'HYBE with 2 Trillion Won Sales, Cultivating the "New Generation" Beyond BTS'

BTS Military Hiatus Creates Need for New Growth Drivers
US-Localized Girl Group Cats Eye Gains Attention
NewJeans and Other Multi-Label Artists Strengthen International Activities

Hive, which solidified its position as the industry leader by becoming the first domestic entertainment company to surpass 2 trillion won in annual sales, is facing a critical test this year. Attention is focused on whether it can maintain the same level of success as last year without its main idol group BTS for the first time. The company is placing emphasis on debuting globally localized idol groups and strategies for its artists' global expansion, while experts are keenly watching to see if Hive will lead the second golden age of K-pop.

According to the industry on the 4th, Hive views Dream Academy, which recently concluded a two-year journey and launched the girl group ‘KATSEYE,’ as its next-generation growth model. Dream Academy is a survival audition program to select a U.S.-localized girl group under Hive Universal, a joint venture between Hive and Universal Music Group.

In the United States, the world's largest music market, artists typically develop their talents independently and confirm their commercial potential through small-scale performances before signing contracts with management and record companies. In contrast, K-pop discovers young but promising talents and nurtures them into artists through systematic training in music, dance, and stage manners. Dream Academy is the first attempt to apply the K-pop system locally.

The six members of KATSEYE, selected from four countries through this program, are Hive's first K-pop girl group to debut and promote in the U.S. During the 90-day audition process, they formed a global fandom and have already attracted attention as the next-generation global girl group. A documentary covering their growth story is expected to be released on Netflix soon, followed by the start of their full-scale activities.

Hive's focus on Dream Academy stems from the significant gap left by BTS, which accounted for more than half of its sales. Bang Si-hyuk, Hive's chairman, also expressed concerns about BTS's absence starting last year. He evaluated that BTS's absence would slow down not only the company but also the growth of K-pop. Chairman Bang stated, "Regardless of BTS's presence, we need to find some way."

Hive is also strengthening the international activities of artists under its multi-label system. NewJeans, now in their third year since debut, plans to further increase their global recognition through a world tour this year.

In addition to NewJeans, Tomorrow X Together and ENHYPEN are raising their local status by conducting their first-ever stadium tours in North America and dome tours in Japan since their debuts, while LE SSERAFIM is also holding its first world tour.

Hive is also putting effort into the streaming business. Earlier, on the 26th, Hive announced in its earnings report that it would change the name of the sales category from ‘Album’ to ‘Music Album,’ which includes music streaming. This change reflects the growing proportion of streaming in its performance. Regardless of actual album sales, streaming results continue to show a steady upward trend. The total streaming count of Hive's domestic artists is 5.8 billion, accounting for 4.5% of the annual share on the global Spotify 200 chart.

A Hive representative said, "We will expand various business forms such as the ‘one source multi-use’ strategy, which involves not only concerts but also simultaneous online streaming of concerts or live viewing in theaters."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.