Big K‑pop labels plot festival

South Korea’s four biggest K-pop companies are moving to create a joint festival business, with a first event targeted for December 2027 in Korea. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) JYP Entertainment said April 16 that it, HYBE, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment filed with South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission to set up a joint venture for the project. Korea JoongAng Daily reported the festival’s working name as “Fanomenon,” while Billboard described it as “FANOMENON.” (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) (billboard.com) The plan is to launch the first edition in South Korea in December 2027 and then expand into a touring format in major cities from May 2028, according to reports citing the companies and industry officials. JYP founder Park Jin-young, better known as J.Y. Park, has been identified as the project lead. (allkpop.com) (upi.com) A festival built by all four labels would bring together the companies behind acts including BTS and Seventeen at HYBE, aespa and NCT at SM, Stray Kids and Twice at JYP, and Blackpink, Treasure and BabyMonster at YG. Those companies are often called the industry’s “Big Four” because they dominate K-pop’s album sales, touring and trainee system. (billboard.com) (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) The joint push comes after years of rivalry between the same companies. HYBE spent 2023 battling for control of SM before abandoning the takeover, and in May 2025 it sold its remaining 9.38 percent SM stake to Tencent Music for 200 billion won, or about $146 million. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) The project also follows a broader expansion drive by the labels beyond South Korea. Korea JoongAng Daily reported in May 2025 that HYBE opened a Beijing office, while SM, JYP and YG already had China operations, part of a wider push to grow in overseas markets. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) JYP said only that the companies had filed for the venture, and the reports did not include a venue, lineup, budget or ownership split. That leaves key questions unresolved, including whether all top acts would appear and how the labels would divide revenue and scheduling. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) (upi.com) For now, the clearest fact is that the rivals are trying to build a shared festival vehicle nearly two years before its planned debut. If regulators clear the venture, December 2027 would test whether K-pop’s biggest competitors can sell one stage as a single global event. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) (billboard.com)