SM C&C Mergers, What do you think about it?

I know this is a bit of a touchy subject, but I wanted to know your opinions on it.

If you didn't know by now SM C&C has merged with Woolim Entertainment and a few other companies.
They are also in discussion with merging with Starship Entertainment, J.Tune Camp, and WM Enterainment.

I love SM Entertainment and all of the artists under SM Entertainment as well as Woolim Entertainment and their artists, but I wasn't too happy about the mergers of SM C&C with Woolim Entertainment.
I think it would be cool to see INFINITE perform at SM Town since I love INFINITE and SHINee and seeing them perform together would be awesome, but this whole time I've mentally established that INFINITE and Woolim artists are different from SM Entertainment artists.
INFINITE becoming a part of SM Entertainment was something foreign idea that never would have popped into my head.

Anyways before I start my actual thoughts on this subject I want to remind everyone to keep any and all responses clean.
Let's all try to be understanding of the situation and understand both sides of the story.

So let me finally begin my discussion...

SM C&C Mergers, What do you think about it?

First Woolim Entertainment and now J.Tune Camp, Starship, and WM Entertainment? Are you serious? I'm not happy about there mergers. I'm upset. I follow some of these groups because they are not SM. I mean I love SM and I would love to be a part of them on day, but honestly every label is different and I like it that way. I was upset when Woolim merged with SM C&C and I'm not going to be happy with these companies if they ever merge with SM C&C.


If you don't know about these mergers, let me tell you what's going on. SM C&C or SM Culture and Contents is in collaboration with SM Entertainment, which basically means SM C&C is a branch of SM Ent. SM C&C was created to help SM expand into television instead of just promoting singers and actors. With SM C&C they merged with AM Entertainment, a company which housed many famous actors including Hyun Bin of Secret Garden fame (although his contract expired with AM Entertainment just before the merge and is not under SM C&C.) SM C&C then partnered with Design House Inc. which manages many magazines including Men's Health. SM C&C then went on to merge with Woolim Entertainment, who houses Nell, INFINITE, and Baby Soul, to create Woolim Label. Under the Woolim Label, the current artist in Woolim would still go on as if they were still a part of Woolim Entertainment, but they would also benefit from SM's profits and be able to work with SM unlike they would before. Along with it's merge with Woolim Entertainment, SM went on to state they would like to be a global major music group and are aspiring to be like Sony Music and Universal Music. Now SM C&C is thinking of merging with other entertainment companies like Starship Entertainment, J.Tune Camp, and WM Entertainment.

Honestly I think this merge will help certain artists under the labels get more attention, like B1A4 from WM Entertainment and Boyfriend from Starship Entertainment, but artist that already are popular like Sistar from Starship Entertainment and INFINTE from Woolim Entertainment will suffer greatly. Sistar and INFINITE's popularity is rooted in their style which is very different from SM Entertainment's style of music. For example, Sistar opts for the sexy image, while SM's girl groups go for something along the line of bubblegum pop music.

Artists under SM C&C have yet to promote after the merge, so it's uncertain how SM C&C's influence will change the artists or not, but fans are already worried about the impact SM's influence will have on their favorite artists. INFINITE has sent a tearful message out to their fans requesting that they stay with them through their change and merge with SM C&C. Even the artists themselves are unsure of this new transition.

Some fans, like myself, like certain groups because they are not part of SM Entertainment. I am a huge fan of many artists under SM Entertainment, including SHINee, EXO, and TVXQ, however I am a huge fan of INFINITE as well. As a fan, I was quick to notice that artists recently debuted under SM Entertainment are handed a lot of opportunities on a silver platter, while artists like INFINITE have to struggle their way through the industry to gain great opportunities. Recently debuted SM Entertainment artists, like EXO, are able to appear on TV shows almost right away, while other artists, such as INFINITE had to gain their popularity through music shows before being able to appear on TV shows. As a fan, I like to watch newly formed groups of lesser known labels struggle to achieve their popularity and become one of the best. I feel it's very rewarding to watch these lesser known groups become someone in an industry. Don't get me wrong, I do feel that artists under SM Entertainment are lucky enough to begin their journey as an artist on a high platform and watching them achieve their greatness is rewarding as a fan as well, but there is that lack of watching them turn from a no one to a someone that is different between the artists from the different labels.

SM Entertainment is different from other labels out there. No label is the same in terms of style and promotion methods of their artists, however instead of merging with other labels to become a bigger label SM Entertainment should work on their promotion methods of their artists rather than merging just to become a bigger label. SM Entertainment has established an almost guaranteed promotion method for staying at the top of the charts for a smaller number of artists under their label, but to become a global major music company like Sony Music and Universal Music their promotion management methods need to be changed.

