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It’s recently revealed that the upcoming ‘SMTOWN LIVE in TOKYO SPECIAL EDITION‘ concert will be shared with SM Town fans from all over the world through SM Town’s Facebook page!
The concert will be held from September 2nd to the 4th at the Tokyo Dome concert hall, and will feature performances from your favorite SM Town artists.
Fans will not only get to see airport photos of SM Town artists like Kangta, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, SHINee, and f(x), but they’ll also get to view photos from backstage and from concert performances as well.
SM TOWN’s Facebook page will also share videos containing the opening ceremony and highlights from the concert, and updated news about the event will also be announced in English and Japanese.
SM Town’s Facebook page from ‘SMTOWN Live in Paris‘ received a total of 80 million hits, so it’s expected that this new concert will reach just a figure that’s just high, if not higher.
A ton of interest has been simmering around SM Entertainment’s old idol group Black Beat (active during 2000-2008), after it was revealed that these former idols are still an active part of the entertainment industry. They’ve swapped out their idol titles for behind-the-scenes roles as choreographers, vocal trainers, and DJs.
In the case of Black Beat’s lead vocalist, Jang Jin Young, he’s currently working as a vocal trainer for numerous idol groups and SM trainees. He stated, “Right now, I’m training one of SM Entertainment’s new groups, who are preparing to debut; I’m also training the members of rookie idol group, Boyfriend.”
Jang Jin Young holds quite an impressive history as a vocal trainer, as he’s known to have worked with SM Entertainment’s SNSD and SHINee, and featured for solo artists DIA and A-mi.
In addition, the singer finally released his first solo album after completing his military services last June. His album’s title track, “Oh, My God“, is about a man’s joy and his heart-fluttering moments after meeting his eagerly awaited lover.
Meanwhile, fellow members Sim Jae Won and Hwang Sang Hoon have revived in the industry as a DJ performance team called BeatBurger. The two members are also working in SM Entertainments as choreographers and dance trainers for idols like TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, BoA, and f(x).
Performance-wise, BeatBurger has been actively performing at night clubs, and were included in the lineup for this year’s “Jisan Valley Rock Festival 2011“. They will be collaborating with guitarist of rock band Schizo, Joo Sung Min, who will be accompanying the duo’s expert dancing with his live guitar.
After watching 'Thanks, SMTOWN movie'(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-2pHK5M2gw) which included thanks and longing for SMTOWN concert in Paris, SMTOWN has prepared a special gift to express our gratitude. The concert in Paris was a special memory for artists and staffs of SMTOWN as well. We would like to thank European fans and other fans all over the world :)
Thank you very much!
SMTOWN I just want to say, thank you very much for visiting Europe! I think I'll speak for all the European fans, we can't wait for you guys to come here again! SMTOWN come back to Europe soon! ^^ Thanks, DBSK, Super Junior, SNSD, F(x) & SHINee! Saranghae <3
SHINee, First-Ever to Receive the ‘Gold Disc Certificate’ as Korean Boy Group!
SHINee made a great achievement by receiving the ‘Gold Disc Certificate’ for the first time as a Korean boy group.
SHINee’s Japanese debut single, ‘Replay- 君は僕のEverything (너는 나의 모든 것),’ which was released on the 22nd, received the Gold Disc Certificate from the Japanese Record Association. Gold Disc Certificate is awarded to the album that has been sold over 100,000 copies.
Since this is the first time as a Korean boy group, it proved SHINee’s high popularity in Japan once again.
Also, SHINee sold more than 91,000 copies of their Japanese debut single, ‘Replay- 君は僕のEverything (너는 나의 모든 것)’ in the first week of its release and this record is the highest sales of Japanese debut single as a Korean group. Moreover, SHINee has been receiving an enthusiastic response by ranking 2nd on the Oricon weekly single chart so the expectation for SHINee’s activity in Japan is increasing rapidly.
Additionally, since SHINee is scheduled to hold ‘SHINee JAPAN DEBUT PREMIUM RECEPTION’ TOUR’ by touring cities in Japan such as Fukuoka(7/22), Kobe(7/23), Tokyo(7/27~28), Sapporo(8/8) and Nagoya(8/11), it is predicted to make Japanese fans to be excited.
[Korean script]
샤이니, 한국 남자 그룹 일본 데뷔 싱글 사상 최초 ‘골드 앨범’ 선정 기염!
샤이니가 일본에서 역대 한국 남자 그룹 사상 최초로 데뷔 싱글이 골드 앨범에 오르는 쾌거를 이뤘다.
