SM Entertainment Will Not Sign Any ‘K-Pop Star’ Contestants, JYP Entertainment Also Finished

[soundsofjewels.livejournal.com]

JYP Entertainment has already nabbed three K-Pop Star contestants so far but SM Entertainment has revealed that the agency will not be signing any of this season’s contestants.

On May 22, an SM Entertainment representative revealed SM’s decision saying, “Unfortunately we decided not to sign a contract [with any of the contestants] this time. We will instead focus on our already existing trainees.”

In addition, JYP Entertainment revealed it will not be signing on anymore of this season’s contestants. In the last 48 hours, JYP announced that it had signed the season’s winner, Park Ji Min, as well as the third and sixth place finishers, Baek Ah Yeon and Park Jae Hyung.



The annoucements from SM and JYP means it is up to YG Entertainment, at least among the three biggest K-Pop agencies, to sign on any of the remaining contestants, such as Lee Ha Yi, Lee Michelle, Lee Seung Hoon and others.

Lee Ha Yi and Lee Seung Hoon are rumored to be discussing signing an exclusive contract with YG Entertainment, but an official statement from any side has yet to be released.

So Omona predictions were true.

Source: enewsworld

Comments

[dorkiilove.livejournal.com]

publicity stint for BoA?

Well it worked though lol

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. Isn't she coming back with an album this year?

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Seems like it. Why be on a show like this if you have no intentions of signing anyone.

[sunsaid.livejournal.com]

Signing/not signing kinda depends on if the singer and the company is a fit :/ I'm just glad SME isn't forcing it

[askbask.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about how all these signings would work out. Traditionally (worldwide) when talent show contestants are signed the labels want to capitalize on fame and get material out there as soon as possible. Meanwhile JYP, YG, SM rely heavily on long trainee programs*. I was happy to hear the winner at JYP would work on a debut project right away and not be put away in some basement to 'train' with the other hopefuls, but I wonder if SM are so caught up in their system that they don't want to sign 'finished' artists?

Could be they just didn't get the ones they wanted the most, of course. Several of them seemed pretty close to BoA, though. Will be interesting to follow next season.

* Like YG have signed Superstar K artists but just put them in training and they're yet to debut in that girl group.

[nobodyelse-care.livejournal.com]

I think the one of the most important things that SMent (or LSM) wanted to enforce into their trainees subconcious is loyalty towards the company (or at least, towards LSM's idea of expanding culture to increase the economy).

Believe it or not, one of the main purposes LSM created SMent in the first place is to create artists that will prioritize in expanding the Korean culture (not focusing in individual profit), even when they are no longer in contract with the company.

[funkaliciousss.livejournal.com]

Why can't all the post from the show be condensed into one article?

[nobodyelse-care.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, burger ventures? Named SM Kraze?

[the-erotomanic.livejournal.com]

yeah, not surprised sme didn't sign any of them. they already have too many trainees as it is.

at least jyp has aq entertainment and big hit to handle these trainees.

[nobodyelse-care.livejournal.com]

Imagine just how pissed off the trainees would be if SMent really did sign some of them.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

It's a pity that SM is already confirmed for the show next year since they have such a huge trainee arsenal that they don't really have any needs for new talent. I wish Cube would take SM's place or something.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Or someone from Mnet or Loen. SM is just wasting space.

[cettefemme90.livejournal.com]

Yep, because it would go against SM's way to hire someone with actual vocal talent.


I'm kidding...I do love SM and they do have some talented vocalists, but you can't deny that they focus a lot on image and marketability.

Plus the trainees would kick up a lot of fuss if they'd be in the SM Training Bin for years and some singer comes along and debuts immediately.

YG, sign Michelle :)

[madelyn93.livejournal.com]

i actually think that sm has more vocalists than jyp, really. i feel like even the main vocalists in jyp aren't great.

[khimia.livejournal.com]

they just don't want to say that most of the contestant were not interested by SM

[khimia.livejournal.com]

So happy for Michelle !!!

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Lol SM is way too obsessed with loyalty to sign anyone so quickly. Not to mention they have so many trainees still left to debut.

[luvey.livejournal.com]

not surprised by the move by SMe, but i do think they need to get out of their training rut/formula if they want their domination to survive.

[noneko.livejournal.com]

Wasn't JYP the one obsessed with Lee Michelle? I guess he couldn't put his money where his mouth was...

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

Maybe YG just jumped higher for the bid? Either way, at least she's signed with one of them.

[anconeous.livejournal.com]

Not surprised, really. Hardly anybody seemed to fit into the type that SM likes. The closest was probably Jaehyung, who is basically like a non-dancing Henry. He's from overseas. He's cute. He can sing pretty well.

Besides, all the contestants are far better off as soloists, and everyone knows hardly anyone debuts in SM as a soloist. And of course, SM has so many trainees that are just waiting to debut, especially those popular, long-time trainees who missed the cut for f(x) and EXO in recent years. There's literally no need for SM to sign any of these contestants if they didn't want to. SM's only obligated to offer a contract to the winner anyway.

[sunsaid.livejournal.com]

Yeah exactly :/ I'm fine with how it played out (and tbh it's not like SME let anyone down).

[shizukusa.livejournal.com]

i thought for sure boa/sme would pursue kim woo sung (the "bruno mars" guy) at least, but yeah, they already have way too many trainees to deal with rn.

fingers crossed he's the "surprise casting" yg mentioned :|

[xxmannequin.livejournal.com]

I am so mad he hasn't been singed. He is amazing. D:

[patentpending.livejournal.com]

Pretty big bullshit that no one is picking up Lee Michelle. Not exactly surprising, but that just makes it even more infuriating.

[patentpending.livejournal.com]

Oop, never mind. I read this before scrolling through the rest of the articles on the page.

[johnnyquest89.livejournal.com]

Don't mind SM not signing anyone... contestants probably got better deals or wanted to go elsewhere. Besides only 1 or 2 of these trainees have a probable chance at debuting with their first signed company.

[ryrymini.livejournal.com]

their prize is not being signed to SM.

[karatefeelings.livejournal.com]

Gosh I wonder if SM told Park Ji Min straight up that they're not interested when it's time for her to decide which company to sign with.
Very interested to see how JYP and YG are going to produce Park Ji Min and Lee Hayi respectively (although I was more interested if it was the other way round). I LOOVE that Miss A cover they did together. They could seriously play off each other as part of the promotions much like the "competition" both companies had with Rain and Seven or Wonder Girls and Bigbang.

[my-car-is-prada.livejournal.com]

Good, that's because they already signed me. BOOKED!
hai EXO *blows kiss*

[inurbed.livejournal.com]

Well i am happy my faves signed with YG

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

so what was the point?

[scubajr.livejournal.com]

None of them were good-looking enough, and SM didn't want to dish out money for plastic surgery.

[ari-meh.livejournal.com]

to capitalize on the fame gained by kpop star, these kids would have to debut within a few months... now, we all know that sm pretty much only debuts artists that have trained extensively to become well versed in a whole range of areas, from modelling and acting to public speech and manners. plus, sm rarely debuts solo artists, which means the signed artists would have to debut in a group. seeing as sm already debuted exo barely two months ago and their trainee reserves are probably the largest among all of these entertainment companies, it's not surprising that they aren't interested in signing anyone.