You've probably heard about the Big Three. The three biggest Entertainment Companies in Kpop: SM, JYP and YG.
But did you know that the Big Three used to be the Big Two?
On this week's Kpop history lesson, we shall have a look at how the Big Three came to be and how BigHit compares.
The Big Two
Before there was the Big Three, there was the Big Two.
This is back in the late 90s when first generation Kpop emerged.
And the first of them is...
SM Entertainment
The company's founder, Lee Sooman, used to be a singer and perhaps that's what made him spot talent early on, for soon after he established his company, he signed the legendary singer Hyun Jin Young, and a few years later he established what is commonly considered the first idol group.
A five membered teenage boy group called H.O.T (meaning: High-five Of Teenagers).
They debuted in 1996 and the following year SM debuted the girl group S.E.S (after the members' initials).
Both groups did well, and SM followed up the success by debuting the boy group Shinhwa who is now the oldest idol group to still be active. Since 1998 until this day.
But what truly makes SM one of the top companies, back then as today, is that they continue to push boundaries. Like they did by debuting solo artist BoA in 2000 and sending her to Japan where she was the first artist to open the door for Koreans promoting in Japan.
Their innovation and continuous production of new groups is what makes SM land at the top, now as it did from the very start of Kpop.
Alongside SM was another company, and it wasn't JYP, and it wasn't YG.
DSP Entertainment
The company was DSP Media (now DSP Entertainment), and they rivalled SM Entertainment like no other could, or rather SM rivalled them, because DSP came first.
Back in 1987, DSP debuted a dance pop group called Firetruck. A group whose songs are legendary to this date, and who are some of the forerunners to the Kpop we have today. But the company's true shot to fame and what made them one of the Big Two, came later.
In 1997, DSP created a group called Sechs Kies (meaning: six crystals). A group of six young men between the ages of 16 and 19.
Sechs Kies rose to fame and rivalled H.O.T. Fans of the two groups were constantly in hot fights over who was best. (Sound familiar? Indeed this is the origin of infamous Kpop fan wars).
DSP also followed SM's lead and debuted a girl group in 1998. They were called Fin.K.L (meaning: "End Killing Liberty" whatever that means). Fin.K.L was a group of four teenage girls who took South Korea by a storm.
Together SM and DSP ruled the skies...
And then it all came crumbling down for DSP.
SM began to create new groups, like TVXQ, Super Junior, and Girl's Generation, and they pushed new boundaries.
And while SM we're doing all of this, DSP seemed to be waiting, and then their two great sources of income, Sechs Kies and Fin.K.L both dissolved, and they didn't have any other group to take over.
They eventually debuted a new group called SS501 in 2005, but the company had been idle for too long and even when they debuted KARA in 2007, they just didn't quite have the same glory and reputation that they used to have and meanwhile other powerhouses had risen.
The Big Three
YG Entertainment
One of these companies was YG, funded in 1996 by Yang Hyun Suk right after Seo Taeji and Boys disbanded (yes that Seo Taeji and Boys that BTS just covered).
Yang Hyun Suk had been in the business as a main dancer and back up singer for Seo Taeji for years and, like Lee Sooman, he knew what it took.
Instead of copying SM's style, YG established themselves with a different speciality within the Kpop genre. They debuted the hip hop duo Jinusean in 1997 and then the hip hop group 1TYM the following year.
They had ballad singers and hip hop artists and put knew focus on those genres.
It wasn't until 2003 that they truly branded out and got into pop music by debuting Se7en, an artist to rival the popular solo artists from other major companies. At this point DSP didn't have any artists and were falling behind while YG were establishing themselves well.
The tables turned in following years when YG debuted Big Bang in 2006. Although Big Bang didn't succeed at once, their comeback with Lies in 2007 was their big breakthrough and established YG as a company with a lot of strength. The only thing they lacked that others had was a successful girl group. But in 2009, they debuted 2NE1 who succeeded from the get go.
Because of DSP's failure to keep up and YG pushed of Kpop into a new direction and thanks to their successful groups, YG established themselves alongside SM as one of the Big companies.
JYP Entertainment
The other company that eventually made the Big Two evolve into the BigThree is JYP.
Like Lee Sooman and Yang Hyun Suk, the founder of JYP, Park Jin Young, used to be a singer and performer and a very successful one too. He actually debuted with a group, but only found success when he went solo.
So in 1999, he was already a well known figure and this is when he embarked on his first real venture into making Kpop groups. Park Jin Young set out to make a Kpop group that he was supposed to be a part of. A group called Got6 (and yes this is why we have Got7 today). When he retreated from the group, they changed the name to g.o.d (meaning: Groove Over Dose), but while most of the members were signed elsewhere, JYP still produced their music.
While working with g.o.d, JYP was well aware of what was happening elsewhere in the industry and he trained a solo artist to rival SM's solo artist, BoA.