SM Leisure founder seems poised for comeback as non-compete clause with Hybe nears expiration
Lee Soo-man, one of many first to push Okay-pop abroad, could also be making ready for a return to Korea’s music scene subsequent 12 months because the visionary producer makes extra public appearances, delivering speeches on the way forward for Okay-pop in Seoul and selling his Chinese language woman group A20 Might globally.
Lee, founding father of SM Leisure, reportedly agreed to a three-year home music producing ban when he bought his total 14.8 p.c stake within the Okay-pop powerhouse to Hybe for 422.8 billion received ($290 million) in February 2023. In response to the non-compete clause, he’s restricted from music manufacturing actions in Korea till early 2026.
Upon his departure from SM Leisure in March 2023, Lee stated, “Okay-pop should evolve into world music that goes past Korea. The following period of music will likely be a fusion of tradition and expertise, with the aim of contributing to a sustainable future.” His phrases hinted that his position as an innovator was removed from over.
“Though A20 Might has not but expanded to Korea, a home comeback appears solely a matter of time,” an leisure official stated on Sunday. “No matter whether or not his actions are based mostly in Singapore, China or the US, it’s clear that his goal is world.”
With lower than six months left till the clause expires, the producer has freuqntly been showing each at residence and overseas. He was inducted into the Asian Corridor of Fame in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, joined by longtime collaborator producer Yoo Younger-jin and Ladies’ Technology’s Sunny, who works in trainee administration at A20.
In October, he was the lead advisor within the white paper “From Technology to Attribution: Music AI Agent Architectures for the Put up-Streaming Period” by music tech startup NewTune. The paper has been submitted to NeurIPS, one of many world’s main AI conferences. That very same month, Lee gave a keynote speech titled “Tradition Know-how within the Age of AI” on the twenty sixth Worldwide Society for Music Data Retrieval convention held at KAIST in Daejeon, the place he mentioned the fusion of tradition and expertise because the driving power behind Okay-pop’s world rise.
Simply two weeks earlier, on Sept. 18, Lee additionally gave a keynote speech on the World Media Convention held at Lotte Lodge Seoul, talking on “The Delivery of a Cultural Working System: Okay-pop and the Design of the Subsequent Civilization.” In June, he was invited to talk on the France Music Week Summit at Place de l’Opera in Paris and met with French President Emmanuel Macron on the Elysee Palace. Macron reportedly proposed that Lee open an workplace in France and mentioned potential collaborations between creators of each international locations.
Lee’s efforts to keep up public visibility via home public relations channels recommend that his return might already be in movement.
In the meantime, A20 Might — a Chinese language woman group produced by Lee — has been gaining important traction since its debut in December 2023. The group has launched 4 digital singles and achieved notable success in each China and the US. Their second single “Boss,” launched in April, topped QQ Music’s new tune chart and reached No. 8 on the primary Scorching Tune Chart, later incomes the group a efficiency slot on CCTV’s Chinese language Music Prime Chart. The monitor additionally entered Mediabase’s US Prime 40 mainstream radio chart for 5 consecutive weeks, marking the highest-ever rating for a Chinese language feminine artist or group.
A20 Might continued their momentum with “B.B.B (Greater Badder Higher)” in August, which ranked No. 1 on QQ Music’s real-time new tune chart and topped a number of each day and pattern charts. On the Asian Corridor of Fame ceremony on Nov. 1, the group received the brand new artist award.
Lee based A20 Leisure in Might 2023, simply two months after leaving SM Leisure amid a heated administration dispute. Opposite to business insiders’ expectations that he would keep away from the business, Lee established A20 Leisure’s headquarters in Singapore with branches within the US, Japan and China. The trainees launched via A20’s YouTube channel final October had been principally Chinese language and Japanese nationals, a transfer possible linked to restrictions on home actions.
Whereas A20 Might’s sound bears similarities to standard Okay-pop, Lee described the group’s type as “Zalpha Pop” — music tailor-made to Technology Z and Alpha — distinguishing it from conventional Okay-pop.
Music critic Lim Hee-yun stated that Lee’s concentrate on the Chinese language market might maintain higher significance than his return to Korea.
“From each client and producer views, China represents a pure subsequent step for main future world markets,” Lim stated. “Fairly than specializing in his attainable return to Korea, it is going to be extra attention-grabbing to see how Lee combines leisure and expertise to additional increase Okay-pop’s world attain.”
jaaykim@heraldcorp.com
