As Okay-pop live performance revenues rise, HYBE, SM Leisure, JYP, and YG plot music competition three way partnership

Okay-pop giants HYBE, JYP Leisure, SM Leisure, and YG Leisure are making ready to ascertain a three way partnership to launch a ‘world’ music competition.

In line with an unique report from South Korean outlet Enterprise Submit on Thursday (April 16), the 4 firms, which collectively symbolize Okay-pop’s so-called ‘Huge 4’, lately submitted a enterprise mixture report back to South Korea’s Honest Commerce Fee (FTC) as a part of the JV formation course of.

The submitting is a regulatory requirement provided that HYBE qualifies as a big company group with belongings above KRW 5 trillion (roughly $3.4 billion), and SM Leisure is an affiliate of the Kakao conglomerate.

An FTC official informed Enterprise Submit that the regulator couldn’t verify particular person filings, however famous that assessment timelines differ relying on the specifics of every case.

The enterprise comes as stay music turns into an more and more vital income stream for Okay-pop’s largest firms.

HYBE generated document live performance revenues of KRW 763.9 billion ($537.5 million) in FY 2025, a 69.4% YoY enhance, after the corporate put 12 artists on the highway throughout 279 reveals in 53 cities.

That stay enterprise is about to develop additional in 2026 with the continued BTS World Tour ARIRANG, which spans 82 reveals in 34 cities throughout 23 nations — the most important stadium world tour in Okay-pop historical past.

SM Leisure noticed its personal live performance revenues surge 53.6% YoY to KRW 34.5 billion ($23.8 million) in This fall 2025, as expanded world touring from acts together with NCT DREAM, aespa, and RIIZE helped propel the corporate to document quarterly revenues.

The JV is anticipated to be established with equal fairness stakes from all 4 firms, although particulars relating to management and governance, together with the CEO and board construction, have but to be finalized. The entity is more likely to be named Fanomenon, a portmanteau of ‘fan’ and ‘phenomenon’.

The enterprise will give attention to live performance planning, with the purpose of launching a large-scale music competition in South Korea in 2027 that includes artists from all 4 businesses.

JYP Leisure confirmed the plans in a assertion to Maeil Enterprise Newspaper, saying: “It’s true that we’re discussing a public-private cooperation mannequin with the federal government’s Presidential Committee on Standard Tradition Change to advertise the worldwide growth of the Okay-culture trade.”

The corporate added that the 4 firms within the committee’s music division are making ready to ascertain an organization to push forward with the Fanomenon occasion.

JYP described the JV as a collaborative mannequin being explored to broaden Okay-culture’s world footprint, including that the initiative stays at an early assessment stage. “No particular enterprise particulars or working strategies have been finalized,” the corporate stated. “We plan to make cautious selections by comprehensively contemplating market circumstances and a variety of opinions.”

JYP added that the undertaking requires cooperation at an trade degree slightly than on a person firm foundation, and that the 4 companies are reviewing inter-company constructions whereas finishing the mandatory regulatory procedures.

The Fanomenon idea was first launched by JYP Leisure founder J.Y. Park, who additionally serves as co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Standard Tradition Change, on the committee’s launch ceremony at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in October final yr.

Park stated on the time that the competition would debut in Korea in December 2027 after roughly two years of preparation, earlier than increasing into a worldwide touring occasion throughout main cities from Might 2028.

He stated the purpose was to create a brand new competition that surpasses Coachella, and indicated that the occasion would additionally function main world artists alongside Okay-pop acts.

Elsewhere in Asia, Sony Music Leisure and Common Music Group lately shaped their very own stay music JV in Tokyo.

The corporate, 9 By 9 Inc., was integrated on April 1 with a base in Shibuya and can give attention to producing music festivals throughout the area, with a specific emphasis on supporting the worldwide growth of Japanese artists. Its first occasion is deliberate for 2027.Music Enterprise Worldwide