YGE Updates: Big Bang's New Album, World Tour By End of 2014

High royalties from Big Bang’s Japanese dome tour

For the first quarter of 2014, YG Entertainment posted record-high operating profit of 8.3 billion won (+31.5% from last year) on revenue of 43.9 billion won (+47.1%).

First quarter royalty income doubled to 22 billion won, as the majority of revenue from Big Bang’s 2013 Japanese dome tour (600,000 attendees) was recognized in the quarter. First quarter concert revenue remained flat at 5.08 billion won, which included revenue from Big Bang’s Seoul concerts held on the 24th to 26th of January (30,000 attendees) and 2NE1’s March 1st and 2nd Seoul concerts (12,000 attendees).

2014 highlights: New Psy album and artist debuts

In the wake of last month’s ferry disaster, YG Entertainment has postponed many events originally scheduled for May, including album releases. Still, the company is moving ahead with overseas events as planned, including 2NE1’s world tour (17 concerts in 13 cities across 9 countries), and the YG Family tour (two concerts at the Osaka Dome in April and two more at the Tokyo Dome in May).

In 2014, Psy is expected to come out with a new full-length album targeting a global audience. Big Bang is also set to release a new full-length album, possibly in fourth quarter of the year. After completing its run in Japan, the YG Family tour will head to Korea and China (likely at a 50,000-capacity stadium).

Big Bang, the company’s biggest act in terms of revenue contribution, is expected to follow up its new album release with a world tour at the end of the year (lasting into the 1st half of 2015). The duo Akdong Musician released their debut album in April, which has been doing better than expected. WINNER, which has already demonstrated its popularity in Japan at YG Family concerts, is also likely to release its first album soon. In addition, YG Entertainment is likely to unveil a new girl group (the first since 2NE1’s 2009 debut), and reveal its plans for the winners of the reality program WIN: Who is Next by the end of the year.

The company plans to spend the proceeds from the rights issue on purchasing property in the US to expand its presence there, and also on acquiring new artists through model agencies and talent academies. Some of the proceeds could also be used to expand the firm’s headquarters to secure more training space as its artist lineup expands.