Big Hit Entertainment Partnering With Universal Music Group To Find Next K-Pop Sensation

Today, the label behind the South Korean boy band BTS, Big Hit Entertainment, is searching for new talent in the genre.

On Wednesday, the organization revealed a new initiative to find the next K-pop sensation via a global audition program scheduled to air in the United States in 2022.

Big Hit Entertainment said that to locate, grow and train the new K-pop boy band, it was teaming with Universal Music Group.

Lenzo Yoon, the global chief executive of Big Hit, said that the new project would “apply Big Hit’s success formula established over the past 16 years to the U.S., the center of the global music market.”

Under the Universal Music Group, the new K-pop group will record on a new Los Angeles-based record label.

“BTS,” the seven-member band that debuted in South Korea in 2013 with top-selling singles and videos with a sunny, optimistic vibe, dominated the highly competitive U.S. music industry. BTS, which has a large and fervent fan base, was named Time magazine’s Entertainer of the Year.

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chief Executive of the Universal Music Group, said in a statement that the joint venture “will further accelerate K-Pop as a global cultural phenomenon.”

The K-pop industry, which requires intensive training in dance, singing, and language skills, has also created bands like the “Blackpink” girl group that have grown to achieve international success outside Asia.

According to Reuters, the two firms did not specify which U.S. media outlet would broadcast the audition program.

The partnership has similarities to the popular TV reality show “American Idol,” which holds national auditions for a new pop star and whose winner gets a record deal.