일본에서 지난 22일 출시된 샤이니 일본 데뷔 싱글 ‘Replay-키미와 보쿠노 everything(너는 나의 모든 것)’은 일본 레코드 협회에서 음반 10만장 이상 판매고를 올린 앨범을 인정하는 ‘골드 앨범’에 선정되었다,
이는 한국 남자 그룹의 일본 데뷔 싱글로써는 최초인 만큼, 일본에서 샤이니의 높은 인기를 다시 한 번 확인케 한다.
또한 샤이니 일본 데뷔 싱글 ‘Replay-키미와 보쿠노 everything(너는 나의 모든 것)’은 발매 일주일 만에 약 91,000장의 판매고를 기록하며 한국 그룹의 일본 데뷔 싱글 판매량으로써 역대 최고 기록에 등극하는 성과를 이루며 오리콘 위클리 싱글차트 2위에 오르는 등 뜨거운 관심을 얻고 있어, 샤이니의 향후 일본 활동에 대한 기대감을 더욱 높이고 있다.
더불어 샤이니는 7월 22일 후쿠오카를 시작으로 23일 코베, 27일-28일 도쿄, 8월 8월 삿뽀로, 11일 나고야까지 일본 전국을 순회하는 ‘SHINee JAPAN DEBUT PREMIUM RECEPTION TOUR’를 펼칠 예정이어서 일본 팬들을 더욱 설레게 할 것으로 보인다.
To find the next generation of K-pop stars, Korea’s “BIG3″ have come together for an explosive new music audition program!
SM Entertainment’s Lee Soo Man, YG Entertainment’s Yang Hyun Suk, and JYP Entertainment’s J.Y. Park will team up for the upcoming SBS show, “Survival Audition Kpop Star”, which will air its pilot episode in December.
The premise for the program is a competition of talent and survival; Korea’s three big management companies will not only travel Korea to find the next star, but also in various locations around the world. This competition will not focus solely on vocals; other skills and talents will also be judged in order to determine who would be the next Hallyu phenomenon.
According to SBS, “This is not an audition where you can succeed with only vocal skills. This program is open to anyone who can dance, sing, or have talent. This will be an audition where the people who made Korea’s biggest stars will pick the next global star. Simply stating, this is the ultimate audition.”
The winner of this program will win a prize money of 300,000,000 won for the production of his or her album, as well as the opportunity to release the album globally through the three management companies (SM, YG, JYP). Other prizes include an opportunity to sign a contract with a management company, an offer to star in a drama or become a CF model, a free car, and various other opportunities. The first round of auditions will begin on July 5th at 6:00 PM KST through the ARS or SBS homepage.
Fans in Europe were very excited about “SM Town Live in Paris,” held at the Le Zenith de Paris.
The show was currently live and SMTOWN had a special treat for the fans who couldn’t attend as performances from the show are being uploaded to SMTOWN’s official YouTube page! Check them out below.
Michael Mind Project, a German house & dance producer duo, recently unleashed the track “Ready or Not” featuring Sean Kingston’s vocals. While the track has been receiving attention as the official mascot song for the FIFA’s Women’s World Cup this year, it has made its rounds through the online Korean music community for its striking similarities to SHINee’s “Ready or Not.”
Take a listen to SHINee's version of Ready Or Not first.
And now take a listen to Sean Kingston and Michael Mind Project's version!
When the song was first released and shared around the internet, the credits attributed Michael Mind Project for production, unlike SHINee’s version which credited the lyrics to Misfit and composition & arrangement to Mikko Tamminem, Risto Asikainen and Will Simms.
With this discovery, Shawols immediately began posting angry comments on the video and message boards in English, branding Sean Kingston as a “total failure,” “SHINee copier,” “f***ing s***,” and even “burglar” and “blackdog,” spamming the comments section with plagiarism accusations and hate threats. One fan even remarked, “Bye bye Sean Kingston, when SM finds you ^^ are you ready or not~ you ready or not~ to die ;D“.
This incendiary reaction itself also received backlash from fellow netizens who responded, “Calm down and stop jumping to conclusions,” “k-pop fans can be so embarrassing sometimes,” and, ”Shawols, please don’t make SHINee look bad by arguing or flaming. Be respectful, just say you prefer SHINee… that’s it.“ Another commented, ”I personally don’t give a f*** who sings it better … Maybe Shinee and Sean made some kind of deal like the whole *Run Devil Run thing.”
