2PM Taecyeon's Comments About JYP Address An Industry Wide Problem

2PM's Taecyeon clearly expressed his frustration with current practices at JYP Entertainment during a series of three Twitter posts that he made on January 4th. However, the artist later clarified the posts and removed them, mostly likely at the urging of his management. Most interesting was that fan reactions to his Twitter discussion were unified in agreement. Taecyeon addressed the concerns regarding JYP Entertainment's course of action for the future that many fans and industry members share. The concerns that Taecyeon has for JYP Entertainment, however, can also be seen within the promotion and treatment of artists at YG and SM Entertainment.

A New Year causes many people to focus on the adage 'out with the old, in the with the new' and the K-Pop industry appears to have fully embraced this concept. As 2013 came to a close, YG, SM, and JYP all placed a heavy emphasis on the promotion of their upcoming artists and trainees. It was as if the success of WIN:Who is Next and WINNER was the driving force behind the development of the S.M. Rookies promotions and JYP's push to promote 5Live and GOT7. 2014 has started off as a year of one-upmanship in K-Pop, in which each of the Big Three is jostling to release the newest hit artist. With such a strong emphasis on promotion of newer artists, what becomes of the more established artists?

At JYP Entertainment, 2013 ended with the announcement that Ahn Sohee would be leaving JYP Entertainment and subsequently, Wonder Girls. The departure of Ahn Sohee drew attention to was the representation of artists on JYP Entertainment.  Also of interest, is the fact that GOT7 is composed of JB and JR, two artists who were previously released as a duo through JYP Entertainment, but not merged into a group. While artists such as MissA's Suzy Bae and Ok Taecyeon receive wide endorsements, idol acting opportunities, and exposure other artists at the label are less fortunate.

Such is the case with Kpop Star season one winner Park Jimin, who is signed to JYP Entertainment and a member of 15&. Park Jimin has been so vastly under promoted that many international fans do not realize that she was in fact the winner of Kpop Star season one, beating out runner up Lee Hi. Lee Hi, as a priority of YG Entertainment's promotions, has enjoyed a successful career after the program. At YG Entertainment, under promotion lead to veteran vocalist Gummy's departure and has become a concern for female trainees at the agency, as a greater emphasis has been placed on promoting male trainees.

Within SM Entertainment, the push to promote trainees overshadows the fact that SHINee received less promotion in recent years, along with vocalist BoA. The concession for BoA was that she received attention as one of the panelists for Kpop Star, but her departure from season three has made her current exposure more limited. Girls Generation and Super Junior continue to sustain momentum, while newer artists like EXO receive large amounts of attention for their audience reception and awards.

Is it the natural progression of entertainment that older, more established artists will receive less attention and promotion from their agency? With his Twitter statements, Taecyeon may have ignited a debate that has been festering amongst audiences and those within the industry. While fans enjoy having the opportunity to see new acts emerge and to see the competitiveness amongst the Big Three, it is not entertaining to see well loved artists be neglected. Was Taecyeon justified in his comments?

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Taecyeon
2PM Taecyeon
JYP Entertainment
YG Entertainment
SM Entertainment
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