HYBE
Apple Music’s Price Hike Boosts Music Stocks
Universal Music Group, Hipgnosis Songs Fund and other music stocks got a much-needed boost on Tuesday (Oct. 25) following news of Apple Music’s price hike, as investors bet it would trigger a wave of streaming subscription cost increases. Universal Music Group’s stock closed 11.6% higher, Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd ended up 7.8% and Korean music companies SM Entertainment and HYBE finished the trading day 4.8% and 4.4% higher, respectfully, on Tuesday. On Monday, Apple announced that it was raising the standard U.S. and U.K. individual plan price to $10.99 from $9.99. This 10% price hike — Apple’s first — comes amid high inflation and a darkening economic environment in many global markets. If Apple can raise prices at a time like this, that is a sign the music industry can charge more ...
As Music Stocks Keep Slipping, This One K-Pop Company Is Bucking the Trend
South Korean music company SM Entertainment, home to such groups as NCT 127 and SuperM, stands apart in a competitive music business for withstanding stock market downturns that have hit all other publicly-traded music companies. Since December, stocks have been on a downward trend, sparked by the Federal Reserve’s intention to raise the federal funds rate to prevent the economy from overheating and rein in inflation. And while music is often said to be recession-proof, music companies’ stocks are not immune from larger economic trends and investors’ desires for safer options during chaotic times. Even though the global music industry is posting double-digit revenue growth, the share prices of publicly traded music companies have followed the broader trends and stumbled in the face ...
Music’s Most Compensated: 5 Top Money Makers You May Not Know
Kang Hyo-won, Yoon Seok-jun (aka Yenzo Loon) and Kim Shin-gyu are hardly marquee names in the music business, but they accounted for three of its five largest paydays in 2021, according to Billboard Pro‘s inaugural Executive Money Makers ranking — a breakdown of executive compensation and stock ownership at publicly traded companies. All three are valued members of HYBE, the South Korean entertainment giant behind BTS, Tomorrow X Together, NewJeans and other K-pop acts, and in 2016, their efforts turning the company into a global success were rewarded with stock options that netted them the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars when the company went public last year. Stock options are often used to incentivize and reward employees when a company is privately held. In a statement to Bil...
Music’s Top Money Makers: The Highest-Paid Executives and Stockholders at Publicly Traded Companies
Kang Hyo-won is not a marquee name in the music industry. The South Korean producer is better known as Pdogg, the studio wizard behind hits by K-pop supergroup BTS and other acts on the roster of Korean entertainment company HYBE. Because Kang played a key role in HYBE’s global success, his employer gave him 128,000 stock options in 2016 that turned into about $35 million when Kang exercised them. (All currency conversions to U.S. dollars in this story are based on the average 2021 exchange rate.) That made Kang the second-highest-paid music industry executive last year among those whose earnings are publicly disclosed. Yoon Seok-jun (aka Lenzo Yoon) and Kim Shin-gyu, co-CEO of HYBE America and chief artist management officer, respectively, also benefited from HYBE going public. Yoon nette...
The Ledger: Buying Into the K-Pop Craze Just Got Less Risky for US Investors
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, focused on Korean music started trading on the NYSE Arca exchange on Thursday, giving American investors a means to buy shares of companies that trade on exchanges in South Korea. But the ETF stands out for another reason: a bundle of K-pop stocks will carry less risk than standalone companies that rely on dozens of labels, each with a handful of top artists as well as deep catalogs. Trading under the aptly named ticker KPOP, the ETF includes the stocks of 30 corporations, including several music companies: HYBE, the home of K-pop megastars BTS and up-and-coming acts Tomorrow X Together ...
HYBE’s Revenues Soared in Q2, But That Doesn’t Account for BTS Break
With BTS on a break since June and its members pursuing solo projects, HYBE’s solid second-quarter earnings release was as much about what happens next than what already happened. HYBE’s total revenue improved 83.8% to 512.2 billion KRW ($397.7 million) from April to June. Most growth came from the company’s “artist direct involvement” segment, which increased 153%. Concert revenue grew to 85 billion KRW ($66 million) from nothing in the prior-year period on the strength of BTS’s four concerts in Las Vegas and Seventeen concerts in Japan. Revenue from ads, appearances and management grew 39% to 30 billion KRW ($23.3 million) While merchandising and licensing improved 97.2% to 98.8 billion KRW ($78.7 million), contents fell 22.6% to 70.7 billion KRW ($54.9 million), partially because online...
