In the continuing saga of Scooter Braun losing a raft of stars from his management company there’s been spin about his role at HYBE.
HYBE is the Korean company that bought Braun’s SB Projects last year. They manage all the big K-Pop stars like BTS and its various solo members. Braun became the CEO of HYBE US, and a big deal was made of that.
But the truth is, K-Pop records don’t sell a lot of records in America. So the idea that Scooter is leaving the management of a half dozen superstars for the world of KPop is absurd. To wit: this year the big HYBE hit has been a song called “Seven” by Jung Kook of BTS. Total US sales so far: 700,000 streaming equivalent. Only 200,000 paid down loads.
So let’s get a grip.
Other HYBE acts so far this year sold even less: BTS sold 800,000 streaming, just 234K in downloads. And it’s just like that for Jimin, another BTS member, and a girl group called New Jeans.
Those numbers are a fraction of their hype, and also minor numbers compared to what Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and so on would sell if they were properly managed.
Meantime, HYPE bought SB Projects because they thought they were doing business with the manager of the aforementioned acts. If they’re gone, what interest would HYBE have in Scooter and his company?
So don’t believe the hype about HYBE even if they told a Korean journal they sold 55 million albums total so far this year. That’s all over the world, and maybe even including other planets.
PS Jung Kook’s EP, released today, and containing the hit single, is stuck at number 27 on iTunes. Fans who wanted that song have already downloaded or streamed it.
