JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management company, concert production company, and music publishing house. In addition, the company operates various subsidiary ventures and divisions worldwide.
Notable artists under the agency include the groups 2PM, Day6, Twice, Boy Story, Stray Kids, Itzy, NiziU, Xdinary Heroes, Nmixx, and Vcha.
History
1997–1999: Formation and first generation K-pop artist
JYP Entertainment was founded in 1997 by South Korean singer-songwriter Park Jin-young (named after his stage name, J. Y. Park) as Tae-Hong Planning Corporation, which eventually became JYP Entertainment in 2001. In 1997, the company signed its first artist and female solo artist, Pearl.
In 1999, entertainment company SidusHQ introduced the future members of boy band Groove Over Dose (g.o.d) to Park as their producer and mentor. In cooperation with SidusHQ, JYP oversaw the formation of g.o.d, which would make their debut appearance on January 13, 1999. While the group itself was managed by SidusHQ, their first album, Chapter 1, was produced by Park.
2000–2009: Early success and second generation K-pop artists
In December 2000, JYP signed Rain as a trainee, who made his debut two years later in May 2002. Rain would then rise to become a commercial success throughout and beyond Asia, which was seen when his third studio album, It's Raining, went on to record cumulative sales of over 1 million copies in seven Asian countries, including Korea.
On December 27, 2002, the company's first boy group was a four-member vocal oriented group Noel, but they failed to attract popularity. JYP then turned its focus towards the duo brothers One Two in 2003. In 2004, after the boy band g.o.d.'s group contract with SidusHQ ended, they signed a contract with JYP.
Other notable artists that debuted under JYP from the years 2000 to 2005 include Park Ji-yoon, Byul, Lim Jeong-hee, Ryanga Rhanga, and Ivy. In May 2006, JYP formed its first girl group, Wonder Girls, who became a commercial success and was the first South Korean group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009 when their song "Nobody" charted at No. 76. Their success lead to a management deal with the Jonas Group, which allowed the Wonder Girls to open the Jonas Brothers's world tour in select cities.
In 2007, Rain left JYP and established his own agency called J. Tune Entertainment, but stated that he kept his collaborative relationship with J. Y. Park.
In 2008, the competitive reality series Hot Blood Men was created, pitting two teams of male trainees against each other for the chance to debut. The winning group, One Day, was later split into two boy bands, 2PM and 2AM; both debuted that same year. 2AM was jointly contracted with Big Hit Entertainment. Later in October, JYP opened the JYP Beijing Center as their China branch. In that same year, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) included JYP in its roster of high-profile clientele.
Expanding its endeavors into the drama production industry following in the footsteps of SM Entertainment Group's SM C&C and CJ E&M (now CJ ENM)'s Studio Dragon, JYP jointly established the TV drama production company Holym with KEYEAST Entertainment in June 2009. Holym later announced its first major TV drama production, Dream High, in 2010.
2010–2017: Joint ventures and third generation K-pop artists
In March 2010, JYP made a joint venture with SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, Star Empire, Media Line, CAN Entertainment and Music Factory Entertainment to establish KMP Holdings, the official distributor of releases from these companies. On December 28, 2010, it was announced that JYP has become the largest shareholder of J. Tune Entertainment. The subsidiary AQ Entertainment was later formed and introduced the Chinese-Korean girl group Miss A.
In November 2011, the US-based subsidiary JYP Creative was established and it was reported that Park invested approximately US$1.2 million in the branch. However, after a year of operation, the company reportedly saw a net loss of around US$1.5 million by the end of 2012, forcing the CEO to liquidate the branch and close all US operations, including the New York branch. The same year, Park Jimin, winner of the competitive TV series K-pop Star, and Baek Yerin, a female trainee and contestant on the show Star King, debuted as the duo 15&.