Cube Entertainment — BrandWiki

Cube Entertainment

native name	큐브엔터테인먼트
type	Public
genre	K-pop · dance-pop · electropop · R&B · hip hop
foundation	August 29, 2006 (as Playcube, Inc.)‡R1R‡
founders	Hong Seung-sung Shin Jung-hwa
location city	Seongdong District, Seoul

key people	Hong Seung-sung (Co-founder and chairman) Shin Jung-hwa (Co-founder and CEO) Noh Hyun-Tae (Vice president)

industry	Entertainment

revenue	₩ 29.830 billion (2019)‡R2R‡

net income	₩ 969 million (2019)‡R2R‡

owner	Seung-gon Kang (35.99%) VT Co., Ltd. (8.80%) Cheol Jeong (7.52%) Others (47.69%)‡R3R‡

num employees	79 (2018)

subsid	Cube Entertainment Japan U-Cube

website	cubeent.co.kr (Korea) https://cubeent.jp (Japan)

Cube Entertainment Inc. is a South Korean entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. Cube are known for having "self-composing and self-producing" idols.[4] In April 2020, the founder of Cube, Hong Seung-sung, resigned from the company due to an ownership dispute.[5]

The label currently manages several artists, namely Kwon Eun-bin, Pentagon, I-dle, Lightsum, and Nowz. It also manages several entertainers and actors, including Heo Kyung-hwan, Park Mi-sun, Kim Jin-woo, and Park Sun-young.

It was formerly home to K-pop artists such as 4Minute, Beast, G.NA, Roh Ji-hoon, Hyuna, Rain, E'Dawn, A Train To Autumn, Lai Kuan-lin, Jang Hyun-seung, Elkie, Sorn, Yujin, Soojin, Yeeun, CLC, BtoB, Lee Hwi-jae, Na In-woo, and Yoo Seon-ho.

History

2006–2010: Formation and first-generation artists

Cube Entertainment was founded on August 29, 2006, by Hong Seung-sung (aka Simon Hong), former president of JYP Entertainment, and Shin Jung-hwa (Monica Shin) as Playcube Inc.[6] Due to the founder's past relations, Cube is sometimes mistaken as a subsidiary of JYP Entertainment; however, it is an independent corporation.[7]

In 2009, Cube's first two groups debuted, with girl group 4Minute debuting in June and boy group Beast in October.

In 2010, G.NA became the first solo artist in Cube to debut.[8]

2011–2014: Second-generation artists and changing of CEO

Partnerships

Music distribution

Cube's records are distributed by the following:

Kakao Entertainment (formerly Kakao M) (Overall)[92]
U-Cube, Universal Music Japan (Japan, etc)
NetEase Music (China)
Alibaba Group (China)

Subsidiaries

Music Cube

Music Cube was founded in Korea on August 18, 2005. It is an independently operated music copyright company that mainly engaged in the publishing, production, visual design and copyright management of music products. The headquarters is located in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul.[93]

Music Cube Japan is a Japanese subsidiary of Music Cube. It was founded in Japan on January 21, 2009. It is mainly engaged in the production, development, promotion and copyright management of music products. It is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo.[94]

CUBE DC

Cube DC was founded in 2012. It is a subsidiary of Cube Entertainment. The parent company Cube Entertainment announced on August 27, 2014, that it was acquired as a wholly owned subsidiary.[10]

Philanthropy

Cube Entertainment artists teamed up with US major league team, Los Angeles Dodgers's Korean player Ryu Hyun-jin by donating all the profit from two collaboration songs to Hanbit School for the Blind.[101]

In September 2015, the artists from the agency performed at the "Cube Festival" concert.[102] The concert was hosted by Shanghai TV, Channel M, and BesTV. At a preceding press conference, a Cube representative said, "A while ago there was a heartbreaking accident in China. Beast, 4Minute, G.NA, BtoB, and CLC donated a portion of their earnings from their recent concert in Shanghai to the victims of the 2015 Tianjin explosions." Representing the concert organizer, Yeom Gyu Suk from Butterfly Media went on to explain, "While in the midst of preparing for the concert, the event sponsor and Cube Entertainment heard the news of the accident and decided to do the show for the victims, and after gathering the artists agreed."[103][104]

Philosophy

Cube Entertainment advocates their idols to become artist-type idols through writing, composing, and recording songs.[116] They provide MIDI classes for their trainees and artists.[117]

Artists

All artists under Cube Entertainment are collectively known as United Cube.

