HYBE Co., South Korea’s entertainment powerhouse behind the global sensation BTS, has established its fifth overseas unit in Mumbai, India as part of its strategy to expand and globalize the K-pop idol system.
Under the mission of “Where voices of India become global stories, HYBE India Entertainment Private Ltd. will discover local talent through nationwide auditions and nurture them in a training system tailored to the Indian market.
HYBE said the launch of the Indian unit is part of its founder and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s “multi-home, multi-genre” strategy, following the establishment of local units in the US, Japan, Latin America and China.
“HYBE India will introduce artists, who will connect the local Indian market with the global market, leveraging HYBE”s full-spectrum capabilities across the music industry from talent discovery and development to album production, management, marketing and concert planning,” said a HYBE official.
The Indian arm is also expected to provide a platform for HYBE’s artists to enter and expand in the Indian market.
India, with a 1.46 billion population, boasts 185 million music streaming users, making it the world’s second-largest music streaming market after the US, according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.
Streaming of Korean pop music in the country soared by a whopping 362% between 2018 and 2023, according to data from the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange
By Soo-Young Kim
swimmingk@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