Sony Music and Universal Music have a different way from promoting than SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment's promotion method focuses on one group under their label at a time. These other major music labels, such as Sony Music and Universal Music, focus on almost all of their groups at the same time. Almost all of their artists are promoting all the time. It's like a the label is competing against other labels, but is having competition within the label between their artist as well. All of their artists are promoting against each other and promoting pretty much all the time with a few months rest in between for each artist. The artists under the label never has to go on a year hiatus for the label to focus on another artist under the same label. This promotion method that Sony Music and Universal Music has insures that their artists never loose coverage and will always be popular, and always making money. An advantage of promoting all of the artists at the same time is that the popular groups are popular all the time and they make money all the time. When the "popular" groups are resting, there is always another "popular" group promoting. There is never a lack of "popular" groups for the label and the label is always making money.

The competition within the label is fierce since their artists are promoting against each other all the time, but there is never a lack of "popular" artists. The label will know know who is the "most popular" and who is the "least popular" within their label. After the label figures out who is their top 4 or 5 most popular artists, the label can rotate their "popular" artists so that they promote within two or three months of each other, in that sense the label constantly has a "popular" group out in the market dominating the charts, while at the same time their are "less popular" artists promoting as well. These "less popular" groups will cover the other positions of the chart, and the label is always making money. This is the way Sony Music and Universal Music promotes their artists.

If you compare their methods to SM Entertainment's promotion methods you will see that SM Entertainment's promotion methods are not sufficient enough to uphold so many artists at the same time. This is how SM Entertainment currently promotes their artists. SM Entertainment is always rotating their artist so that no other artist from the same label is promoting at the same time. After releasing one song the artist may have to wait a year before they can release another because they have to wait for other artists in their label to promote their songs. This time of waiting is a grey area for the artist. During this time an artist may lose fans since they are not constantly on TV or are getting any coverage via media outlets. If the grey period is too long the fans may get impatient and move on to another artist from a different label who has a promotional pattern with much smaller period of waiting. Even if the waiting period is over and that artist who had to wait that year to promote has huge comeback, unless the artist is very, very popular, the damage has been done and the fans are long gone.

I believe SM Entertainment's promotion methods is SM Enterainment's downfall. I love the artists SM Entertainment produces, and I love their music, but I hate waiting a year or two just for my favorite SM artist to release a new song. I feel like that time period that I'm waiting for my favorite artist to release a new song could be used more effectively, like having them go on TV shows even when they are not promoting a new song. Also when waiting so long I tend to get disappointed by the new songs my favorite artists release because sometimes the song does not fit my liking. Maybe
I'm disappointed because during that time of waiting my music style has changed or I have grown to liking other artist from other labels. I've also noticed that the time I'm waiting of my favorite SM Entertainment artist grows longer every time a new artist debuts under that label.

I really do not like the time waiting for my favorite SM Entertainment artist to return with a new song. I am a very avid SHINee fan. Between 2008 and 2010, I was really into SHINee's music. I really enjoyed listening to Amigo, Ring Ding Dong, and Lucifer. In 2011 SHINee stepped away from the Korean music scene to debut in Japan. They stayed away from the Korean music scene until 2012 with their new song Sherlock. During that time I was waiting for SHINee to return I really had nothing to watch in the Kpop scene. I was a fan of TVXQ and SHINee, but my favorite members from TVXQ were gone and SHINee wasn't even around in the Kpop scene. Not even one appearance on a show for SHINee in Korea. During this grey area I was waiting for SHINee, I started watching INFINITE, who debuted in 2010 just as SHINee took their almost 2 year hiatus. I grew to like INFINITE's style of music, which is very different from SHINee. When SHINee returned with Sherlock, I was slightly disappointed with the song. I had to listen to Sherlock for a few weeks before I finally started to like it. Then SHINee disappeared again for a while only to return with Dream Girl and Why So Serious. I can honestly say I hated the songs when it came out. I refused to listen to it despite putting the songs in my Ipod. I can honestly say that the only reason I like the song now is because my Ipod played the music so many times that I got used to the song. Sherlock, Dream Girl, and Why So Serious are SHINee songs. It's SHINee's style of song, yet why did I not like the songs? Is it because INFINITE's style of music grew onto me that SHINee's songs no longer seemed appealing to me?

