CAA Makes Deal With K-Pop Powerhouse SM Entertainment, Bringing NCT 127, SuperM, EXO, Girls’ Generation

CAA now represents the full roster of leading K-pop management company SM Entertainment in all areas. 

The relationship has already led to NCT 127 appearing on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” and a full North American tour for SuperM. Moving forward CAA will help SM Entertainment connect with live event, advertising, food and beverage and lifestyle brand opportunities in North America.

“Seeing an SM Entertainment show is an amazing experience,” Richard Lovett, president of CAA, said in a statement. “Soo-Man Lee [SM Entertainment founder] and his talented team have an incredible eye for high energy and charismatic talent. We are honored and excited to be working with the incredible SM team to support the growth of what is already a huge fan base around the world.”

K-pop is a huge international wave, as demonstrated by the smashing success of BTS’ recent world tour. While BTS is represented by Big Hit Entertainment and is widely considered the biggest K-pop band in the world, the genre is full of international stars and SM Entertainment’s roster is one of the largest, including NCT 127, EXO, Super Junior, Red Velvet, Girls’ Generation and SuperM. 

SM Entertainment boasts of a total of more than 20 million attendees at their events globally and more than 28 billion YouTube views. 

Soo-Man Lee said of the partnership: “It is a great pleasure working together with the largest entertainment and sports agency in the US. We believe that SuperM and NCT 127 will expand further to the global market together with CAA. Furthermore, this contract is only the beginning of our collaborations, and as an executive producer, I am hoping to contribute to our forthcoming global entertainment business by providing new visions and by creating more meaningful content.” 

SuperM – a supergroup combining members from Shinee, EXO, and NCT – topped the Elite 100 Artists chart for the week ending Oct. 10 after the release of its debut album. The group sold 157,200 albums in North America alone that week, meaning plenty of people are listening.

Korea is increasingly becoming the focus of large international promoters because, as AEG Asia CEO Adam Wilkes told Forbes, “some of the titans of global industry are based out of [Seoul].”

Seoul is unquestionably the largest Korean city for music, and the city is looking to make itself into a bona-fide international music hub with the recently announced $400 million development project which seeks to construct a new arena and music hall. The city’s efforts to establish Seoul as a must-play market are also intended to increase the quality of life for residents, and the plan includes a center devoted to traditional music.

CAA also represents Maroon 5, which is one Western act that has regularly visited South Korea and reported data from the trips, most recently grossing $3.5 million at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.