BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT:

Corporate-based, Community-minded,

Customer-centered

From Rags to Riches

February 1, 2020, marked the 15-year anniversary of the establishment of Big Hit Entertainment by co-CEO/Founder Bang Si-Hyuk. Despite concerns for the sustainability and viability of the music industry in 2005, Bang Si-Hyuk launched Big Hit Entertainment. His primary concern at that time - an industry that undervalued and disadvantaged its key stakeholders (such as workers, artists, and fans) with unjust and unfair business practices. Second to this was an abrupt downward trend in physical album sales in the Korean music industry. A trend that digital album sales were unable to offset.

With these concerns at the forefront, the most viable option for Bang Si-Hyuk’s newly established entertainment agency was to diversify its revenue streams, and in the process return emphasis to the integrity of the music and meeting the needs of fans. During that time the South Korean government was also exploring options to economically diversify as was the U.S. music industry after experiencing a noticeable reduction in stand-alone album sales.

As the music industry simultaneously began to struggle at national and international levels, Bang Si-Hyuk’s decision to pursue a performance-based model in 2005 proved advantageous in the long-term despite experiencing some short-term speed bumps along the way. Ultimately, trusting his long-term vision for Big Hit Entertainment led to the debut of a 7-member Korean K-pop idol group in 2013, now known to millions of fans throughout the world as BTS or 방탄소년단.

It is no secret though, that Big Hit Entertainment came from very humble beginnings, “at one point…teetering close to bankruptcy.” Senior writer for The Herald Business, Suh Byung-Kee reaffirmed this when he wrote, “the genesis of BTS stemmed from failure.” Regardless, BTS managed to carve out a path for themselves in the music industry, despite not having the benefit of a large company to support and resource them in the initial stages of their journey. Big Hit too, were able to rebound and recover to become the shining example of business acumen, that it is today.

Growth and Development

While delivering his commencement speech at the 73rd Seoul National University graduation in February 2019, Bang Si-Hyuk confessed to his alma mater that anger was a major driving force behind many of his actions. This same anger fueled his desire to ensure that he only produced the best content. Likewise, it underpinned a promise to both fans and artists to continue producing music that healed and moved hearts. His words reaffirmed the core reason for Big Hit Entertainment’s existence, “to heal and inspire all the people of the world through [their] music and artists.”

Six months later (August 2019), co-CEOs Bang Si-Hyuk and Lenzo Yoon hosted Big Hit Entertainment’s inaugural Corporate Briefing with the Community. Considering the exponential growth that Big Hit had experienced in the year prior, the overall purpose of this forum was to re-connect the company with its community. They began by acknowledging Big Hit’s growth and achievements before highlighting several key developments planned for 2020 and beyond, that would “boost revenues, expand the market, and advance the system, and ultimately enhance the quality of life for all employees and all members of the music community.” Stating that “Big Hit seeks to grow into a world-leading major label to apply our experience in innovating the K-pop market in the global arena,” Bang Si-Hyuk announced that the company would future-focus on ‘Innovating customer experience’ and ‘Expanding the value chain.’

As Big Hit Entertainment continues to experience success at a rate never before seen in the K-pop industry, it is not surprising that they are now touted as the #1 K-pop entertainment company, not just in Asia, but in the world. However, claims that this success is solely due to BTS’ rise to global fame is not entirely correct when one considers the company behind the artists. This was even more apparent when Big Hit Entertainment recently held its second Corporate Briefing with the Community (February 2020). It took an hour to complete the Corporate Briefing during which time a number of senior managers took to the stage to present various components of Big Hit’s vision and operations.

In attempting to consolidate Big Hit Entertainment’s positioning within the global music industry and at the same time innovate the industry, Bang Si-Hyuk once again declared the non-negotiables in their company’s business aspirations. High-quality CONTENT and high-quality experiences for FANS.

As presented in the Corporate Briefing (and seen in the accompanying screenshot), Big Hit’s ‘winning formula’ is dependent upon three vital pillars: Fans, Artists and the Industry. This model is underpinned by the belief that “fans will be treated right as customers, artists will be able to freely and happily express their talent and reach for their dreams; everyone in the industry will be able to reap the rewards of their hard effort and have pride in their work and achievements.”

Big Hit: More than just a Company

In 2019 Big Hit Entertainment began to innovate its own structure moving from a single-label entity to a multi-label, multi-layer structure. In diversifying and innovating the ways that Big Hit Entertainment conducts its business co-CEOs Bang Si-Hyuk and Lenzo Yoon are confident that they will be able to:

• continue to grow and find new frontiers,

• continue their organic and inorganic growth in 2020, expanding their labels and businesses.

Overall, Big Hit Entertainment’s 2020 Corporate Briefing with the Community provided an opportunity to celebrate the successes of past years, outline plans for the present and share opportunities for growth in the future. As seen in the following diagram Big Hit Entertainment has come a long way since its establishment in 2005. Big Hit is now a family – a family that locates its fans at the center of all that it does and strives to ensure that its artists “can make their sincere voices heard.”

To watch the whole briefing click here:

---

DISCLAIMER: We do not own any audio & visual content in this video except for the editing. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS. No copyright infringement intended.

Written By: Shelley

Edit By: Caitlin