[★K:OP-ED] JYP Entertainment criticized for poor artist management and decreased popularity

JYP Entertainment seems to have a foggy future ahead, as netizens discuss its possible downfall from the position as one of the top leading agencies in the K-pop industry.

The top 3 forces that have been present in the K-Pop industry may be coming to an end. While SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment are keeping a firm grip on their positions and reaching an even higher status, JYP Entertainment has made a run into a red light.

On November 18th, GOT7‘s first official album Identify was released. With members JB and Jr having gained popularity from the drama Dream High 2 and the other members possessing their own individual talents in vocals and dancing, people called them the second 2PM. The group was said to be the future of JYP Entertainment, and were supposed to be on par with leading competitors EXO and WINNER.

However, it seems like their accomplishments to date have not been reflective of the attention they have been receiving. Not only did their title track not make it to the top of the music charts, but it has continued on a downhill path in rank. On the 3rd day since the release of their song, they were pushed down the charts with a ranking of 82nd place.

GOT7 is not the only JYP Entertainment talent that has been in a slump. The agency’s most popular group 2PM did not meet too much success in September with the release of “Go Grazy”, along with their brother group 2AM. Bernard Park, whose debut had been anticipated since K-pop Star Season 3, met little success as well. Other than Sunmi‘s solo Full Moon early this year, some say that all of JYP artists have fallen short of the public’s expectations.

Miss A‘s Suzy has been able to keep her place as a popular figure in Korean entertainment with success in dramas and movies, but a lot is depending on her upcoming movie A Peach Flower Song.

JYP Entertainment was once the trend of Korean music industry. Given the title as one of the top 3 entertainment companies, its artists released one hit song after another. The company’s successes with Wonder Girls, 2PM, 2AM, and miss A did not shy in comparison to SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment. Now, however, the agency’s future in maintaining its position seems to be blurry.

Specialists say the main reason of this decline could be due to a change in the inner system of the company. Since last year, there have been many changes in the company system as well as employees. Some think they may have lost the drive behind the growth from before, others think JYP Entertainment is not able to read current trends as well as before.

While SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment continue dominating the music industry, JYP Entertainment is said to have started to losing its color. Netizens commented saying it is sad that while SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment came up with EXO and WINNER to lead their company in the coming generation, while the only hit product from JYP is the “half air, half sound” comment from J.Y. Park himself.

This is a translated OP-ED by Korean media site, Sports Hankooki with slight information additions by Koreaboo.