K-pop label SM Entertainment has announced plans to debut four new musical acts sometime this year.
Earlier today (February 3) in a video announcement, SM Entertainment CEO Sung Su-lee and COO Young Jun-tak outlined plans to establish a “multi-production center/label system” – or a music production strategy designed to help SM release more music and debut more artists by transitioning from one executive producer overseeing the production process to several “production centers” that can focus on different projects.
With this new strategy, SM Entertainment now has plans to debut at least two new groups per year (up from debuting one group every 3.5 years on average) and release over 40 albums per year (up from releasing an annual average of 31 albums).
As part of their new music production strategy, SM Entertainment also announced plans to debut four new musical acts sometime this year. These include NCT’s Japanese sub-unit NCT Tokyo, a new boy group and girl group and a virtual solo artist.
Though details on SM’s new groups have yet to be released, it was previously reported that Nævis, a character from girl group aespa’s fictional lore, would make her musical debut as an “AI artist” during aespa’s VR concert at this year’s South By Southwest festival this March.
Apart from announcing the roster of new acts scheduled to debut with the label, SM Entertainment also outlined plans to release over 40 albums for 2023. These comprise seven albums within the first quarter of the year, 12 albums each for the second and third quarter of the year, and 10 albums for the fourth quarter of the year.