“The company works under the” central system “- more like a factory without leader,” says expert
This year marks the 30th anniversary of SM Entertainment-an important step for the power of the K-POP founded in 1995 by producer Lee Soo-Man. The company launched various commemorative projects to mark the opportunity, including a concert by Smtown Live 2025 in Seoul in January, a compilation album entitled “2025 SMTOWN: The Culture, The Future” in February and the beginnings of a new group of girls, Hearts2hearts, the same month.
However, 2025 turns out to be a year of crisis rather than celebration. Instead of strengthening his heritage, SM Entertainment found himself involved in a series of controversies involving veteran artists – many of whom have spent more than a decade with the agency.
The initiates of the industry underline the lack of centralized leadership of the company after the departure of Lee in 2023, and its transition to a “central system” which, according to some, left neglected artists.
In January, several longtime artists, including Taeyeon de Girls’ Generation, Wendy de Red Velvet and Yesung of Super Junior, were publicly expressed in the face of the management of the birthday concert by SM Entertainment.
Taeyeon revealed on the Bubble fans’ communications platform that she had planned to play two to three songs, but did not receive sufficient support from the company. She and Wendy finally withdrew from the concert. SM Entertainment attributed their absence to “personal reasons”, but withdrawals alluded to deeper internal problems.
The tensions did not stop there. In March, INB100 – The agency representing the exo exo for its solo career – accused SM Entertainment of having put pressure on the local broadcaster KBS to exclude the singer of “Music Bank”. While Xumin remains signed for SM for Exo group activities, the agency said that SM interference obstructs its solo promotions. The move has attracted the counterposter and relaunched the memories of the previous disputes involving SM, including the long -standing legal battle with TVXQ and JYJ in 2009.
Friday, SM Entertainment also confirmed the departure of Wendy and Yeri from Red Velvet, declaring only that he “would support their new trip to come”.
If it is common that the idols separate from their original agencies after having continued solo careers, Wendy had previously expressed dissatisfaction with regard to the company – suggesting that departures can come more than an expiration of the routine contract.
Stephanie Choi, postdoctoral researcher at the Asia Research Institute of the University of Buffalo, underlined the absence of strong leadership as a key challenge of SM Entertainment.
“In the past, SM Entertainment was led by Lee Soo-Man, whose strong intuition for successful productions gained the confidence of artists and fans,” said Choi, whose research areas include popular musical culture and K-Pop, Korea Herald. “They followed him because they believed in his vision, and the results have proven them.”
“Now, the company operates under a” central system “-more like a factory without a brand leader. Some centers work well, while others do not. These are managed by employees, and from the point of view of artists, there is no longer the same confidence in the decision-making process,” she added.
The “central system”, adopted by SM Entertainment in 2023, is a multi -production structure that divides the company into creative or distinct “centers” – each responsible for the management of different artists and content, in order to improve the autonomy, efficiency and diversity of production.
Musical criticism Kim Yoon-ha echoed the feeling, although she noted that veteran artists seeking independence after a decade with a label are not uncommon.
“There are many idols within SM which has been under contract for more than 10 years. This naturally leads to a stronger desire for autonomy,” said Kim. “Artists like Xumin or Wendy, who leave or are looking for different paths, each worked under the company for more than a decade. If these cases involved younger idols for a few years in their careers, this could be considered unusual – but longtime artists have no good reasons to want change. ”
“However, the absence of Lee Soo-Man is important,” she added. “It was he who discovered and nourished these artists. And there is an increasing frustration around the central system. There seems to be a gap in the care of artists – a feeling of negligence. Taeyon and Wendy alluded to this on Bubble.”
jaaykim@heraldcorp.com