The Big Three

If you've been following any of the major groups, like Big Bang, Girls' Generation, or 2PM, you've undoubtedly come across the phrase "the big three" before. It is used to reference the three biggest, and most popular, entertainment agencies in South Korea - YG, SM, and JYP.

JYP Entertainment

• Founded: 1997 by Park Jin Young (CEO)
• Notable Acts: Wonder Girls, 2AM, 2PM, miss A
• Known for: training program, multilingual acts, launching Rain's career
• Official website (English): JYP Entertainment
• Official YouTube: JYP Nation

Park Jin Young founded his namesake company only a few years after finding success in the music industry with his own solo career. As an accomplished singer, dancer, and producer, Park was a crucial part of the early, and continuing, success of his company.

One of the earliest K-Pop idol groups, g.o.d, was under JYP Entertainment, paving the way for the company's popular acts today. To this day, g.o.d is one of the few K-Pop artists to have an album sell over a million copies.

Global mega-star Rain also got his start under the label and although he eventually left and founded his own record company, J.Tune Entertainment, the two merged in late 2010.

JYP Entertainment is highly regarded in the industry for Park Jin Young's intensive training program. The idols-to-be spend years in vocal, dance, acting, and language lessons - making JYP trainees some of the most well-rounded performers in South Korea. JYP has turned out dozens of artists of over the years, although the vast majority have debuted under other labels. 2NE1's CL, soloist G.Na, four of the members of B2ST, and INFINITE's Hoya and Dongwoo are just a few of the long list of K-Pop singers who originally trained with JYP.

The current acts working in the company, known as JYP Nation, are a diverse bunch, with of the artists having been discovered outside of Korea. Wonder Girl Lim spent the majority of her life in Hong Kong and prior to debuting, trained with Chinese starlets Jia and Fei, who went on to become two of the four members of miss A. Beastly boy band 2PM has Nichkhun, a Thai-Chinese American, and Taecyeon, who spent considerable time living in the US. JOO, a young solo singer on the label, grew up in Indonesia. All of the artists with JYP are able to reach an expansive array of fans due to their backgrounds and strong foreign language skills.

Songs to know:

2PM - "Heartbeat" (2009) 1:59PM

Wonder Girls - "Nobody" (2008) The Wonder Years

miss A - "Bad Girl, Good Girl" (2010) Bad But Good

2AM - "Never Let You Go" (2010) Can't Let You Go Even If I Die

Rain - "How to Avoid the Sun" (2003) Ways to Avoid the Sun

g.o.d - "Road" (2001) Road

JY Park - "No Love No More" (2009) Sad Freedom

The Big Three Part 1 - YG Entertainment
The Big Three Part 2 - SM Entertainment