Sure enough, Michael Mind Project posted the following message, explaining that both versions of “Ready or Not” were cut from an original Finnish track titled “Girls,” and that both Michael Mind Project and SM Entertainment produced the track with legal rights. Here’s the post below:
The same day, Eero Tolppanen (who does the licensing for Elements Music) posted on the Facebook Wall of Elements Music, which is the Finnish record company that owns the rights for “Girls,” the original song:
“Eero Tolppanen: Going Big! Michael Mind Project feat. Sean Kingston – “Ready or Not” to be the official mascot song of the FIFA Women’s World Cup! Song written by Elements Music writers Mikko Tamminen and Risto Asikainen together with Will Simms (Universal). Hit incoming!”
So in short, with Michael Mind Project & Element Music’s official posts, Sean Kingston’s “Ready or Not” is a legally sold adaptation of “Girls.” Considering the way that this controversy played out and how some fans jumped the gun before hearing the whole story, we hope that kpop fans in general will be more considerate and mature instead of immediately pointing their fingers and jumping to conclusions in the future.
Sean Kingston launched his musical career back in 2007 and is behind hit tracks including “Fire Burning” (which was, ironically, cast under the kpop spotlight last year when U-KISS‘ “Bang Bang Bang” was claimed to be a plagiarized version of “Fire Burning”), “Eenie Meenie” (with Justin Bieber) and “Beautiful Girls.”
SM Entertainment's expansion into Europe with the first K-pop concert "SM Town Live in Paris" has triggered an enormous reaction from fans all over the world wanting their own "SM Town Live" concert in their own country and city. In mid-April, SM Entertainment announced "SM Town Live in Paris" at Le Zenith in Paris, France, which holds approximately 6,000 seats in comparison to SM Town LA's venue which held 20,000. Tickets for the Paris concert were sold out in 15 minutes and left many European fans ticketless for this historic concert.
European fans began to protest in attempt to get a chance and a second date to attend the concert. Over a thousand fans responded to Korean Connection's call for the Louvre (Paris) protest on Sunday May 1st, and hundreds of K-pop fans attended to show their love for K-pop music. The Louvre protest attracted local French media, as well as Korean media including Yonhap News, SBS, MBC, and KBS reporters.
According to Korean Connection, additional protests have been planned by fans all across Europe including Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Lille, Marseille, Tour, Strasbourg, Metz, Poitiers, Nimes, Genève, Madrid, Barcelona, and Munich.
As a result of the successful Paris protest, SM Entertainment replied that they will be considering a second additional "SM Town Live in Paris" concert, but must check with their artists' schedules first before confirming the second date.
Earlier this week, SM Entertainment announced plans to enter the Latin America market with an SM Town concert in July. Fans located in South America gave fiery reactions with SM Entertainment revealing their plans and possibilities to visit South American countries such as Brazil and Chile.
The Mexican media has also opened itself up to the K-pop wave. TV Azteca has received lots of love ever since giving their first K-pop coverage on “Venga la Alegria” at the end of April. Because of the positive reaction from K-pop fans in Mexico, “Venga la Alegria” will be showing 90 seconds of K-pop every Wednesday.
A very well known K-pop mixer, DJ Masa (Carlos Brandão) is from Brazil himself. He has gained international fame for his top-notch remixes, including his famous "yearly mashups," in which he takes the hottest songs of the year and mashes them together into one unique sounding song. Masa is known to be a very big fan of Korean K-pop Queen BoA Kwon, and it has been reported that many fans hope that he will someday become the opening act for an SM Town concert, preferably "SM Town Live in Brazil."
K-pop fans all over the world have gotten into a frenzy to get SM Entertainment's attention to get SM Town to perform in their country and city. Over 11,000 fans have "liked" the Facebook page for "SM Town Live in Mexico."
If one were to look up "SM Town Live" on the Facebook's search engine, fans all over the world are requesting for a concert in the following countries and cities: Canada, Toronto (Canada), Brazil, Peru, Thailand, Australia, Colombia, Los Angeles, Philippines, Washington D.C., Mexico, Montréal (Canada), Chile and more.
In addition, K-pop fans have also started trending on Twitter. Koreaboo responded to a tip by fans earlier today that fans have trended #smtownperu. But this was not the only thing trending today! Fans in Mexico and Venezuela have also begun to trend their own hashtags, with some topping the Worldwide trending list: #SMTOWNMEXICO, SMTOWNVENEZUELA, #smtownbrazil, #SMTOWNCHILE, #SMTown11Australia, #SMTownArgentina
Just a few days ago, Korean newspaper Chosen had an interview with SHINee and SM's Kim Youngmin, who has been responsible for SM's globalization since 2005. The article mainly spoke about the recent developments in Europe and the rest of the world, in regards to SMTown and SM Entertainment. As well as some in-depth talks about a possible expansion of the entertainment company into Europe.
