Fighting back tears at an impromptu press conference last week, K-pop producer Min Hee-jin launched a broadside against her bosses at South Korea’s biggest entertainment company Hybe.
“These old jerks have sneakily captured all sorts of [private] messages to just kill me,” said the 45-year-old, wearing a green and white striped T-shirt and an LA Dodgers baseball cap. “But if you’re going to come at me, come at me directly. Don’t talk shit behind my back.”
Min’s battle with the senior leadership at Hybe over financial and creative control of a sub-label helped wipe out almost $800mn from the music company’s market cap last week, as sales slow at South Korea’s top hit factories and concerns grow over mismanagement and a lack of originality in the industry.
Her rage also captured the imagination of young Korean women inspired by her criticism of her male superiors in a country where women account for 6 per cent of executives among the country’s top 100 companies.
“What Min is experiencing is what so many us go through every day in our male-dominated, hierarchical corporate culture,” said Youn Hye-shin, 31, who works in the education sector in Seoul. “She is saying out loud what we dream of saying.”
The turmoil at Hybe, the company behind boy band BTS, comes as the wider K-pop industry struggles with the question of how to replicate the past decade’s success. Hybe’s shares are down more than 15 per cent since January, while shares of its rivals SM Entertainment, YG and JYP have also suffered double-digit falls over the past six months.
“Given their slowing growth rates in recent sales and earnings, investors are wondering if their growth prospects have hit the wall,” said Ahn Hyung-jin, chief investment officer at Billionfold Asset Management.
Min began her career in the music business in 2002 as an entry-level graphic designer at pioneering K-pop label SM Entertainment. By 2017, she had risen to the company’s board of directors, and in 2019 she joined Hybe as chief branding officer.
In 2021, she was appointed chief executive of a new Hybe sub-label, Ador, and tasked with creating a girl group that could emulate the success of BTS, whose members were set to begin their compulsory service in the South Korean military.
Her group, NewJeans, was the fastest K-pop act to reach one billion streams on Spotify and stormed to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart last year with their second EP “Get Up”.
“Min Hee-jin is the most important creative force in the entire K-pop industry,” said Kim Young-dae, a Korean pop culture critic. “Before she appeared, K-pop was becoming a victim of its own success, repeating old formulas in an effort to retain the existing fandom,” he added.
Kim continued: “But with NewJeans she introduced a new trend of easy listening and retro-style aesthetics, which has been the most important development in the industry in the past five years.”
But behind the scenes, Min’s relationship with the label had deteriorated. Last week, Hybe announced it was launching an internal investigation into Min and other Ador executives over an alleged plot to bring in outside investors to wrestle control of the sub-label from its parent.
Min hit back, releasing a statement accusing a different Hybe sub-label of “truly shameful” plagiarism of NewJeans’ image, choreography and music video concept for a rival girl group, ILLIT, whose latest album was produced by Hybe chair Bang Si-hyuk.
The dispute escalated further when Hybe published material gathered during the investigation, including private messages between Min and her deputy in which they appeared to discuss options for seizing control of Ador. Hybe also said it had evidence that Min had been consulting a shaman on company matters, and that it was reporting Min to the police for an alleged breach of trust.
Min responded to the allegations hours later in her hastily arranged press conference, accusing the company’s senior leadership of deliberately sabotaging her work.
“My first priority is to clear my name,” said Min, accusing Hybe of portraying her as a “witch”. She added: “I have been through hell.”
Hybe said it had “secured substantial evidence to prove that Min deliberately led the plan to take over management control of the subsidiary.” It declined to comment on Min’s allegations of plagiarism against ILLIT’s producers.
“What Hybe claims as an attempt to take over the company is groundless,” Ador said, adding that “Hybe’s claims about shamanism is its attempt to undermine and deny Ador’s success.”
Cha Woo-jin, an industry analyst and cultural critic, said the dispute had exposed shortcomings in the company’s multi-label system at a time it is contending with the enforced “hiatus” of BTS while also seeking to export its model to the US market.
“Hybe needs to guarantee some independence and autonomy for each label under its control,” said Cha.
Min’s battle is not over, added K-pop critic Ha Jae-geun, pointing out the clothes the producer wore to the press conference were the same as those worn by members of NewJeans in their latest music video released the same week.
“As well as getting public opinion on her side, wearing those clothes sent a message to Hybe that she and NewJeans are inseparable,” said Ha. “Now that she is seen as a hero to so many young women, it will be more difficult for Hybe to deal with her.”
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