SM is the best company that Kpop will ever have.

Why?

Family.

Vocals

✂️ They all sound so beautiful.

35 seconds · Clipped by Mariam K · Original video "[STATION] SMTOWN 'Dear My Family (Live Concert Ver.)' MV" by SMTOWN

youtube.com

It's such a beautiful and talented family. Every idol out there deserves to work with such a family.

Edit: it's surprising that many people don't see this.

The year-end/beginning with SM Town concerts is so beautiful. It kinda unites us all.

And their company themes are the best. Hope was perfect for the pandemic.

Quote from ISaidISaid

I know, the company has its weaknesses but in general, they have some really cool culture and traditions.

Quote from Roger-Kevin

"even though their idols are never in the dungeon."

I mean that's not really true. Ningning waited years between her predebut project and her debut, so did Kun, the only music video Sungchan appeared in 2021 was Kangta's, Sehun has had zero musical projects for over a year and a half now.

It took Jessica 7 years to debut. Meanwhile, Yoona, Hyoyeon, Seulgi etc all waited over 5 years to debut.

It's never easy. But once they do, it's all worth it.

There are many former sm rookies who were with NingNing and never got a chance to debut so Ningning is very lucky.

For Sungchan, it's expected because NCT has unstable rotational groups that keep changing members. Unless you are Mark, you have to be very lucky to be apart of every unit debut and or promotion.

Still, no other label would give a chance to 20-something boys to debut as a single group. That's 20-something dreams coming true.

Quote from ISaidISaid

Sehun is the most successful Korean male idol model so please cut him some slack. He's a very successful idol, model and actor because of SM. Many idols in other labels can't relate and will never compare.

Quote from Roger-Kevin

Sehun has had zero musical projects for over a year and a half now.

It's easy for us to complain because our fav idols are not doing what we want them to but if you compare them to idols in other labels, you realise that very few can compare.

Quote from citron-icy

https://www.allkpop.com/articl…m-during-commercial-shoot

That wasn't cool which means that SM has a lot to do better.

Quote from piedpiper134340

Any company that fills their mouth with the words "we're a family" is a cult.

Why?

Quote from Golden_Wishes

Most companies push the "company family" thing now, which I don't en in SM. Their vocal talent is great but they have many, many deep-running issues that make it arguably the worst and most corrupt of the B3.

They don't care about their idols as artists or honestly as people

I understand.

In my opinion, group promotions have a lot of issues starting from line distribution to concepts and creative freedom. I think SM has a lot to improve on that.

Individually, I think it's hard to promote as a soloist because SM idols have to fight for their solo careers to go their way. However, it is also the only way that they get to do things their way. I've seen Lay do it as he likes, Taeyeon, Yoona, Hyoyeon, Baekhyun and BoA etc too.

So, it's confusing. All I know is that it is not easy but it looks like if you want a solo career in SM, you need at 5 years as an idol and you can get your solo debut.

Most labels don't do that.

Quote from dummi

Nobody tell them 😂

Are you saying it's a bad thing?

Quote from piedpiper134340

In my experience, they try to make you think they're more important than your life (your real family, your friends, your partner) so you'll always be there when they need you.

They make you feel like you need them more than you really need, sometimes even make you sign abusive clauses telling you its for your own good, especially when you're too young and inexperienced to know what's illegal.

LOTS of emotional blackmail.

That sounds like the entertainment industry in general.

I don't think it's that deep in SM because it only happens a few times a year when they get together for SM Town concerts and during collabos.

But yeah, that mentality sacks.

Quote from h28

The family thing that companies push is just a gimmick. It is a marketing tool that allows them to create dedicated company stans that will support any group or artist they produce.

Good for SM that it is working for them though.

The company benefits from it big time because of the longevity of their fandoms.

But fans benefit too in terms of collaborations and other company promotions. It leads to a variety of products.

Rookies benefit from it too as their seniors introduce them to their fans, they get new fans.

Suju promoted shinee, shinee promoted exo, exo promoted NCT.

Snsd did the same thing with fx, Red Velvet and now Aespa.

I don't believe that all of it is a gimmick.

Quote from K-Pop-Scientist

They are clearly a legendary label but their sidelining of EXO and FX and what happened to Jessica.... no one's perfect though lol

Group-wise, yes, and I think Fx had a lot of issues beyond SM's control. They tried to push them individually but some members couldn't attract enough fans for the group to survive.

Jessica was openly sabotaged and that's it.

Edit: Exo are killing it individually, at least SM only ruined the group.

Quote from K-Pop-Scientist

True but the group was the great thing! Glad the other members are doing well even the former SM idols in China are big stars now like Victoria, Luhan, Tao

Sadly, their huge Chinese popularity wasn't during the time when they were still active in their groups. That'd have lifted their groups to a whole new level.

Exo benefited a bit because they sold out stadiums in China as rookies but it would have been much much better if that relationship stayed for long.

Quote from babydoll23

I knooowwwwww girl!

Jessica was done dirty.

And if you think about it, the whole family agenda could be one reason why it happened as she was expected to choose the Snsd family over her personal interests.

Quote from h28

But you're proving my point. The company benefits from it because company stans will support their groups systematically. It is also a good way to provide fanservice, which at the end will also benefit the company.

Considering the amount of profit the company family culture provides, it is not hard to imagine that the company could artificially want to create this family image on purpose because making profit is their main goal at the end of the day.

I wasn't disagreeing with you, there are elements of part of the family thing not being true like what happened to Jessica.

But, when the company makes profit, idols have a cut too. In fact it also favours idols who don't have many solo promotions or who aren't very successful.

Imagine aespa selling a million as rookies. The first female rookies to achieve that, it was not easy because older groups had to promote for years before achieving that but now it happens and idols benefit from it too.

All in all, it's more about longevity which brings in money for a longer time and right from debut using a family like fandom. SM makes a lot, idols earn well and fans are served accordingly.

Quote from Minazuki

I'm afraid to ask the worst

Ask away.

Quote from piedpiper134340

Exactly. No big company is good. Maybe some are less harmful than others, but I think in general they're quite despicable.

Of course its cool when all the idols from a company do a "family" concert, because they have great artists, I like watching them for TVXQ and Shinee. But I wouldn't say SM is a good company for that.

Given that no other company is doing it like SM, it makes SM a better company in that one aspect.

Do you think that Ikon and Winner would have been more successful had Big Bang promoted them the way Suju does with Shinee, Exo and NCT?

Quote from Minazuki

Which one's the worst?

SM is all I focus on, the other companies, I only get to know what happens there when fans of their idols talk about it.

So I don't know. All I know is that no other company is doing it like SM.