Kpop Agencies: 4 Companies Behind BTS, BLACKPINK and TWICE

13 min read

The 4 big kpop agencies (HYBE, SM, JYP, YG) built most of the groups fans abroad know by name. SM (founded 1995) created the train-for-years idol system. YG made hip-hop swagger its brand, JYP sells bright pop and personality, and HYBE turned BTS’s success into a company that owns several labels.

If you want to know why your favorite group sounds the way it does, releases when it does or sells albums in ten versions, the answer usually starts with the agency. Below you’ll find how each company started, its house style and best-known groups, how agencies make money and how a trainee turns into an idol.

Key takeaways

SM, YG and JYP were founded within three years of each other (1995 to 1997). HYBE started in 2005 as Big Hit Entertainment and took its current name in 2021.
Album sales are only one income stream. Concerts, merchandise, lightsticks, fan-platform memberships and endorsements can matter just as much.
Korea’s Fair Trade Commission standard contract for entertainers caps exclusive deals at 7 years, which is why a group’s seventh year turns into renewal headlines.
HYBE is listed on the main KOSPI board. SM, JYP and YG trade on KOSDAQ, Korea’s smaller growth market.

What are the Big 4 kpop agencies?

Koreans call an entertainment agency a gihoeksa (기획사), literally a “planning company”. The name fits. A K-pop agency doesn’t just sign finished artists: it scouts teenagers, trains them for years, picks or commissions their songs, designs their concept (the visual and story theme of each release), books their shows and runs their official fan clubs.

“Big 3” was the old press and fan shorthand for SM, YG and JYP, the three companies that dominated the 2000s. HYBE’s rise on the back of BTS made it the Big 4. Plenty of strong mid-size agencies exist (Starship, Cube and CJ ENM’s music labels, for example), but these four have the deepest catalogs and set the habits the rest of the industry copies.

Agency	Founded	Founder	House style	Groups to start with	Listed on
SM Entertainment (SM엔터테인먼트)	1995	Lee Soo-man	Polished pop, intricate choreography, high-concept worlds	TVXQ, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, aespa	KOSDAQ
YG Entertainment (YG엔터테인먼트)	1996	Yang Hyun-suk	Hip-hop and R&B attitude, fewer but bigger releases	BIGBANG, 2NE1, BLACKPINK, TREASURE, BABYMONSTER	KOSDAQ
JYP Entertainment (JYP엔터테인먼트)	1997	Park Jin-young (J.Y. Park)	Bright, catchy pop with personality and live stamina	Wonder Girls, 2PM, GOT7, TWICE, Stray Kids, ITZY	KOSDAQ
HYBE (하이브)	2005 (as Big Hit)	Bang Si-hyuk	Several labels, each with its own sound	BTS, TXT, SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM, ENHYPEN	KOSPI

Rosters change as contracts end, members leave and new groups debut. For the current lineup, check each company’s official artist page rather than a fan wiki.

SM Entertainment (SM엔터테인먼트): the agency that built the idol system

Lee Soo-man, a former singer, set up SM in 1995 and launched the boy group H.O.T. in 1996 and the girl group S.E.S. in 1997. Those two acts set the template every agency still uses: young members trained in-house, assigned roles (main vocal, main dancer, rapper, visual) and marketed as a team with a shared concept. SM then took K-pop abroad early. BoA became a star in Japan in the early 2000s, and TVXQ (2003) followed her there.

Lee called his method “cultural technology”: a repeatable process for producing, packaging and exporting pop stars. Next came the 2000s and 2010s acts that defined second- and third-generation K-pop: Super Junior (2005), Girls’ Generation (2007), SHINee (2008), EXO (2012) and Red Velvet (2014).

What does SM music sound like?

Fans use the nickname “SMP” (SM Music Performance) for the label’s signature: dense, genre-switching tracks with dramatic beat changes and very tight group choreography. SM also likes big ideas. NCT (2016) was built as an open-ended group that splits into units such as NCT 127, NCT Dream and the China-focused WayV. aespa (2020) launched with a storyline about members and their digital avatars.

