Increasing record labels create own online platform

S.M. Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man, left, with S.E.S. members and composer Yoo Young-jin / Courtesy of S.M. Entertainment

By Kim Jae-heun

An increasing number of record labels are creating their own online music platform to seize the initiative in the music market and to seek various musical collaborations.

S.M. Entertainment is one of the notable record labels to lead the trend by bringing its idol singers to collaborate with vocalists from different sectors. The entertainment company launched the digital music distributor “SM Station,” early last February, as part of founding chairman Lee Soo-man’s “New Culture Technology” project to showcase collaborations between S.M. Entertainment artists and singers from other agencies.

SM Station has been releasing a new digital single every week beginning with Taeyeon of K-pop group Girls Generation. Over 40 of S.M. Entertainment’s singers have participated in this project, including Yoona of Girls Generation, Chen of EXO and Kim Hee-chul of Super Junior.

Many of the artists who have participated in the new experiment have seen success as they topped other online charts as well.

Official poster for Sejeong’s collaboration project with rapper Zico on their digital music channel Jelly Box. / Courtesy of Jellyfish Entertainmen

All three members, Bada, Eugene and Shoo, are currently signed to different labels, but they have agreed to launch their comeback song through SM’s digital platform.Former S.M. Entertainment girl band S.E.S., which swept the K-pop scene in the late 1990s to early 2000s along with Fin.K.L and Baby V.O.X, also returned after 14 years through SM Station. The recently released remake digital track “Love [Story]” combines the girl band’s debut song “I’m Your Girl” and another popular song “Love” from 1999.

Another music channel project, Jelly Box, created on June 8, is Jellyfish Entertainment’s music distribution platform. Although Jelly Box does not periodically release digital singles of its own artists on a regular basis, it has a similar purpose to SM Station in that the platform plays an important role in providing Jellyfish Entertainment artists opportunities to explore various music genres and broaden their musical influence to the public.

The latest collaboration release “Flower Way” by Sejeong of girl band Gugudan and producer Zico of boy group Block B swept the major online music charts as soon as it was released on Nov. 22. It was a challenge for both artists as Sejeong just debuted sixth months ago as a pop musician while Zico is a popular rapper who often plays in the hip-hop genre. It was unimaginable that a producer like Zico would write a ballad for an idol singer.

Chen of EXO’s collaboration project with rapper Heize on their digital music channel SM Station. / Courtesy of S.M. Entertainment

The record label Mystic89 founder and singer-songwriter Yoon Jong-shin first started the digital music project under the title of “Monthly Project Yoon Jong Shin” in 2010. He produced one to three tracks every month and released them every month. He has released 25 digitals singles in the last six years.

Yoon not only collaborated to release songs with other singers but also produced the original soundtrack for a movie called “Beauty Inside” and wrote music for art exhibitions of renowned artist Mark Rothko.

Industry experts see such a trend as the entertainment companies’ efforts to create synergy between their artists to seek various music styles and broaden their talent beyond expectations. Music critics also say that collaboration projects can provide chances for music agencies to test their singers’ potential to debut as a solo artists.