The most well-known boy group in history may be BTS.
The seven-member K-pop group has gained international fame because of its record-breaking YouTube music video views, album sales, and star power. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the group made $130 million in 2019 from merchandise sales alone.
With help from K-pop and music industry specialists as well as a recently released Harvard Business School case study that examined the band’s success, Insider examined BTS’s meteoric climb to fame and how the members have changed the music business.
Fall 2010 saw the initial discovery of the BTS members.
The current management team of BTS, Big Hit Entertainment, a South Korean entertainment firm, initially came across the group’s members in 2010.
According to a recent Harvard Business School case study that examined the global success of BTS, entertainment businesses like Big Hit have a variety of methods for hiring talent, whether it be online or in person.
Suga, a member of BTS, was discovered through an online audition in the fall of 2010, while Jungkook said on a Korean chat show that talent agents found him after he tried out for “Superstar K,” a Korean version of “American Idol.”
They began as trainees for Big Hit Entertainment before forming a band.
The newly recruited become trainees after being found, receiving an instruction to make them into superstars. Along with acting and media training, this also involves dance and singing instruction.
The founder and co-CEO of Big Hit, Bang Si-Hyuk, advised students to “think of it like college” in the HBS case study. According to the survey, many of these trainees are young adolescents between the ages of 13 and 15. JungKook, the youngest member of the boy group who is now 22 years old, began working with Big Hit as a trainee when he was 14 years old. A few months after turning 16, he made his debut. In his song “My Time,” which was included in BTS’ album “Map of the Soul: 7” this past February, he discussed his journey, starting with his days as a trainee.
According to the case study, training to become a K-pop band might last up to three years.
After around three years of training, trainees get ready to make their K-pop debut, according to the case study.
There are around a dozen trainees for every individual that succeeds, according to the Harvard case study, so it’s a fairly competitive procedure. Approximately 80 persons may have tried out for BTS, but only RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook were selected.
Bang informed the study’s researchers that the worries about “manufacturing” groups at the expense of uniqueness are accurate concerning this strict method of talent development. According to the research, he claims that the organization aims to “find an optimum balance between the effectiveness of the system and respect for each artist’s personality.”
BTS originally intended to be a hip-hop group, but the group changed course to focus on the “idol model.”
BTS was originally intended to be a hip-hop group that supported rappers. According to Bang’s account in the HBS case study, the business gradually switched from this sole emphasis on hip-hop to the “idol model.”
Idols often refer to K-pop performers that blend singing and dancing in their concerts, according to Youngdae Kim, a Korean music critic best known for his book “BTS The Review: A Comprehensive Look at the Music of BTS.” Kim made this statement to Insider.
2013 witnessed BTS release its first album.
In the summer of 2013, the seven-person K-pop idol group BTS made its formal debut.
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