If you enjoy songs that sound like three songs stitched together, start with SM. If you want something simple to sing along to, start elsewhere.

Who runs SM now?

Lee Soo-man is no longer in charge. In 2023 HYBE agreed to buy his stake, and after a takeover contest Kakao, the tech group behind the KakaoTalk messenger, became SM’s largest shareholder. Our guide to Naver vs Kakao explains what Kakao is and why it wanted an entertainment arm.

A collection of K-pop albums and small photocards spread out on a table — Photo: Sm entertainment square as of July 7th by Cool54864, CC0

YG Entertainment: hip-hop roots and fewer, bigger releases

Yang Hyun-suk was a member of Seo Taiji and Boys, the early-1990s group that brought rap and hip-hop dance into Korean pop. In 1996 he started the company that became YG and signed hip-hop acts such as Jinusean and 1TYM before moving into idol groups.

The breakthrough was BIGBANG (2006), whose leader G-Dragon wrote and produced much of the group’s music. That was unusual for an idol at the time, and it gave YG its reputation for artists with real creative input. 2NE1 (2009) brought the same attitude to a girl group. BLACKPINK (2016) then became one of the most-watched K-pop acts in the world on YouTube and the headline proof of YG’s formula.

Why YG groups release less often

YG tends to put out fewer, heavier singles and leave long gaps between them. Fans complain about it every cycle. The upside is that each release lands as an event. The house sound leans on hip-hop, EDM drops and big choruses, often from in-house producers rather than outside songwriting camps.

YG also used TV survival shows early on to pick lineups. WIN: Who Is Next produced WINNER and MIX & MATCH produced iKON. More recent groups include TREASURE (2020) and BABYMONSTER.

JYP Entertainment: personality first, then localization

Park Jin-young, widely known as J.Y. Park, was a successful singer-songwriter before he founded JYP in 1997, and he still writes songs for his artists and appears on audition shows. That hands-on founder role is a big part of the brand.

JYP’s 2000s run included the solo star Rain and Wonder Girls (2007), whose retro hit “Tell Me” became a national craze. Wonder Girls also made one of K-pop’s first serious pushes into the US market. 2PM (2008) and GOT7 (2014) followed. Then came TWICE (2015), chosen through the TV survival show SIXTEEN, and Stray Kids (2018), whose in-house trio 3RACHA writes and produces much of the group’s music. ITZY (2019) and NMIXX (2022) came after.

What “globalization by localization” means

Park has described JYP’s overseas strategy as “globalization by localization”: instead of only exporting Korean groups, build local groups abroad using the K-pop training system. The clearest example is NiziU, a Japanese girl group formed through the Nizi Project audition series with Sony Music. The music itself tends to be brighter and more melodic than YG’s, built around catchy hooks, personality on variety shows and the stamina to sing live while dancing.

JYP has also made personal conduct part of its public identity, which shows in how it presents its artists. Stray Kids are the exception to the sunny image: harder, louder and self-produced, which is exactly why they draw fans who find other JYP groups too sweet.

HYBE (하이브): from Big Hit to a multi-label company

Bang Si-hyuk was a composer and producer at JYP before he founded Big Hit Entertainment in 2005. For years it was a small company. Its fortunes changed with BTS, who debuted in 2013 and wrote lyrics about school pressure, youth and mental health while talking to fans directly through social media. BTS became the first K-pop act to break through to a mass audience in the US and Europe.

Big Hit listed on the KOSPI in 2020 and renamed itself HYBE in 2021. It also launched Weverse in 2019. The fan app combines artist posts, livestreams, paid memberships and merchandise sales, and other agencies’ artists now use it too.

Why HYBE has so many labels

HYBE works as a holding company over separate labels, each with its own producers and style. BIGHIT MUSIC manages BTS and TXT (2019). Pledis Entertainment, which HYBE bought in 2020, manages SEVENTEEN (2015). Source Music manages LE SSERAFIM (2022), and Belift Lab, a joint venture with CJ ENM, manages ENHYPEN (2020), formed through the survival show I-LAND. In 2021 HYBE also bought Ithaca Holdings, the US company behind several American pop stars.