When asked what he thinks K-pop can gain with a launch into the European market, Kim Youngmin proudly said that the European market is estimated to be worth 7 trillion Won. This basically means it's larger than the US (6 trillion), Japan (4 trillion), and China (1 trillion). He also mentioned that it's not their main goal to get into the charts and sell enormous amounts of CD's, as they're planning to attract people's attention to the Asian music market through the expanding popularity of K-pop music.
The SHINee members themselves don't know about the possibility of success, but they're eager to try and show their talents to the European audience. Therefore, a possible European debut in the future seems likely. "It will be fun. The concept of our music and dance is not totally different from the local culture, so we'll be able to make better content by mixing up Europe’s excellent music and ours."
SHINee will have a European debut showcase in the Abbey Road Studios, called a “Sacred Site of Beatles,” on June 19 after the concert in Paris.
SM Entertainment, in a consortium along with two real estate development companies, Fides and M Studio City, have been selected as developers of a new visual-cultural-recreational complex (yeah man, seriously, that’s what they named that thing), titled “Jo Kam Do“, literally meaning, “Bird’s Eye View”.
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Now here comes the wall of text about basic info of the place: City of Munkyung in Northern Kyungsang province, where the complex will be built, selected the three companies for development of its ambitious project. The complex will cost Munkyung 43 billion Won ($40 million U.S.) and the total area of 888,168㎡ will be divided up into three sectors; Sae Jae, Ga Eun, Ha Nae, with construction of Sae Jae beginning this year. The first sector, planned to be complete within the first half of 2012, will include indoor and outdoor filming studios, recreational facilities such as spa and water park, visual section with stages for performances and facilities for autograph sessions, and so on.
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Now is the more relevant part for those of you that are wondering where SM comes into all of this.
Since this park is being built in the countryside far away from Seoul, Korea’s capital that is famously holding close to half of the national population in its area, it needs to differentiate itself from other theme parks and recreational complexes in order for people from Seoul to travel down there and keep the area alive by feeding it cash. That, is where our friends in the idol business come in; as they provide the complex with the contents of their company. Different zones named after their celebrities, including, but not limited to, SNSD, TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, f(x), and BoA, will be offering fan meetings and autograph sessions.
There is also a plan to have the stars stay at the hotel in the complex and then name the e that they stayed in after them, so that their fans would want to stay in the same room their idol did.
Might sound a bit weird or creepy, but hey, there are people out there that are willing to spend extra just so they can sleep in the same bed that Changmin or Yuri did. In short, SM’s involvement is to spice the complex up with some flavour of its idols.
SM is not the only entertainment industry representative in the game though; movie director Kang Jae Kyu is to take part in this project as a shareholder and shoot his movies in the studios in this complex. Mr. Kang was the director of Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War, the 4th highest-grossing film in Korean history, so I guess we can say he is pretty famous… making him a strong ally.
The city of Munkyung doesn’t really have many tourist attractions, and the complex is planned around the concept that it will create itself; that is, unlike the traditional method of putting hotels/restaurants/bars where a tourist attraction already exists (like a beach or a hot spring), they’re building the tourist attraction themselves along with all those other things – like a Disney Land.
In this case, the major attraction isn’t Mickey and Snow White; it is what SM has to offer. It is really up to them to get people down there and spend money. Will Jo Kam Do become a major attraction and a centre of hallyu wave, or will we end up studying about it in business class as a case of complete failure? Whatever the result may be, I look forward to writing about this baby in future.
Can’t wait for them to finish building it. Can you?
Entertainment is going to Europe and they are holding a concert in France, Paris for the first time. SM revealed on the 20th, “SMTown World Tour that’s has been held in Seoul, LA, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc, will also be held in ‘Le Zenith de Paris’, which is located in France, Paris, on June 10th. They plan to meet the music fans in Paris”. SM Entertainment is first Korean entertainment company to hold a joint concert in Europe. The venue that the concert will be held in, ‘Le Zenith de Paris’, is also famous as a stage that world star singers like Ne-Yo, PCD, and the Jonas Brothers have performed in. The SM artists that will participate in Paris performance include: TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, and f(x) are the leaders of the K-pop sensation in Europe. Because it’s the first performance that popular K-pop singers will be holding in Paris, this will gain attention from music fans from Europe. Also, last January, France TV Channel 2TV reported the hHallyu sensation with SM artists mainly. SM Entertainment revealed “Through this Paris performance, through Asia, they plan to get their artists to have global activities using a variety of networking”.
