that JYP entered into a music business agreement with SM Entertainment, Big Hit Entertainment, and SK Telecom to launch a new music platform which will utilize various new technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G networking. SK Telecom affiliate Iriver will be responsible for handling the music distribution of the three entertainment companies.[61][62] In line with this agreement, the music platform FLO was launched.[63]
In the first half of 2018, JYP became the second largest entertainment company in South Korea when their total market capitalization surpassed YG Entertainment, largely due to the success of Twice and Got7. It was the first time that JYP had placed second among the Big 3 companies, with SM retaining the top position.[64][45] On March 26, 2018, JYP debuted a new boy group called Stray Kids, named after the 2017 reality show of the same name.[65]
In May 2018, JYP became the only Korean entertainment company to rank in Financial Times magazine's "FT 1000: High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific" list, charting at No. 177 out of all 1000 companies and No. 12 out of all 104 Korean companies.[66] On August 30, 2018, it was reported that JYPE's shares closed at 31,300 KRW (US$28.20), pushing the company's market capitalization to 1.09 trillion KRW (US$980.26 million), exceeding that of SM Entertainment's 1.08 trillion KRW (US$971.27 million). With this, JYP became the largest among the Big 3 K-pop labels.[46]
Stray Kids is the first dance oriented group to produce their own music since their debut from JYP.
On November 1, 2018, JYP launched a new program with Mnet named Super Intern, which showcased the intern process at JYP, but the main goal was to turn the interns into permanent marketing management staff for each division of artists.[67] The show started to air on Mnet TV on January 24, 2019.
Itzy in their 2019 debut showcase.
On January 21, 2019, JYP announced they would be debuting a new girl group named Itzy. On the same day, the group's official YouTube account was created and the label's official channel shared a video trailer unveiling the five members. On February 12, the group released their debut single album, It'z Different, with its lead single "Dalla Dalla".[68]
On January 29, 2019, JYP announced their plans of creating a Japanese girl group, under their vision "JYP 2.0: Globalization By Localization".[69] Auditions for this new girl group took place in 8 Japanese cities, Hawaii, and Los Angeles, for females aged between 15 and 22 years old. This project was eventually dubbed as Nizi Project, a survival documentary series featuring 20 contestants was aired weekly on Hulu Japan from January 31 to June 26, 2020, and distributed internationally through JYP's official YouTube channel.[70] On the final episode of Nizi Project, the finalized line-up for the new girl group, which was given the name NiziU, was revealed to the public. The group is announced to have partnered with Sony Music Japan for album sales and group management during its activities in Japan.[71][72] NiziU made their official Japanese debut on December 2, 2020.[73]
On March 11, 2019, JYP reached a new partnership with Sony Music Entertainment's The Orchard. JYP will distribute both digital and physical releases to key markets in the US, Europe, and beyond through The Orchard in order to "expand the label's presence around the world."[74]
On June 8, 2019, it was announced that Fanling Culture Media (JYP China) trainee Yao Chen placed 5th in the finale of Produce Camp 2019 with 10,764,262 votes and has successfully made the final lineup of project group R1SE after participating in the survival show. The group made their debut on the same day.[75] On June 17, JYP and Make-A-Wish Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to help support children's wishes under JYP's "Every Dream Matters!" (EDM) campaign as part of their corporate social responsibility. Under the agreement, JYP will be carrying out various social responsibility activities with its artists, employees, and fans in order to support campaigns and initiatives for children with incurable diseases.[76]
On July 24, 2019, JYP announced they will be closing their acting division and some of their actors will be moving to NPIO Entertainment, a start-up company created by JYP Vice President Pyo Jong-rok. With their announcement, JYP consequently revealed that their popular actors such as Jang Hee-ryung, Park Si-eun, and Ryu Won will not be staying on board with the new jointly managed label.[77]
On January 6, 2020, Shinhan Card announced that it has collaborated with JYP to release a 'JYP Fan's EDM Check Card' (JYP Check Cards). Certain percentages of the amount used when making payments at JYP's domestic and international affiliates using the check cards are donated to Make-A-Wish Korea in line with the company's EDM campaign. The check cards are available in four types: JYP, Got7, Day6 and Twice.[78]
On February 24, it was announced that JYP entered into a "strategic partnership" with Republic Records, with Twice being signed under the label for American promotions.[79]
On August 4, 2020, JYP announced its collaboration with SM to establish Beyond LIVE Corporation (BLC), a joint company for virtual concerts. BLC was formed in order to develop the online concert series Beyond Live, with the goal of further growing the platform into an international online concerts brand.[80][81] Later, in an interview with Forbes released on August 31, J.Y. Park shared that there are talks for a girl-group competition show based in America similar to that of Sixteen and Nizi Project.[82]
It was reported on November 17, 2020, that JYP Entertainment invested 5 billion KRW in Naver Z, the developer of the online avatar app Zepeto.[83]
2021–present: Recent developments
On January 10, 2021, it was reported that all the members of Got7 were leaving the company upon the completion of their 7-year contract.[84]
On April 26, 2021, it was reported that the company and Psy's P Nation would collaborate to form a new boy group each in Loud, which premiered on June 5 on SBS.[85]
On July 12, 2021, JYP announced the second season of Nizi Project as a Global Boys Audition.[86]
On November 1, 2021, JYP announced their new boy band Xdinary Heroes.[87] They released their debut digital single "Happy Death Day" on December 6, 2021.[88]
On January 26, 2022, JYP announced that they would be debuting a new girl group named Nmixx on February 22, with their debut single album, Ad Mare.[89]
On February 10, 2022, JYP expanded their "strategic partnership" with Republic after Twice started to succeed in the United States. Following the announcement, Republic signed Stray Kids and Itzy under the label for American promotions.[90]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JYP_Entertainment