Recording artists

Soloists

Soyeon
Yuqi
Miyeon
Minnie

Groups

Pentagon
I-dle
Lightsum
Nowz

Project Groups

Former artists

M4M (2013–2014)
Oh Ye-ri (2013–2015)
Rain (2013–2015)[125]
4Minute (2009–2016)
Jihyun (2009–2016)
Gayoon (2009–2016)
Jiyoon (2009–2016)
Sohyun (2009–2016)
Hyuna (2009–2018)
Beast (2009–2016)
Yoon Doo-joon (2009–2016)
Yang Yo-seob (2009–2016)
Lee Gi-kwang (2009–2016)

Discography

Projects

Filmography

Web drama

Variety show

Concerts

2010 Cube Stars Party (August 10)[153]
2011 Cube Stars Party (March 6)[154][155]
2011 United Cube Concert: London, England (December 5),[156] São Paulo, Brazil (December 13)[157][158][159]

Controversies

2019: Contract ruled invalid for Lai Kuan-lin

On June 17, 2021, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in Lai Kaun-lin's favour and ended his contract with Cube Entertainment. This brought to a close a 2 year dispute that started in July 2019 when Lai requested to terminate his contract. One of the claims Lai made was that Cube Entertainment had sold his artist management rights in China to a third party without notifying him. The judge agreed with Lai and deemed the contract invalid. Lai also claimed Cube scheduled conflicting events that he could not attend and impersonated the signature of Lai Kuan-lin's father.[167][168][169]

Awards

External links

(Verified)

References

Andre Paine. UMG Partners With Korean K-Pop Firm Billboard, January 5, 2010, retrieved July 20, 2013^
vip. mk. co Kr. Income Statement for Cube Entertainment retrieved 2019-01-24^
DART - Repository of Korea's Corporate Filings

2015–2017: Third-generation artists and changing of CEO

Cube's second girl group CLC debuted in March 2015.[13] At the end of 2015, A Cube Entertainment, which manages Huh Gak and Apink, was acquired by its distributor, LOEN Entertainment. LOEN bought 70% shares in A Cube, therefore making it the sole owner of the agency. A Cube became a separate and distinct label under LOEN Entertainment with the new name Plan A Entertainment.[14]

In February 2016, Cube headquarter located at Cheongdam-dong moved to Seongdong District near Seongdong station.[15][16] In March 2016, Cube acquired Starline Entertainment as subsidiary. In June 2016, Cube's first girl group 4Minute disbanded. In July 2016, Cube Cafe was reopened in the new building called Cafe 20 Space: The Mint Universe.[17] At the end of 2016, Shin Dae-nam was elected to be the new CEO of Cube Entertainment, replacing former CEO Park Chung-min.[18][19] He was a former editor of the journal Ilgan Sports and president of Yedang Media.[20] New boy group Pentagon debuted in October 2016. This was followed by Cube's third boy group after Beast leaving Cube in December 2016.

At the beginning of 2017, Universal Music sold their 8% stake in Cube.[21] Following this, Cube Entertainment signed a distribution deal with Kakao M (formerly LOEN) for future music & content circulation.[22] In March, Cube Entertainment reportedly facing a massive deficit after serious operating losses in 2016, the departure of flagship group BEAST, who reportedly made up 45 percent of their total sales and THAAD.[23] In mid-2017, Cube's two male trainees Yoo Seon-ho and Lai Kuan-lin participated in Mnet's Produce 101 Season 2. The latter was chosen to be part of the final lineup for project boygroup Wanna One after finishing in 7th place, while Yoo Seon-ho finished in 17th place. Lai Kuan-lin debuted in Wanna One in August 2017, and promoted with the group until December 2018. Meanwhile, Jeon So-yeon, who participated in the first season of Produce 101 and Unpretty Rapstar debuted as a soloist in November 2017 with her song "Jelly".[24] Jo Kwon of ballad group 2AM signed as a solo artist under the label in the same month, after staying for 16 years in JYP Entertainment.[25]

2018–present: Fourth-generation artists, business expansion, U CUBE and changing of CEO

TV personality Lee Hwi-jae signed a contract with Cube on March 5, 2018.[31] In a report released in April 2018, Cube said that it had successfully made profit in 2017, a welcome improvement after incurring severe losses in 2016.[32] In April 2018, Yoo Seon-ho debuted as a soloist. On May 2, Cube debuted (G)I-dle, it is their third girl group after 4Minute and CLC. On May 4, Cube Entertainment announced the United Cube Concert – One concert, featuring their own artists. The concert took place at KINTEX in Ilsan on June 16[33] and was sold out in two minutes.[34] On August 2, 2018, photos of Hyuna with Pentagon's E'Dawn at their birthday party on June 4 were released.[35] Cube Entertainment initially denied rumors the two were dating,[36] however Hyuna and E’Dawn held an interview with Yeonhap News later that day, admitting to their relationship which began in May 2016.[37] The company responded to Hyuna's confirmation of the dating rumors by cancelling all previously planned performances for Triple H, on-air appearances, and fan events, including a fan meet-up scheduled for the next day.[38] Fans were divided in reactions to the event, with some calling for E'Dawn to be removed from Pentagon, and others focusing on how the company treated them unfairly after releasing the scandal, rather than on their relationship.[39] On September 13, Cube Entertainment announced that they would be terminating their contracts, citing that they could not "maintain trust" as a reason saying "After much deliberation, we've concluded that the trust between the company and the artists had been damaged to a degree that it cannot be restored, leading us to believe expulsion is necessary," in its official statement.[40][41] However, Cube declared that the situation is still being considered and nothing has been decided yet for them, saying that the issue will be discussed on a board meeting. A senior official said, “The dismissal of Hyuna and E'Dawn was in discussion but not final. We will have to collect opinions a little more. As the artists' opinions are also important, this is a matter that should be decided carefully through collecting opinions. The departure is not final. Agency officials are having an urgent discussion. As much as possible, we will make decisions based on artists' opinions."[42][43][44][45][46] On October 15, Cube Entertainment officially confirmed Hyuna's departure, announcing that the record label has reached an agreement with Hyuna to terminate her contract.[47][41] On October 25, Cube signed a contract with Haohao Wenhua Media Company (Hot Idol, Haohao Bangyang Agency) for activities in China. On November 5, Cube debuted a non-idol ballad group, A Train To Autumn ,[49] with digital single "That Season You Were In". Kino During the same period, operating profit jumped 809.3% to ₩1.9 billion and net profit turned to profit of ₩1 billion due to the success of BtoB's album sales and concerts, Pentagon's "Shine", (G)I-dle's debut and Lai Guan-lin's activities. Cube's music sales also increased by 58% to ₩8.8 billion due to the popularity of (G)I-dle's "Latata" and "Hann (一)".[53]