For the Record: When Is a Hiatus Not a Hiatus? When BTS Says So
Earlier this month, Billboard and many other publications were attacked online by BTS fans for reporting in a way that upset them that the group was taking a “hiatus.” “Billboard you really love making articles with such a non consistent [sic] details,” wrote one reader on Facebook. “BTS is not even on break as clarified by HYBE and BTS members.” Another comment: “Oh can you shut up about ‘hiatus’ stuff?” Some of this bile may have been inspired by BTS rapper RM, who wrote the day after the group said it was taking a break that “it feels bitter” to see “provocative keywords” like “hiatus.” His implication is that the word was used to boost online traffic. The word “hiatus” came from subtitles written in English on a video message that BTS itself released on June 14. Soon after the video ra...
The Ledger: HYBE Is Playing Moneyball With BTS’ Solo Projects
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. How does HYBE survive financially while BTS goes on break and its members pursue solo projects? Since HYBE can’t replace BTS, it will need to recreate the group — financially speaking. Movie buffs are familiar with HYBE’s predicament. In the 2011 movie Moneyball based on Michael Lewis’s best-selling book, Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (portrayed by Brad Pitt) was faced with a quandary: The budget-minded, small-market team was losing two of its two best players to wealthier teams. Beane knew he couldn’t afford to replace such productive players with two similarly effective players. His solution: recreate them “...
BTS Accounts for Nearly 1/3 of All U.S. K-Pop Sales & Streams: Their Domination, By the Numbers
BTS members’ decision to take time off for solo projects is bound to shake up K-pop music consumption in the U.S. because of the group’s dominance in the genre. And the band’s label, Big Hit Music — a division of HYBE, which Universal Music Group’s Geffen Records has distributed in the U.S. since last year — will have a tough time filling the hole. Since the beginning of 2021, BTS has accounted for 29.4% of sales and on-demand streams of K-pop music in the U.S., according to a Billboard analysis of Luminate data. Over that time, BTS did not release a new studio album but put out two “best of” collections — BTS, the Best in June 2021 and Proof on June 10, 2022. BTS also released multiple variations of the tracks “Butter” (including a remix with Megan Thee Stallion), “My Universe” and “Permi...
As BTS Enters ‘Hiatus,’ J-Hope Sets Solo Album
As news broke of BTS’ open-ended hiatus, ARMY shed tears, and the K-pop superstars’ music company shed market cap. One door closes, and in the case of BTS, seven individual windows should open. Beginning with J-Hope. Buried in the announcement of this “new chapter,” BYTE, the pop group’s reps, acknowledges the group “will allow themselves to express their individuality through the release of solo albums and collaborations with other artists.” J-Hope will mark “the beginning with his upcoming solo album,” the message continues, with further information to be shared in due course. The 28-year-old artist gave fans a little more insight into his and his bandmates’ mindsets during an hour-long FESTA dinner. In short, it’s not the end. “I think that change is what we need right now,” he explaine...
Will BTS’ Label Take a Big Hit From Band’s ‘Hiatus’?
HYBE will miss BTS — but not as much as it would have before acquiring Ithaca Holdings in 2021. On Tuesday (June 14), the band announced it was “going on a hiatus” to allow each member to focus on their solo projects. What that might mean for the label that launched BTS in 2013 is unclear. Companywide, BTS accounted for 27% of HYBE’s U.S. album sales and streams in 2021, according to the company’s fourth quarter 2021 investor presentation. In Japan — the world’s second-biggest music market — BTS accounted for about half of HYBE’s album sales, according to the company’s 2021 earnings. On top of that, BTS likely accounted for nearly all HYBE’s touring income that amounted to 191.1 billion ($148 million) in 2019 and 45.6 billion KRW ($36 million) 2021. HYBE’s acquisition of Ithica Projects in...
SEVENTEEN’s Comeback Album ‘Face the Sun’ Is Here: Stream It Now
SEVENTEEN returns with Face the Sun, their fourth studio album and first in almost three years. The K-pop stars celebrate their comeback with the release of the official music video for “Hot,” the lead single from Face the Sun. It’s an explosion of color and hip-hop vibes as the 13-strong group strut their stuff in the desert, a mass-flex of high-octane choreography. Spanning nine tracks and dropping in full at midnight, Face the Sun contains the outfit’s first English-language number “Darl+ing,” which arrived in April. As one of the act’s main producers and leader of its vocal team, WOOZI co-wrote all the tracks on Face the Sun, the follow up 2019’s An Ode Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news [embedded content] The new record, reads a ...
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