YG Entertainment's growing influence causes friction

G-dragon of BIGBANG / Courtesy of YG Entertainment

By Kim Jae-heun

Yang Hyun-suk

Korean entertainment giant YG is showing signs of increasing its influence over wider cultural sectors by acquiring promising companies and scouting leading figures in various fields.

The entertainment company’s efforts are already apparent in several entertainment scenes.

YG Entertainment, whose main business is music, entered the fashion industry three years ago by acquiring local model management company K-Plus. The model agency changed its name to YGKPLUS in October that year and gained a stronger position in the field with YG’s full support.

In the recent fall and winter collection at the 2017 Hera Seoul Fashion Week, YG’s model management directed 23 out of total 46 runways including the top shows, such as “Beyond Closet,” “87MM,” “MUNSOO KWON,” and “CRES.E.DIM.” The agency was directly involved in designing the catwalk and casting models.

But YG’s presence has caused friction with some.

“There are models with certain images that I want to cast for my concept in each season, but I have to cast a certain number of YG models as YGKPLUS is the director of my runway,” a fashion insider said on condition of anonymity. “They also interfere in designing the runway stage to their taste and I cannot fully reflect my ideas although it is my show.”

Esteem model management, which established a strategic alliance with S.M. Entertainment, took the remaining half of the runway director’s job at Seoul Fashion Week _ leaving no chance for mid-size model agencies to run the catwalk.

YG Entertainment also seems ambitious to kick-start the content producing business as it has reportedly contacted star producer Han Dong-chul, who resigned from CJ E&M this January. Han is said to have played a big role in bringing hip-hop culture to the mainstream in recent years with his successful TV rap shows, such as “Show Me the Money” and “Unpretty Rapstar.” Last year, the celebrated producer launched a megahit audition show “Produce 101” that formed sensational K-pop girl group I.O.I.

Culture critic Bae Kook-nam said YG’s attempt to attract big name producers indicates its efforts to diversify its entertainment business model while monopolizing the industry.

“When you look closely into the top local entertainment companies, their profits are not proportional to their reputation. Their business model heavily depends on celebrities they own. For a safer business, entertainment companies are advancing into content producing as channels for programs to air have become so diverse with the development of online platforms these days,” Bae said.

“In this process, the big companies automatically form a monopoly by only casting their actors and singers for the TV shows, like the recent variety show “Flower Crew.” Most of the cast members were YG singers in the series that YG produced. It is same for S.M. Entertainment as it also contracted to star producers under the subsidiary named SM C&C,” Bae said.

Bae continued that YG Entertainment and S.M. Entertainment took such a business model from Japanese entertainment companies, who are legally permitted to run talent management while producing contents and distribute them.

In the U.S., it is prohibited for an agency to run the content production firm or a distributor together.