For a fan, this means “a HYBE group” doesn’t promise a sound the way “an SM group” or “a YG group” does. Judge each label on its own catalog.

How kpop agencies make money

A K-pop agency earns from almost everything its artists touch. Here’s how a typical comeback (K-pop’s word for any new release and its promotion cycle) turns into revenue, step by step.

Albums and photocards

Physical albums still sell in large numbers in K-pop because they’re collectibles. One release often comes in several versions with different covers, photobooks and randomly packed photocards (small trading-card portraits of members). Fans buy multiple copies to complete sets or to enter fan-sign lotteries, where each album bought counts as an entry. Streaming and digital sales add income, but the physical album is the agency’s signature product.

Concerts and world tours

Touring is where established groups make the most money. A world tour brings in ticket sales, venue merchandise and sometimes paid livestreams for fans who can’t attend. That’s why agencies plan tours around a group’s popularity peak and why tour announcements move fan communities so quickly.

Merchandise, lightsticks and fan platforms

Every major group has an official lightstick, a branded glow stick that can sync with the stage lighting at concerts. Fans buy one per group, and new versions get released. Our lightstick guide explains how the syncing works. Paid fan-club memberships, Weverse memberships and messaging apps such as Bubble (run by DearU, an SM affiliate, and used by artists from several agencies) bring in subscription revenue every month, comeback or not.

Endorsements, TV and IP

Idols are among Korea’s most sought-after advertising faces, from cosmetics to fried chicken to phones. Agencies also earn from TV appearances, music publishing and royalties, and from licensing artist IP (intellectual property) for games, animated characters and brand collaborations. BTS’s BT21 characters, made with LINE Friends, are the best-known example.

Put together, a single comeback can feed six income streams at once: digital sales, physical albums, fan-sign events, merchandise, a tour and new ad deals. That’s why agencies care so much about the timing of each comeback.

How the kpop trainee pipeline works

Almost every idol at the four big kpop agencies started as a yeonseupsaeng (연습생), a trainee. The system SM perfected in the 1990s still runs on the same stages.

How auditions and scouting work

Agencies find trainees through open auditions in Korea, global audition tours, online video submissions, street scouting and partnerships with performing-arts academies. Many trainees are signed in their early or mid teens. If you’re thinking about trying yourself, our guide on how to become a Kpop idol covers the audition routes and the real odds.

What training looks like

Trainees take daily vocal, dance and often rap lessons. They also study languages (Japanese, English and Mandarin are common) and get media training for interviews and variety shows. Regular internal evaluations decide who stays, who gets cut and who moves into a planned debut lineup. Many trainees live in agency-arranged dorms while they keep up with school.

Training can last a few months or many years. Agencies don’t publish averages, so be wary of exact numbers you see online.

Survival shows: debuting on TV

Since the 2010s, agencies have often picked final lineups on television. TWICE came out of SIXTEEN, Stray Kids out of a self-titled show, WINNER and iKON out of YG’s shows, ENHYPEN out of I-LAND and NiziU out of Nizi Project. The show builds a fan base before debut. Viewers who vote for a trainee tend to buy that group’s first album.

Contracts and the 7-year rule

After high-profile contract disputes in the late 2000s, Korea’s Fair Trade Commission introduced a standard contract for entertainers that caps exclusive deals at 7 years. That’s why so much attention lands on a group’s seventh year: members either renew, move to other agencies or keep the group name while working solo elsewhere. In many deals the agency first recovers training and production costs from the artist’s earnings before profits are split. A new group can be selling well and still be paying back its debut.

An empty dance practice room with a wall-length mirror and wooden floor — Photo: YG Entertainment Logo by YG Entertainment, Public Domain Mark

Which agency’s groups should you start with?

