By giving much more freedom to their artist in what they are releasing
- The lyrics of Wendy album were based on what she wanted to say and the message she wrote to the lyricist, they aren't lyrics generic lyrics where Wendy didn't have her words to say
- Joy choose the concept of her MV and choose herself the song she wanted to remake for her album
- They let Taeyong upload hiw own self produce song on soundclound
- they let Kun upload songs he produce or Re-arrange on WayV channel, they even let him upload video showing the whole process
- they let NCT members upload dance video that they choregraph themselves, or video that they shoot themselves
- they let SM artist collaborate in taeyong song, even if they aren't feature on any SM album etc...
- Seulgi took part in composing and writing lyrics for her collaboration with Taeyong
- They let Ningning self produce song be upload on Weibo
- they let Giselle write her own rap for her pre-debut teaser
I don't know if the CEO of SM or if some people who were in the headquarters of SM change , but I notice a lot of change in SM promotion since 2020, and you can see it even more in 2021
and it prove that it's working base on the recent success of all the SM act who release something this year