JYP Entertainment

South Korean entertainment company

JYP Entertainment Corporation (hangul=JYP 엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management company, concert production company, and music publishing house. In addition, the company operates various subsidiary ventures and divisions worldwide. Notable artists under the agency include the groups 2PM, Day6, Twice, Boy Story, Stray Kids, Itzy, NiziU, Xdinary Heroes, Nmixx, and Vcha.

JYP Entertainment was founded in 1997 by South Korean singer songwriter Park Jin young (named after his stage name, J. Y. Park) as Tae Hong Planning Corporation, which eventually became JYP Entertainment in 2001. In 1997, the company signed its first artist and female solo artist, Pearl. In 1999, entertainment company SidusHQ introduced the future members of boy band Groove Over Dose (g. o. d) to Park as their producer and mentor. In cooperation with SidusHQ, JYP oversaw the formation of g. o. d, which would make their debut appearance on January 13, 1999. While the group itself was managed by SidusHQ, their first album, Chapter 1, was produced by Park.

In December 2000, JYP signed Rain as a trainee, who made his debut two years later in May 2002. Rain would then rise to become a commercial success throughout and beyond Asia, which was seen when his third studio album, It's Raining, went on to record cumulative sales of over 1 million copies in seven Asian countries, including Korea. On December 27, 2002, the company's first boy group was a four member vocal oriented group Noel, but they failed to attract popularity. JYP then turned its focus towards the duo brothers One Two in 2003. In 2004, after the boy band g. o. d.'s group contract with SidusHQ ended, they signed a contract with JYP. Other notable artists that debuted under JYP from the years 2000 to 2005 include Park Ji yoon, Byul, Lim Jeong hee, Ryanga Rhanga, and Ivy. In May 2006, JYP formed its first girl group, Wonder Girls, who became a commercial success and was the first South Korean group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009 when their song "Nobody" charted at No. 76. Their success lead to a management deal with the Jonas Group, which allowed the Wonder Girls to open the Jonas Brothers's world tour in select cities. In 2007, Rain left JYP and established his own agency called J. Tune Entertainment, but stated that he kept his collaborative relationship with J. Y. Park. 2AM was jointly contracted with Big Hit Entertainment. Expanding its endeavors into the drama production industry following in the footsteps of SM Entertainment Group's SM C&C and CJ E&M (now CJ ENM)'s Studio Dragon, JYP jointly established the TV drama production company Holym with KEYEAST Entertainment in June 2009. Holym later announced its first major TV drama production, Dream High, in 2010.

In March 2010, JYP made a joint venture with SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, Star Empire, Media Line, CAN Entertainment and Music Factory Entertainment to establish KMP Holdings, the official distributor of releases from these companies. On December 28, 2010, it was announced that JYP has become the largest shareholder of J. Tune Entertainment. The subsidiary AQ Entertainment was later formed and introduced the Chinese Korean girl group Miss A. In November 2011, the US based subsidiary JYP Creative was established and it was reported that Park invested approximately US$1.2 million in the branch. However, after a year of operation, the company reportedly saw a net loss of around US$1.5 million by the end of 2012, forcing the CEO to liquidate the branch and close all US operations, including the New York branch. The same year, Park Jimin, winner of the competitive TV series K pop Star, and Baek Yerin, a female trainee and contestant on the show Star King, debuted as the duo 15&. Unreliable source: reason=per WP:KO/RS#UR