House style is the most useful shortcut for a new fan. Start from the song you already like and work outward.

You liked BLACKPINK’s attitude: go back to BIGBANG and 2NE1, then try BABYMONSTER. Same YG DNA of hip-hop beats and big drops.
You liked a TWICE chorus stuck in your head: stay with JYP and try ITZY. If you want something heavier, Stray Kids shows JYP’s other side.
You like dense, experimental tracks and sharp choreography: SM’s SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT and aespa reward repeat listening.
You came in through BTS: look past the HYBE name and try labels one at a time. SEVENTEEN is known for self-produced, choreography-heavy music, while TXT and ENHYPEN lean on storytelling concepts.

Here’s a worked example. Say you heard aespa’s music in a short video and liked how strange the beat was. Look up the group’s agency (SM), then play one title track from each SM generation: TVXQ, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT. In about half an hour you’ll hear the “SMP” thread that runs from the 2000s to now, and you’ll know whether SM’s catalog is your lane.

How to follow kpop agencies from abroad

You don’t need a Korean phone number to follow any of the four. Each agency and each group runs official YouTube channels, where music videos and dance practice videos appear first, plus official accounts on the major social platforms.

Schedules and tours: use the group’s official site, fan app notices (Weverse for HYBE and several other agencies) and the ticketing partner the agency names. Dates and prices vary by city and change often.
Albums: buy from retailers the agency lists, since those sales count toward Korean charts.
Auditions: check the agency’s official audition page. Global audition dates aren’t fixed from year to year.
Shares: HYBE trades on the KOSPI and SM, JYP and YG on KOSDAQ. Investors abroad usually need a broker with Korean market access. Share prices react to tours, comebacks, contract renewals and enlistment news. This is not investment advice.

FAQ

What is the biggest kpop agency?

HYBE is generally treated as the largest of the four. It owns several labels, manages BTS and SEVENTEEN among others, and is the only one of the four on Korea’s main KOSPI board. For current revenue or market value, check the companies’ latest filings, because the numbers change every quarter.

What does “Big 3” or “Big 4” mean in K-pop?

“Big 3” was the long-standing nickname for SM, YG and JYP, the three agencies that dominated K-pop in the 2000s. Once BTS turned Big Hit (now HYBE) into a heavyweight, fans and media started saying “Big 4”. It’s an informal label, not an official ranking.

Which agency is BTS under?

BTS is managed by BIGHIT MUSIC, a label owned by HYBE. Big Hit Entertainment was the company’s original name before it became HYBE in 2021, so older articles say BTS is a “Big Hit” group.

Which agency is BLACKPINK under?

BLACKPINK debuted in 2016 under YG Entertainment, and its group activities have run through YG. Individual members’ solo arrangements have changed over time, so check YG’s official site and each member’s official channels for the current setup.

How long do K-pop trainees train before debut?

It varies a lot, from a few months to many years, and agencies don’t publish official averages. Training length depends on the trainee’s starting skill, the agency’s debut plans and whether a group is formed through a survival show.

Can foreigners join a kpop agency?

Yes. All four agencies have trained and debuted members from outside Korea. TWICE includes members from Japan and Taiwan, BLACKPINK’s Lisa is from Thailand, and Stray Kids’ Bang Chan and Felix grew up in Australia. Agencies hold global auditions and accept online submissions, and the details are posted on their official audition pages.

What to watch next from the Big 4 agencies

Touring is the next big money moment for the established groups. Stray Kids, JYP’s biggest current boy group, will take their “RUN IT” tour to North America and Europe in 2027, according to Reuters. Look for cities and ticket details on the group’s official channels, not resale sites.

Beyond tours, keep an eye on three kinds of announcements from any agency: new survival shows (they usually mean a debut group is coming), seventh-year contract news for groups that debuted seven years earlier, and new labels or overseas partnerships like NiziU. Next, pick one group from each agency in the table above and play its debut single next to its latest title track. You’ll hear how much each company’s sound has held steady, or changed.