K-Pop Mogul 3: Lee Soo Man- The Titan

In the spirit of Korean culture and their adherence to seniority we saved the best for last with Lee Soo Man, the founder and former chairman of the board for SM Entertainment, born in 1952. Hands down, Lee is the biggest figure in K-Pop. A graduate from Seoul University, Lee started to have a career as a singer releasing hits during the seventies. Lee’s artistic ambition led to him forming the first heavy metal band in South Korea. As the music industry became more strict Lee left South Korea to study at California State University, Northridge. Influenced by the popularity of the Mtv culture in America, Lee went back to South Korea with a vision of changing the music scene in the country. In 1995, Lee founded SM Entertainment and since then has pushed this company to becoming the biggest music agency in all of South Korea. Since last year Lee managed to increase SM’s sales revenue by 198.71%. Which is not that hard considering some of the talent they have including BoA, Super Junior, and Girls Generation.

Much of the credit to these artist’s success is Lee’s rigorous and controversial methods of success involved having potentials sign 13 year contracts to the company. The potentials are then given non stop training and singing and dancing to ensure stardom and success. Due to complaints, the contract was shortened to 7 years but Lee has still conquered the pop music market in South Korea. Because of his success he has gained an infamous reputation of overworking his stars and focusing only on commercial gains. He has been known to spend frivolous amounts of money to create some songs such as hiring the best composers and musicians in Korea just to produce one song. Despite the crazy tactics he employs for his artists, his recipes are recipes for success. And that is why he is the biggest man in the game of K-pop.