Honestly I'm worried for the future of any artist or talent that merges or signs onto SM C&C. SM Entertainment doesn't have the right promotion methods to sustain the amount of artist that they are currently trying to take on. We're not sure if how artists under SM C&C will be allowed to promote. Will SM C&C artists go along with the same promotion method as SM Entertainment artists, meaning that INFINITE, Tasty, Nell, and Baby Soul will join the rotation of SHINee, SNSD, TVXQ, BoA, EXO, F(X), and Super Junior? Or will SM C&C artists under their own branches like Woolim Label be able to have their own promotion cycle under Woolim Label separate from the SM Entertainment promotion cycle? How will SM C&C influence our already beloved artist and apply any changes to them? The future is uncertain for any artist under SM C&C with no clear explanation from SM Entertainment or SM C&C, but SM C&C is looking to continue to expanding and merging with other labels. Fans are worried about what the future holds for their beloved artists and if this merge with SM C&C will bring their favorite artists down or not. Until SM Entertainment and SM C&C fixes their promotion methods and gives me a clear cut answer on how they plan to promote the artists under SM C&C I am one of the fans not looking forward to anymore companies merging with SM C&C.

What do you think about SM Entertainment and SM C&C?
What do you think about the SM C&C merger with other companies?

On Facebook (I wrote this on FB too), I got a reply like this. 

"You must obviously not know how business works. The sole reason they succeed is because of fans and the wonderful marketing team they have. Do more research before you post a long misinformed rant, m'kay?" - L (I won't post the person's name since that's rude, but I've quoted this person exactly.)

If you agree with person L, then please tell me why I am misinformed. 
I would like to know what other people think about the subject.
I really like to have debates and discussions about everything.
It's fun to hear other people's opinions.
If you agree that I'm misinformed then please tell me why I'm misinformed.
I would like to change my knowledge to have the proper information and understanding of the subject.

I have replied back with this quote below, but I would like to know other people's thoughts on the matter.
It is not interesting to only listen to my opinions.
I like to hear other peoples opinions as well.

Anyways, this was my reply.

"I would like to know why you think I'm naive.

Then tell me how it works? If you're so knowledgeable about the music industry market tell me know it works. I'm up for a good discussion, and I like to learn about things as well. Tell me what you think about the situation and about the marketing industry. I don't want a "Do more research" type of response. I want a "You're naive about the industry because..... It works like this...., etc. etc. etc."

This "long misinformed rant" comes from my observation on SM and other bigger entertainment companies, not just the ones in Korea.

I noticed that Korea does a lot of "family style." Basically the whole "We are one company. We don't compete against each other." If you look at Japanese and American music industry marketing, you will have two to three artists from the same company promoting at the same time. They have to promote at the same time because there is just way too much artists under the label to wait for all the artists to finish promoting. In Japan, take Avex for example, (Avex is one of Japan's leading entertainment companies if you didn't know.) You will see three to four, maybe even five artist promoting at the same time with maybe two weeks to a month difference of release dates. Also If you look at the number of times an artist releases a song in Japan, and compares it to the number of songs an artist under SM or Korea releases a song there is a difference. An average artist in Japan will release two to three songs/albums/mini-albums in a year, while Korea does one song, and under SM one song every year and a half.


Now mind you, Japan has had their music industry yet up longer than Korea and they have established a marketing strategy that works for them. This is how their bigger labels work, and I'm assuming SM is trying to set their companies up like Sony Music and Universal Music in Japan because SM has closer ties to Japan and they are targeting Japan according to their representative quotes. If SM wants to make it in the Japanese market they need to adjust to the Japanese market.

I understand Korea is Korea, and if SM's rotation style of promotion works in Korea than it works in Korea, but if SM wants to go global (and in Korea when they say global they usually mean Japan, China, Singapore, etc.) they need to adjust to the market they are trying to expand into. I guess I'm saying that SM cannot sustain their promotion marketing in Japan more than anything.

If I'm wrong then tell me how I'm wrong so I can fix my thinking.

Thank you. ^^"

sistar really close to Fx..but if they in same company i dont think SM can make sistar bigger than Fx and infinite too maybe they will always under shinee

I didn't read everything you wrote because I got lazy, but from what I read, I agree with everything you said.  Ever since the first merging of Woolim Ent. with SM C&C, I wasn't so happy.  I like artists from each of these companies, so I really do hope they don't merge with SM C&C because it's hard to predict the future of each artists.  I just hope it doesn't affect their career greatly if SM C&C doesn't manage them well.  I like them the way they are now.

I agree with you.