LOEN Entertainment

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LOEN Entertainment, Inc.
Native name
 주식회사 로엔 엔터테인먼트
Public Jusikhoesa (J.H.)
Traded as
Industry Music
Entertainment
Genre K-pop
Rock
Contemporary R&B
Jazz
Classical
Contemporary Christian music
Traditional music[1]
Founded
  • in Seoul, South Korea (as Seoul Records, Inc.)[1]
  • (October 1978 (1978-10) - incorporation)
  • (July 7, 1982 (1982-07-07) - foundation)
Founder Min Yeong-bin
Headquarters Teheran-ro 103-gil 17, 168-23 Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Key people
 Shin Won-soo, Park Seong-hoon (joint CEOs)[lower-alpha 1][2][3]
Services Music, Entertainment, Distribution
Revenue Increase KRW 323.2 billion (2014)[4]
Increase KRW 65.9 billion (2015)
KRW 58.4 billion (2014)[4]
Increase KRW 50.6 billion (2015)
KRW 45.7 billion (2014)[4]
Total assets Increase KRW 303.8 billion (2014[4])
Owner Kakao Corp. (76.40%)[5]
Samsung Asset Management (5.00%)[6]
Number of employees
 209 (as of July 2014 (2014-07))[4]
Parent YBM Group (1978-2005)
SK Group (2005-2016)
Affinity Equity Partners (2013-2016)[7]
Kakao Corp. (2016-present)[5][8]
Divisions See the list here.
Subsidiaries Starship Entertainment[9] (70%)
WS Entertainment (100%)
Plan A Entertainment[10] (70%)
Website iloen.com
LOEN Entertainment
Hangul 로엔 엔터테인먼트
Revised Romanization Roen Enteoteinmeonteu
McCune–Reischauer Rŏen Ent'ŏt'einmŏnt'ŭ
Seoul Records
Hangul 서울 음반
Revised Romanization Seoul Eumban
McCune–Reischauer Sŏul Ŭmban

LOEN Entertainment (Hangul: 로엔 엔터테인먼트), formerly Seoul Records (Hangul: 서울 음반), is a South Korean record label. It is headquartered in Tehran Boulevard, Gangnam, Seoul.

As of 2015, it is the leading record company in South Korea in terms of revenue according to the statistics compiled by the Korea Music Content Industry Association (KMCIA) through the Gaon Music Chart (30.4%); it is the second leading company in terms of album sales (25.4%) according to the same statistics.[11] Since January 2016 LOEN has been a subsidiary of Kakao.[5]

Online music sales account for most of the company's profit, with 93.9% of revenue coming from online music sales. The label also distributes CDs of some other entertainment agencies in South Korea through its branch LOEN Music, but makes than 5% of its revenue through them.[12]

History

LOEN Entertainment was founded as Seoul Records in 1978 by Min Yeong-bin as a subsidiary of YBM Sisa, a company mainly involved in creating language-learning tapes.[13] The company was officially registered in 1982, and in 1984 it began to produce and distribute records of classical and traditional music. It was registered as a venture capital company in 1999, when it began to sell albums while operating an online shop. In 2000, the company's name was changed to YBM Seoul Records and it began to operate on KOSDAQ. The company joined the IFPI in 2003. Korean conglomerate SK Telecom bought a 60% share of the company in 2005, and YBM Seoul Records subsequently became part of SK Group.[14] As of 2008, the company has been known as LOEN Entertainment.

LOEN took charge of SK Telecom's online music distribution service, MelOn, in 2009. MelOn is currently the most used online music sales site in South Korea.[15][16]

In 2012, the company signed a deal with streaming site Viki so that content from their artists (such as IU, Brown Eyed Girls and Drunken Tiger) would be featured on their site.[17]

In August 2012, the recording artists under LOEN collaborated to release a collaborative EP titled LOEN Tree Summer Story under the collective title 'LOEN Tree'.[18]

On July 18, 2013, Affinity Equity Partners, through its subsidiary Star Invest Holdings Ltd., bought 52.56% of LOEN's shares, leaving SK Group with only 15%.[7] Five months later, Star Invest Holdings acquired RealNetworks, Inc.'s 8.83% stake in the company.[19] The company was reorganized to include two labels: "LOEN Tree" (Jo Yeong-cheol) and "Collabodadi" (Shinsadong Tiger).[20]

On December 18, 2013, LOEN acquired 70% of shares in Starship Entertainment, making it as an independent subsidiary of LOEN.[9]

On January 11, 2016, LOEN was acquired by Kakao Corporation.[5][8]

Corporate identity

Company name

The name LOEN stands for:

  • Live On Entertainment Networks
  • LOve + ENtertainment

Logos

File:YBMSeoulRecords.jpg
One of the company's former logos as YBM Seoul Records

The company's first logo was the two small letters s and r (SR, for Seoul Records) combined. At the bottom of the logo was the English name (SEOUL RECORDS), while the Korean name ((주)서울음반) was at its right corner.[21]

Catalog numbers

As of 2015, LOEN currently uses two types of catalog number codes for its releases: the L10000**** series (now at the -5000 suffix) and the L20000**** series (now at the -1000 suffix).

