SM Entertainment (hereinafter SM, CEOs Jang Cheol-hyeok·Tak Young-joon) unveiled the blueprint for a new leap beyond its 30th anniversary, "SM NEXT 3.0," on the 20th.
SM released two videos on its official YouTube channel that day and outlined a vision to evolve into a "multi-creative" system centered on "people" and "artists," based on the "SM 3.0" system it established over the past three years. It presented core agendas to lead the company's future, including IP strategy, business and global strategy, and management and investment strategy, and the announcement featured co-CEOs Jang Cheol-hyeok and Tak Young-joon and Lee Seong-su, CAO (Chief A&R Officer), who directly explained the company's future direction to shareholders and fans.
'Multi production' to 'multi-creative'... production innovation centered on people and artists
SM declared the introduction of a "multi-creative (Multi-Creative)" system that advances the achievements of its existing five multi-production structure one step further. Tak Young-joon said, "With a focus on artists, we aim to achieve growth and change simultaneously by searching for and assigning the optimal creators," and added, "As artists' worlds evolve and require new artistic grammar to match, we will flexibly build a creative lineup optimized for the project's direction to realize artists' transformations as perfectly as possible."
He also confirmed the debut of a rookie boy group in 2026, explaining, "A boy group will debut in 2026. The male trainee team SMTR25 will also be considered, and they will be gradually showcased through a variety show called 'Reply, High School' earlier this year."
It also detailed a local global IP strategy. Tak Young-joon said, "While centering on SM's creative capabilities, we will carry out production and marketing through active cooperation with strong local partners," and added, "China is in talks with Tencent Music Entertainment, Thailand with True, and Japan with multiple partners."
Strengthening SM A&R global infrastructure through organic synergy with publishing subsidiaries
SM has built an A&R system optimized for each artist and has strengthened its A&R global infrastructure through organic collaboration and synergy with its music publishing subsidiary KMR (Creation Music Rights).
Lee Seong-su, CAO, said that using KMR has continuously strengthened SM's A&R system and network, noting, "KMR secured a foundation for a global repertoire by expanding from Korea and Europe to the United States in 2025, and has signed exclusive or sub-publishing contracts with more than 370 composers, acquiring a core K-pop catalog of over 7,000 songs." He added, "Through KMR, SM aims to have the largest and best publishing company in Asia within the next five years and grow it into a hub of intellectual property (IP)."
He also mentioned upgrading the A&R system using AI technology, such as having AI analyze the tens of thousands of song data accumulated by SM over 30 years to suggest tracks with high suitability for each artist to fans.
Strengthening artist protection and expanding fan services
SM also mentioned policies to enhance artist protection and fan satisfaction. CEO Jang Cheol-hyeok said, "After the implementation of KWANGYA 119, about 300,000 reports were received over roughly two years, recording a 99.8% response rate, and starting in 2026 we will prepare to share the status of responses, such as lawsuits and reports, with fans on a quarterly basis," and added, "We plan to implement measures to enhance fan experience in stages."
Expansion of performance·MD·platform businesses and full-scale Kakao AI synergy
SM explained its business and investment strategies to respond to changing fandom consumption patterns. CEO Jang Cheol-hyeok said, "Performances play a very important role in the changing K-Pop industry trend, and we are working to provide performance experiences optimized for each region's fandom," and added, "As secondary businesses based on artists' IP continuously grow, SM is planning MD to be a medium through which fans can experience artists' worlds rather than simple merchandise, leading new trends, and we will expand into the lifestyle MD area in the future," suggesting expectations for boundaryless collaboration through crossover with various industries.
He also mentioned, "We have made DearU, which operates the fan communication platform 'Bubble,' a consolidated subsidiary, and through collaboration with global platforms we will provide fandoms with diverse K-content experiences."
Regarding AI utilization, a key future driver, CEO Jang Cheol-hyeok said, "SM has the advantage of being able to leverage the AI technical capabilities of its parent company Kakao, so we expect strong synergy at the intersection of rapidly changing K-Pop and AI," and added, "We will more actively seek M&A opportunities within music and related industries than in the past three years and inject capital to accelerate growth."
Co-CEOs Jang Cheol-hyeok and Tak Young-joon concluded the video by saying, "SM NEXT 3.0 combines technology, platforms and people-centered creative innovation on the musical essence SM does best to achieve boundaryless expansion," and expressed the ambition, "We will prove our position as a global leading company through solid growth and investment."
[Photo] SM Entertainment
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