There are no shortage of owner-singers in Western Pop, such as Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and the Weeknd.
However, in KPop, other than JYP who now spends more time as the company owner (although he did continue to sing until his late 40s), owner-singers are rare.
Psy founded his own company and he might be a rare example, but his peak has passed long ago.
The best known example of an owner-singer who did reach the top, of course, is Lee Jieun, whose peak struggle against Hybe is well known. IU, who owned Edam Entertainment from 2020 to end of April 2022, did fight BTS and had results. She tenaciously fought Hybe, because she did own her company, while other idols were just employees. As long as she had her own company she had an unlimited support and could fight as long as she felt like, giving a lot of pain to BTS and other KPop acts.
But then she lost control of her company to KakaoM, and now there are no major owner-singers in the KPop scene who are in contention.
Will there be any more owner-singers who will be challenging the foundations of KPop?
I don't think so.
The reason is, KPop has been completely incorporated, and popular idols are made, not born.
And, since a lot of the acts are groups, it is unlikely that a member will get the financial resources to gather all , or at least most, of the members to go with when the point of separation occurs.
Plus, idols change all the time, and by the time an idol's contract ends and he/she contemplates to become an owner/singer, it is likely that another act would have taken the spotlight and dominate the era.
The case of the former owner of Edam Entertainment is unique in K-Entertainment history. No one was like her before and there won't be anyone like her in the future.