In 2012, JYP Pictures signed a contract with China Eastern Performing Arts Group to co produce a movie Hold Your Hand, featuring actors who belonged to JYP. On June 20, 2013, the plan to merge the publicly listed JYP Entertainment (which houses artists such as 2PM, 2AM and Wonder Girls) and the non listed JYP (which houses artists such as J. Y. Park, Sunmi, Park Ji min, Baek Ye rin and Lee Jung jin) as a single company was announced. The shareholders' meeting regarding the merger was held on September 13. The meeting concluded with the approval of the merger, effective starting from October 17. Thus, artists under the non listed JYP will become part of the post merger JYP Entertainment. In addition, Miss A and Baek A yeon, who had been part of the now defunct AQ Entertainment—as the result of the merger, also joined JYP Entertainment. On August 25, 2013, it was revealed that JYP and KeyEast Entertainment reached an agreement to terminate their joint production enterprise, Holym. Unreliable source: reason=per WP:KO/RS#UR On November 17, 2013, JYPt partnered with Smile Gate to promote the game Crossfire with 2PM and Miss A. In January 2014, the seven talent agencies behind KMP Holdings formed a collective bond partnership and bought 13.48% of KT Music's stocks, leaving KT Corporation with only 49.99%. That same month, Got7, the label's first boy group since the debut of 2PM and 2AM in 2008, made their debut. 2AM's joint contract of Big Hit with JYP expired later that April, after which three of the 2AM members returned to JYP, while member Lee Chang min stayed with Big Hit in order to continue with his solo career and as part of the duo Homme. In late August, JYP Pictures and Dongyang World Culture Communication produced the drama Dream Knight, starring Got7 members. Season three K pop Star winner Bernard Park signed a contract with JYP to start his solo career, eventually making his debut on October 6, 2014. On December 17, 2014, it was reported that J. Y. Park sold the company's HQ building in Cheongdam dong, Seoul to Choi Ki won, the sister of SK Group's chairman Choi Tae won, for about $7 million, on the term that JYP will still use the building for three years on rent. The subsidiary Studio J was formed on January 9, 2015, in line with JYP's goal to "promote free and deep artists that create authentic music rather than appealing to the mainstream demand." The first artist on Studio J's roster was G. Soul, who debuted on the same day. In March 2015, it was announced that 2AM members Seulong and Jinwoon departed from JYP Entertainment because of their contract expiration, while Jo Kwon renewed his contract. Despite this development, the company stated that 2AM remained intact and will be promoting as a group in a similar set up as that of boy band g. o. d. On April 15, JYP signed a contract with Jax Coco, a Hong Kong based coconut product company. Under the agreement, JYP and Jax Coco planned to launch coconut oil, coconut flakes, and other related products at major department stores and supermarkets in South Korea. Two groups were formed by JYP later in 2015: the rock band Day6 which debuted on September 7, and the girl group Twice, whose members were chosen from the competitive reality show Sixteen, and debuted on October 20. Venturing into the Chinese market, JYP established a music distribution partnership with China Music Corporation on February 19, 2016. This was followed by JYP jointly establishing Beijing Xin Sheng Entertainment Co. Ltd. with Tencent Music Entertainment in the same year, which oversaw the debut of the Chinese boy band Boy Story. Got7 member Jackson Wang later announced his solo endeavors in the country. On July 1, 2017, JYP acquired a property worth 20.2 billion KRW (US$18 million) in Seongnae dong, Gangdong District, Seoul to be used as its new office. A partnership with DailyMotion, Europe's largest video platform, was also signed to open its artist channel on its platform to secure a more global fan base.

On January 31, 2018, it was reported that JYP entered into a music business agreement with SM Entertainment, Big Hit Entertainment, and SK Telecom to launch a new music platform which will utilize various new technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G networking. SK Telecom affiliate Iriver will be responsible for handling the music distribution of the three entertainment companies. In line with this agreement, the music platform FLO was launched. In the first half of 2018, JYP became the second largest entertainment company in South Korea when their total market capitalization surpassed YG Entertainment, largely due to the success of Twice and Got7. It was the first time that JYP had placed second among the Big 3 companies, with SM retaining the top position. In May 2018, JYP became the only Korean entertainment company to rank in Financial Times magazine's "FT 1000: High Growth Companies Asia Pacific" list, charting at No. 177 out of all 1000 companies and No. 12 out of all 104 Korean companies. On August 30, 2018, it was reported that JYPE's shares closed at 31,300 KRW (US$28.20), pushing the company's market capitalization to 1.09 trillion KRW (US$980.26 million), exceeding that of SM Entertainment's 1.08 trillion KRW (US$971.27 million). With this, JYP became the largest among the Big 3 K pop labels. The show started to air on Mnet TV on January 24, 2019. On January 21, 2019, JYP announced they would be debuting a new girl group named Itzy. On the same day, the group's official YouTube account was created and the label's official channel shared a video trailer unveiling the five members. On February 12, the group released their debut single album, It'z Different, with its lead single "Dalla Dalla". On January 29, 2019, JYP announced their plans of creating a Japanese girl group, under their vision "JYP 2.0: Globalization By Localization". Auditions for this new girl group took place in 8 Japanese cities, Hawaii, and Los Angeles, for females aged between 15 and 22 years old. This project was eventually dubbed as Nizi Project, a survival documentary series featuring 20 contestants was aired weekly on Hulu Japan from January 31 to June 26, 2020, and distributed internationally through JYP's official YouTube channel. On the final episode of Nizi Project, the finalized line up for the new girl group, which was given the name NiziU, was revealed to the public. The group is announced to have partnered with Sony Music Japan for album sales and group management during its activities in Japan. NiziU made their official Japanese debut on December 2, 2020. On March 11, 2019, JYP reached a new partnership with Sony Music Entertainment's The Orchard. JYP will distribute both digital and physical releases to key markets in the US, Europe, and beyond through The Orchard in order to "expand the label's presence around the world." On June 8, 2019, it was announced that Fanling Culture Media (JYP China) trainee Yao Chen placed 5th in the finale of Produce Camp 2019 with 10,764,262 votes and has successfully made the final lineup of project group R1SE after participating in the survival show. The group made their debut on the same day. On June 17, JYP and Make A Wish Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to help support children's wishes under JYP's "Every Dream Matters!" (EDM) campaign as part of their corporate social responsibility. Under the agreement, JYP will be carrying out various social responsibility activities with its artists, employees, and fans in order to support campaigns and initiatives for children with incurable diseases. On July 24, 2019, JYP announced they will be closing their acting division and some of their actors will be moving to Npio Entertainment, a start up company created by JYP Vice President Pyo Jong rok. With their announcement, JYP consequently revealed that their popular actors such as Jang Hee ryung, Park Si eun, and Ryu Won will not be staying on board with the new jointly managed label. On January 6, 2020, Shinhan Card announced that it has collaborated with JYP to release a 'JYP Fan's EDM Check Card' (JYP Check Cards). Certain percentages of the amount used when making payments at JYP's domestic and international affiliates using the check cards are donated to Make A Wish Korea in line with the company's EDM campaign. The check cards are available in four types: JYP, Got7, Day6 and Twice. On February 24, it was announced that JYP entered into a "strategic partnership" with Republic Records, with Twice being signed under the label for American promotions. On August 4, 2020, JYP announced its collaboration with SM to establish Beyond LIVE Corporation (BLC), a joint company for virtual concerts. BLC was formed in order to develop the online concert series Beyond Live, with the goal of further growing the platform into an international online concerts brand. Later, in an interview with Forbes released on August 31, J. Y. Park shared that there are talks for a girl group competition show based in America similar to that of Sixteen and Nizi Project. It was reported on November 17, 2020, that JYP Entertainment invested 5 billion KRW in Naver Z, the developer of the online avatar app Zepeto.

