Kakao Entertainment is set to debut new artists in succession. SM Entertainment & Kakao Entertainment America has been working on the British boy band Dear Alice, Antenna is ready to launch the boy band Dragon Pony this year, and Starship Entertainment is holding a global audition for unveiling a boy band next year. These new artists cover a diverse range of music genres.

The company has established a multi-label system consisting of four music labels: Starship Entertainment, IST Entertainment, Antenna, and EDAM Entertainment. Over the years, these labels have strengthened their own musical identity and creativity, generating synergy with the company’s business strategy and global network. Leveraging its North American subsidiary with SM Entertainment, Kakao Entertainment has recently built a global management system to diversify the activities of its artists and to develop local intellectual property (IP) as part of its accelerated effort to strengthen competitiveness in global markets.

Scheduled to debut this year, Dragon Pony is the first boy band from Antenna, the label of Kakao Entertainment. Its members are vocalist An Tae-gyu, bassist Pyun Sung-hyun, guitarist Kwon Se-hyuk, and drummer Ko Gang-hun, all of whom have the ability to write lyrics, compose music, and produce. The band fulfilled their pre-debut mission of achieving 20,000 followers on their official social media channel and attracting 500 audience members to a solo concert, which confirmed early on the decision to launch them this year. In June, tickets to the concert, dubbed 500, sold out within one minute of opening and the number of followers on the channel has already exceeded 36,000, which serves as a testament to the continued interest in the boy band. Armed with many talented musicians and recognized as a label boasting distinct music styles, Antenna drew considerable attention when it was acquired by Kakao Entertainment in 2021. Since then, its artists have actively released albums and performed in concerts. Antenna has engaged in content production, particularly the Pinggyego series on the YouTube channel, being well on its way to expanding its business to media.

Starship Entertainment has recently announced plans to hold global auditions to debut a new boy band next year. This will be the first boy band launched by Starship Entertainment in five years, following the debut of MONSTA X in 2015 and CRAVITY in 2020. As these two bands have solidified their fan bases worldwide, expectations run high for the new boy band. Since Starship Entertainment proved its capacity to develop global IP with the launch of the girl band IVE in 2021, interest in the new boy band is growing as well. In their debut year, IVE swept a series of music awards, winning the New Artist of the Year and Artist of the Year categories at the same time. Recently, they have been on a successful world tour, performing in 37 concerts across 27 cities in 19 countries, establishing themselves as a global artist. The synergy between Starship Entertainment and Kakao Entertainment, which boasts numerous international partners and a robust management system, is also anticipated to enhance the global activities of its artists.

The British boy band Dear Alice, which was recently unveiled in Britain, is also set to debut this year. The five-member band represents a project by SM Entertainment & Kakao Entertainment America in collaboration with local partners. It embodies the synergy between SM Entertainment’s outstanding capacity to develop and produce music and artists, and Kakao Entertainment’s global business network. The members of the all-British band are Blaise Noon, Dexter Greenwood, James Sharp, Oliver Quinn, and Reese Carter. A six-episode documentary series showing their training for their debut has been airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer since August 17, titled “Made in Korea: The K-Pop Experience.” Following their debut this year in Britain, the birthplace of pop music, Dear Alice plans to expand their presence into global markets such as Europe and North America. Since making their first public appearance at a recent press conference in London, they have been actively uploading content on their official social media channel.

Kakao Entertainment said, “We will leverage the unique strengths of our labels in the music business to produce new artists and diversify the international activities of our musicians, focusing on generating IP with global value to enhance our competitive edge in the music industry.”