HYBE to target Latin American market with new Mexico-based unit

Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of K-pop powerhouse HYBE / Yonhap

HYBE, home to the phenomenal boy band BTS and the best-selling K-pop label in Korea, will establish a new subsidiary in Mexico to boost its presence in the fast-growing Latin American market, the company said Monday.

HYBE Latin America aims to become a bridgehead for HYBE artists to set foot into the region, as well as a base for the development of rookie stars and new content.

"Our Mexico-based unit will be in charge of artist management," HYBE said in a statement. "We will also discover and incubate new talent by bringing in top-tier music producers, who can construct locally optimized systems for our training and development (T&D) and artist and repertoire (A&R). We are also considering grafting K-pop's proven business methodology to the Latin genre."

As the K-pop powerhouse noted, Latin America is a promising market where the revenue growth rate of recorded music stood at 25.9 percent in 2022, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Latin music enjoys immense popularity in the U.S., as evidenced by the chart success of songs like "Despacito" (2017) by Luis Fonsi and "I Like It" (2018) by Bad Bunny.

The chairman of the board at HYBE Latin American will be Isaac Lee, founder of the Spanish-language studio Exile Content. He has also served as the chief content officer at TelevisaUnivision, the operator of the world's largest Spanish-language content TV channel. Shortly before the establishment of its new Mexico-based unit, HYBE acquired Exile Music, the music division of Exile Content.

Kah Jong-hyun, a former executive at YG Entertainment, which houses K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, will assume the role of CEO at HYBE Latin America.

This is not the first time that HYBE has attempted to venture into the international music market. The company previously acquired two major record labels based in the U.S. — Ithaca Holdings and Quality Control (QC) — in 2021 and 2023, respectively.