In early 2019, Cube Entertainment chose NetEase Music as its strategic partner as a platform to promote in China.[54] On January 23, D’Live Co. sought to sell its stakes in entertainment units iHQ Inc. and Cube Entertainment Inc. Currently, D’Live owns a 45 percent stake in iHQ and a 30 percent stake in Cube Entertainment.[55] On August 19, Gagman Lee Sang-joon has signed an exclusive contract with Cube.[56] Two days later, it was announced that Produce 48 participant, Han Cho-won and The Unit: Idol Rebooting Project, Lee Joo-hyun were the next to sign.[57] In September, it was reported that Cube Entertainment partnership with e2PR, Strategic Communications for establishing new promotion team for handling (G)I-dle's public international relations.[58] In the fourth quarter of 2019, Cube recorded 22.6 billion won and 40.3 million won in operating profit due to (G)I-dle's "Lion" and Pentagon's Prism World Tour.[59]

In early 2020, Comedian Park Mi-sun has signed an exclusive contract with Cube.[61] On February 21, VT GMP reportedly has acquired 30.61% stake in Cube Entertainment, changing Cube's largest shareholder from iHQ to VT GMP,[62] and plans on playing an active role in strengthening the business and pushing the Hallyu Wave through it subsidiary KVLY.[63] On March 26, Shin Dae-nam has resigned as CEO of Cube Entertainment. Ahn Woo-hyung and Lee Dong-kwan was appointed as the new CEO of Cube Entertainment. Ahn Woo-hyung is the CEO of KVLY and Lee Dong-kwan is the VT GMP vice president.[64] On April 17, Cube launched a global fan page U CUBE for fans around the world to communicate with their artists and providing services such as automatic translation in various languages and systems to apply for music show recordings.[65] On June 16, 2020, model Moon Su-inn, who debuted as a model in 2014 signed exclusive contract with Cube Entertainment.[66] On June 23, Seongdong-gu district signed an agreement with Cube to promote urban regeneration based on cultural contents through various cultural contents such as festival and YouTube content.

On January 6, 2021, Cube Entertainment announced that they had signed a contract with webtoon platform, Comics Family, to produce video content with their IP. The company plans to produce 12 exclusive video content on webtoon IPs per year with Comics Family. They are planning to distribute the dramas globally through various OTT platforms.[75] On June 10, 2021, Cube Entertainment's fourth girl group, Lightsum, debuted.[76][77] On August 3, 2021, Jang Hyun-seung left Cube Entertainment after his contract expired.[78] On August 13, 2021, Choi Yu-jin of CLC made an unofficial announcement through Girls Planet 999 that Cube had told CLC that they would no longer be doing group activities.[79] On August 14, 2021, Cube Entertainment announced Soojin's withdrawal from (G)I-dle after a school bullying accusation.[80] On October 22, 2021, Choi Yujin of CLC successfully placed 3rd in the final live episode of Mnet's survival show

On March 5, 2022, Cube Entertainment announced that Soojin's exclusive contract has been terminated after police investigations concluded that the accusers were not guilty of spreading false information.[83] On March 18, 2022, Cube Entertainment announced that Seungyeon and Yeeun would be leaving the company as they had chosen not to renew their contract with the company.[84] On May 20, 2022, Cube Entertainment announced that CLC would be disbanding as of June 6 of that year.[85] On October 25, 2022, Cube Entertainment announced the departure of members Huiyeon and Jian from the group and that Lightsum would be reorganized as a group of six.[86]

On October 9, 2023, Cube Entertainment announced that Pentagon members' Yeo One, Yan An, Yuto, Kino, and Wooseok did not renew their contract with the agency.[87] On November 6, after eleven years, the members of BTOB departed from Cube Entertainment following the completion of their contracts.[88] The same day, Pentagon member Hongseok terminated his contract with the company.[89]

On March 20, 2024, Cube Entertainment announced that Seunghee would be leaving the company as her contract had ended.[90] On April 2, Cube debuted Nowadays, it is their fourth boy group after Beast, BtoB and Pentagon.[91]