On January 10, 2021, it was reported that all the members of Got7 were leaving the company upon the completion of their 7 year contract. On April 26, it was reported that the company and Psy's P Nation would collaborate to form a new boy group each in Loud, which premiered on June 5 on SBS. Afterwards on July 12, JYP announced the second season of Nizi Project as a Global Boys Audition. On November 1, JYP announced their new rock band Xdinary Heroes, which released their debut digital single "Happy Death Day" on December 6. On January 26, 2022, JYP announced that they would be debuting a new girl group named Nmixx on February 22, with their debut single album, Ad Mare. On February 10, JYP expanded their strategic partnership with Republic Records after Twice started to succeed in the United States. Following the announcement, Republic signed Stray Kids and Itzy under the label for American promotions. In April, it was reported that the market cap of JYPE had soared from 1.33 trillion KRW in the previous year to 2.24 trillion KRW, an increase of 1 trillion KRW in the first three months of 2022. The Korea Exchange reported that the company's stock prices soared to 66,200 KRW on April 8, breaking its all time record and marking the first time that JYP Entertainment has entered the 60,000 KRW range since its listing in August 2001. On July 12, all members of Twice renewed their contracts with JYP Entertainment. On September 26, all members of Day6 also renewed their contracts with the label.

JYP Entertainment's records are distributed worldwide by The Orchard since March 2019.

In March 2010, KMP Holdings was established via a joint venture between JYP, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, Star Empire, Media Line, CAN Entertainment, and Music Factory Entertainment. KMP Holdings was acquired by KT Music in November 2012, and in June 2013, KT Music absorbed KMP's distribution network. In January 2014, the seven talent agencies behind KMP Holdings formed a collective bond partnership and bought 13.48% of KT Music's stocks, leaving KT Corporation with 49.99%.

On January 31, 2018, Iriver announced its entry into the Korean music industry. Together with parent company SK Telecom and music labels SM, JYP and Big Hit Entertainment, the company launched a new online music store, FLO, in the second half of 2018.

On April 5, 2017, Ocean Music and JYP jointly established the Beijing Xin Sheng Entertainment Co., Ltd. for indoor recreational facilities operation, organization of cultural and artistic exchanges, film and television planning, and other aspects of cooperation. A few months later, Park Jin young, Jackson Wang, Fei, and a 10 year old JYP Chinese trainee went to China to record a roadshow style audition show to recruit more trainees with the goal of creating a hip hop oriented Chinese boy group. The name of the show was "Guaishushu Is Coming", and the concept was to travel across different cities with large scale auditions and then have a final round to select the members who will be trained in Korea.

NCC is a jointly produced management team by Tencent Music Corporation and JYP Beijing Cultural Exchange Ltd located in Beijing, China.

Studio J: An in house label established by J. Y. Park in January 2015 with the goal of putting focus on independent artists outside of the mainstream K pop aesthetic. The singer G. Soul was revealed to be the first artist under Studio J.

JYP Actors: The company's acting division which was founded in 2011 and was led by JYP vice president Pyo Jong rok. As of September 1, 2019, JYP Actors has become defunct with its actors moving into a new start up company established by Pyo Jong rok called Npio Entertainment. Unreliable source: date=May 2021 On October 24, 2011, JYP Entertainment and 2PM donated US$130,000 for flood victims in Thailand. Unreliable source: date=November 2022

During the COVID 19 pandemic, JYP donated US$410,000 to the Community Chest of Korea on February 28, 2020. On March 8, 2022, JYP made a donation millions to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help the victims of the massive wildfire that started in Uljin, Gyeongbuk and has spread to Samcheok, Gangwon. On February 12, 2023, JYP donated 500 million won to help 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, by donating money through World Vision.

Artists under JYP Entertainment are collectively known as "JYP Nation".

In July 2019, the agency announced changes to its actor management division, confirming that it would be jointly managing together with the new start up company Npio Entertainment. It was decided that actors Yoon Park, Shin Eun soo, Kang Hoon, Shin Ye eun, Kim Dong hee, and Lee Chan sun are staying in the agency for the remainder of their contract periods. All other actors ended their contracts by mutual agreement.