HYBE hints at future plans including new songs, artists

HYBE gave a peek into its upcoming plans without its breadwinning boy band BTS, starting with a solo album by septet's leader RM and followed by a new boy band and collaborations with other companies, in an online briefing held Thursday on YouTube.

Woozi of boy band Seventeen speaks during an online briefing held Thursday on YouTube. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

HYBE gave a peek into its upcoming plans without its breadwinning boy band BTS, starting with a solo album by septet's leader RM and followed by a new boy band and collaborations with other companies, in an online briefing held Thursday on YouTube.

"HYBE is a community with each label having its own unique characteristics and competitiveness," said CEO Park Ji-won. "Our community plans to work closely with fans, talented artists and partners in various related fields."

RM will be the third member from BTS to release solo music this year, following J-Hope in July and Jin in October. A date for RM's new title was not specified, and CEO Park only said it will be "in the near future."

The announcement came as the K-pop company continues trying to convince investors that its business is sustainable without BTS. HYBE made it official on Oct. 17 that BTS members will perform their mandatory military service, starting with the oldest member Jin.

Having clarified its biggest uncertainty, HYBE shares rose 4.8 percent a day after the announcement and have been climbing steadily since. The increase is seen to be due to HYBE having diversified its artist lineup and reducing its dependence on the boy band, according to analysts.

“BTS used to take up as much as 95 percent of HYBE’s revenue until 2019, but that percentage dropped to 70 percent in 2021 and 50 percent in 2022,” said Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities.

“That percentage is likely to drop to 30 percent in 2023 when BTS’s hiatus truly begins. In contrast, other artists such as Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together, Enhypen, Le Sserafim and NewJeans will be more active."

Members Yunjin and Sakura of Le Sserafim speak during an online briefing held Thursday on YouTube. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Tomorrow X Together will release its fifth mini album in January next year, while Seventeen and fromis_9 are also slated to come out with new music early next year. Girl group NewJeans, the most recent group which debuted under ADOR, a music label under HYBE, will also release a single in January 2023.

&Team, a new boy band from HYBE and the first Japanese band from the agency, will debut on Dec. 7, while another new K-pop boy band will debut sometime in the first half of next year.

A new girl group is also in the works. In auditioning for the potential members of the group, HYBE was able to witness the expansion of K-pop in the global scene.

Jungwon of Enhypen speaks during an online briefing held Thursday on YouTube. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

"We had almost 100,000 submissions from all across the world during the HYBE Geffen auditions that were held in the United States," said an official from HYBE America. "The [selected] girls are from dozens of different countries and each has her own unique story."

Collaborations with companies such as Universal and Big Machine Label Group are in works to branch out to more diversified music genres such as R&B, hip-hop and country, according to HYBE.

The entertainment company also outlined new products and ways to develop its existing fan-based platforms. A digital collectibles platform, Momentica, is being developed in which artists' voice recordings can be collected and curated, while updates to Weverse, a mobile merchandise app, are in the works.

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk speaks during an online briefing held Thursday on YouTube. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“We are a company that strives to search constantly for the best content that fans can enjoy,” said Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE. “We understand now more than ever is a time when everyone is curious about our next steps. It is in our DNA to seek challenges and new developments.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]