Controversies

2011 price fixing

LOEN, along with parent SK Telecom, was one of the 15 companies fined and sued by the Korean FTC for price rigging in 2011. The company was fined $9.6 million for its role in the scheme.[22]

Incredible promotion conflict

In 2013, LOEN made a deal with C-JeS Entertainment to promote and distribute Junsu's second studio album Incredible. Days before the album's release, C-JeS was reportedly notified by LOEN that they would distribute the album but had scrapped plans for promotional marketing and broadcasting Junsu's upcoming showcase on MelOn, although they would be able to broadcast it on LOEN TV. Promotional banners regarding the album's release on MelOn also disappeared from LOEN's social media accounts. C-JeS subsequently threatened to remove mentions of LOEN from Junsu's upcoming showcase and to file for a civil appeal to the Fair Trade Commission and Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.[23]

In response, LOEN stated that they were still in discussions regarding the album's promotion and that nothing had been confirmed prior to the relevant article's release. They pointed to the showcase event page on MelOn's homepage still being up as evidence that promotions were going ahead as planned. C-JeS responded saying that they had begun receiving pre-orders for the album and entries for the showcase event without response from LOEN.[24][25]

Following media attention, the two companies met on July 8 and resolved the dispute. Incredible was promoted and distributed by LOEN as planned.[26]

Divisions

MelOn Biz

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Further information: Melon (online music service)

MelOn Biz is LOEN's online music service division, operating MelOn, short for 'melody on'.[27][28] MelOn is the most popular music service in Korea, with 59% of all users in South Korea as of November 2013. That year Soompi ranked MelOn as the third most influential entity in the K-pop industry.[29]

Contents Biz

The logos of LOEN Music and 1theK

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Further information: List of LOEN Entertainment labels § Independent labels distributed by LOEN Entertainment

Contents Biz is responsible for LOEN's content production division 1theK, which was known as LOEN Music before February 2014.[30] The name '1theK' indicates its aim of creating one source for worldwide K-pop content.[31] According to LOEN it distributes over 300 titles per year, working with independent agencies to invest in music production.

Artist Biz

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Further information: List of LOEN Entertainment labels, Starship Entertainment, and King Kong Entertainment

Artist Biz is LOEN's artist management division, also known as LOEN Artist. Starship Entertainment now also belongs to this division, as well as King Kong Entertainment (which Starship acquired in 2015).

Awards

Year Recipient Award Category Result
2011 MelOn Digital Chosun Ilbo Awards Most Trusted Brand (Online Music Service) Won
App Awards Korea Best Entertainment Application Won
2012 Digital Chosun Ilbo Awards Most Trusted Brand (Online Music Service) Won
LOEN Entertainment Korean Digital Business Innovation Awards Grand Prize (Digital Contents) Won
2013 Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards Music Distribution (Online) Won[32]

Artists

Since September 2013, all artists under LOEN Entertainment have been known under the collective name of LOEN Tree, similarly to SM Town, YG Family, or JYP Nation.

Musicians

Groups


Soloists

  • 1Ra.D debuted in 2002 under Stardom Entertainment transferred to Loen Entertainment in 2007.
  • 2Zia debuted in 2007 under Taewon Entertainment transferred to LOEN Entertainment in 2009.
  • 3Sunny Hill debuted as a co-ed group in 2007 under For Everyone Media to be transferred LOEN Entertainment in 2011. The group became as a girl group in 2014, after their leader Janghyun left the group.
  • 4Melody Day is jointly managed by Viewga Entertainment and LOEN Entertainment.

Actors and actresses

Studio artists

Producers

  • Won Tae-yeon
  • G.Gorilla
  • Lee Min-soo
  • Hwang Soo-ah
  • Ra.D
  • KZ

Lyricists

Current trainees


A ^ Collabodadi label was created in 2013 as part of the multi-label system idea of LOEN, housing Zia, Fiestar and Shinsadong Tiger as producer. The in-house label was later scrapped in September 2015, with all the artists returning back to LOEN under manages by LOEN Tree.

Former artists

See also

Notes

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References

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External links

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  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Private Equity Korea: SK Planet to divest stake in LOEN Entertainment to Affinity
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ LOEN Tree Summer Story on Hanteo
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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