Kim Ji-soo joined The Korea Times in 2006, and worked on such desks as culture and politics and is currently a member of the Editorial Board. Previous workplaces include The Korea Herald and the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Young talents strive to break into JYP
Trainees work up a sweat at the JYP Entertainment building in this undated file photo. Thousands apply to get into the training program at leading entertainment agencies, as“ hallyu”or Korean wave remains popular throughout the world. / Courtesy of JYP Entertainment
By Kim Ji-soo
Park Ye-rin, winner of JYP’s 10th open audition
By Kim Ji-soo
At the Seoul Arts College (SAC) in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul on Feb. 17, JYP Entertainment was holding its 10th open audition to recruit trainees to pursue the “hallyu dream.”
Jang Yeo-hun was sitting there with his younger daughter to watch his eldest Jang Jong-soon, 15, audition in the women’s dance division.
“Initially, I was worried about her hope to pursue an entertainment career, but now I fully support her,” Jang said, as he readied his camera to take pictures. His daughter was among the 25 finalists from 1,000 that originally applied for the audition.
The Arirang Hall at SAC that night was filled with parents like Jang and the friends of the applicants. They screamed and cheered, making their noise part of the performances.
At the end of the night, Jang’s daughter didn’t win and she cried on stage while the father watched in silence. But soon after she and other unsuccessful contestants huddled to encourage themselves, perhaps to try once again.
Park Ye-rin, 15, of Jisan Middle School in Paju, Gyeonggi Province won the top prize of 1 million won in cash and the right to undergo an apprenticeship. Looking much like Sohee of Wonder Girls, Park showed off dancing moves and singing skills. The 20-year-old aspiring actor Park Seung-jun and 15-year-old dancer Kwon Dae-geun also won the chances for apprenticeships.
JYP Entertainment — home to Wonder Girls, 2PM and Miss A—has been holding public auditions since 2007 as a gateway venue for entertainer aspirants. Television reality audition programs have only been introduced in Korea a year or two ago, and other agencies have not opened their doors so wide for auditions, making the JYP a conduit to recruiting potential stars.
Getting one foot in the door doesn’t ensure success. Yet, even the 25 performers who made it to the stage had to beat out others in the initial pool of 3,000 applicants. It’s a competition rate of 1,000 to 1.
Singer Jo Kwon of 2AM, the group from JYPEntertainment, spent eight years in training before his debut. Members of popular K-pop groups spend several years of training; G-Dragon of Big Bang also spent years training from when he was 13 through 19.
It’s the way that K-pop system works here and the reason that hordes flock for auditions just to get an apprenticeship with the entertainment agencies. One stellar example they cite is Wooyoung of 2PM, a six-member idol group that debuted in 2008 and known for their masculine acrobatic moves and sexiness on stage.
“Wooyoung started out on this stage. I hope all of you can regard this stage as the beginning, not an end, to an active future,” Jung Wook, CEO of JYP Entertainment said.
2PM will go on stage at the Tokyo Dome April 20-21 wto perform for some 11,000 fans. The group toured through Japan having started out with Jan. 11-12 performances in Fukuoka.
JYP Entertainment is considered one of the top three entertainment agencies in Korea. It has grown along with hallyu, prompting founder Park Jin-young to the fourth-largest stock-rich singer/manager. He holds a total of 5.9 billion won worth of stocks in his company. The nation’s richest entertainment agency chief is Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment that has stars such as Girls’ Generation and Super Junior, followed by Yang Hyun-suk of YG Entertainment and Bae Yong-joon, actor and head of Kist.
‘Not only entertainment pool-wise, but JYP Entertainment has spawned new entertainment talent. FormerJYP member founded Cube Entertainment, the producers of BEAST and 4minute.
Perhaps because of its size and pool of stars, JYP Entertainment does not necessarily target one specific market.
“Hallyu is currently influential the world over. It’s imperative at this point that we produce higher-quality content rather than look at a specific market,” said Hwang Jung-min, a PR manager with JYP Entertainment. “We need to produce content that is not tailored to a certain segment but is good K-pop.”
Indeed, the general market for content and more specifically Asian content is expected to grow. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency’s data, the world’s content market is forecast to grow an annual average of 5. 7 percent from $1.6 trillion in 2011 to $2.1 trillion in 2016. In the same period, Asian content industry is estimated to grow an annual average of 7.1 percent or $462 billion in 2011 through $650 billion in 2016.