It’s been two months since SM Entertainment first annouchedthat a new male group was steadily preparing for a spring 2011 debut, and today the public will receive its first look at this mysterious group!
Temporarily dubbed “M1″ until the official name is released, the group appears to consist of seven members. As the picture was taken in one of SME’s dance facilities, it looks like the group will be yet another group geared toward the dance pop genre. Rumor has it that Jino (remember him from project group,SM The Ballad), who already turned heads with his power vocals last November, will debut in this band.
Previous announcements suggested a debut in March or April, so if things are still going as scheduled, “M1″ will be officially stepping onto the scene at some point in the next five weeks.
SM Entertainment last debuted a group in September 2009 when f(x) was unveiled out of nowhere, receiving explosive attention across the Korean entertainment community. With anticipation already building up for M1’s debut, we’re positive that they’ll be shaking up the music scene very soon as well. Tell us your thoughts below — are you excited for this debut?
On the Christmas episode of MBC’s Music Core, SHINee performed ‘Lucifer’ with minimal clothing although it was below -10 degrees. But other than the fact that it was freezing, viewers had noticed that Jonghyun was standing on a platform behind the other members, making him unable to dance till the end of the performance.
Newsen interviewed SM Entertainment, in which they responded, “Jonghyun is not fully recovered from his leg injury. He will have to limit himself as much as he can on stage. Although their schedules are packed in the holiday season, we will have to continue like this for performances.”
SM Entertainment has released an official statement regarding the contract revisions demanded by the Fair Trade Commission.
SME officials clarified on the 24th, “The FTC only ordered us to revise the contract of one of our trainees by removing the three years added onto his contract. We complied, thus making every contract under our agency to date as ‘fair’. BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, SHINee, f(x), The Trax, and other celebrities under our agency have already been acknowledged as fair contracts by the FTC.”
They continued, “As leaders of the industry, we have been cooperating closely with the National Assembly and other related bureaucracies in order to protect the rights and interests of our celebrities, and to aid in the advancement of Korea’s entertainment industry and the Hallyu wave.”
After numerous discussions with the FTC, SME drafted a new contract earlier this year with the changed terms mentioned in the previous article. All artists re-contracted with the agency under the new terms, which were acknowledged by the FTC to be fair.
The representative continued, “We fully complied with the recent request by the FTC regarding our contract with a trainee. With the help of the FTC, we will be developing better contracts for the progression of Korean culture and contract customs.”
SM Entertainment received a firm order from the Fair Trade Commission to revise the unfair contracts which bind SNSD, Super Junior, SHINee, and many others to them.
On December 23rd, the Fair Trade Commission stated, “We gave them a warning to voluntarily correct the unfair exclusive contracts that their celebrities and trainees have signed. [SME] is to reduce all contract lengths by three years.”
This decision by the FTC was based off of a complaint made by TVXQ’s fanclub, Cassiopeia. The group alleged that SM Entertainment was using their status to pressure a disadvantaged (’slave’) contract onto TVXQ.
SM Entertainment’s violation, as disclosed by the FTC, lies in the unfair contract conditions. These conditions included forcing artists to sign on for a long period of time, an excessive penalty provision for breach of contract, and a one-sided scheduling of activities. There’s also a clause that allows SME to extend contracts for overseas activities without first consulting the artist in question.
According to the FTC, these contracts from SME would run ‘for 13 years starting from the day of signing‘ or ‘exceeding 10 years from the day of debut.’ In compliance with the FTC, however, SM Entertainment changed their contracts to ‘seven years from the day of debut.’
If the artists decided to terminate their contract prematurely, they were subject to heavy penalties. Artists were forced to pay three times the investment amount, plus two times the amount the artist was to have made during the entire length of the contract. In short, even though the contract was terminated, these artist would have to pay double the amount of money they would have made in ‘x’ years left.
Because of the FTC order, however, this was changed to artists now paying an average monthly sales of two years before the contract termination, multiplied by the number of months in the remaining period.
The entire clause allowing activities to be scheduled without the artist’s consent has also been removed. It has been replaced with, “All celebrities of SM Entertainment may include their opinion at any point and ask for the appropriate document copies regarding their career from SM. SM has the right to refuse should the request be unjust.”
This new revision is expected to make an influence on JYJ’s case as well.
