Major entertainment companies are launching idol projects in earnest through ‘local training’ in the US, the largest music market. To put it simply, it is like entering a체스카지노 ‘local production’ system.
The place that opened the door was JYP Entertainment. In cooperation with Republic Records of the United States, the global girl group launch project ‘A2K Project’ is underway. Based on JYP ‘s K-pop training system and producing ability, the goal is to bring a girl group made up of all North American members to the world. The 2nd evaluation is being conducted in LA for the successful applicants who passed the audition in 5 cities in the US . The video dealing with the audition process was released on YouTube again on the 18th following the 14th.
At the center of the ‘American Dream’ is Jinyoung Park, Chief Creative Officer ( CCO ). He went to the United States and took care of the project himself. In the past, CCO Park Jin-young classified K-pop into three generations. The first generation exports Korean contents, the second generation discovers foreign talents and imports them to Korea, and the third generation nurtures and produces talents abroad. He said, “I founded JYP with the motif of Motown Records in the United States .”
The US is the world’s largest music market. Its sales last year were $26.3 billion (about 33 trillion won). In particular, after the appearance of BTS , it has emerged as a major consumer of K-pop. In the first half of this year, nine of the top 10 album sales in the US were K-pop albums. In terms of album exports during the same period, the United States (US$25.51 million) ranked second following Japan (US$48.52 million). It pushed China ($22.64 million), which had been in second place, to third place. In terms of market share by language in the US streaming market, Korean ranks third (0.9%) after English and Spanish.
Hive’s project to launch a local girl group in the US is also expected to be revealed in the second half of this year. Hive’s US corporation, Hive America, is cooperating with Geffen Records, the flagship label (record agency) of the US Universal Music Group. Hive also sees idol ‘local production’ as a growth momentum.
Some analysts say that the reason both companies are working hard on girl groups is because the lineage of North American girl groups is virtually cut off. In fact, since ‘Fifth Harmony’ ceased activities in 2018, there has been no girl group gaining popularity. There are also evaluations that it will be an opportunity for domestic entertainment companies to take a leap forward. Lee Ki-hoon, a researcher at Hana Securities, said, “The debut of a US girl group is the most important momentum in history .