SM Entertainment founder appears poised for comeback as non-compete clause with Hybe nears expiration
Lee Soo-man poses for a photo during the Asian Hall of Fame induction ceremony held at The Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on Nov. 1. (A20 Entertainment)
Lee Soo-man, one of the first to push K-pop overseas, may be preparing for a return to Korea’s music scene next year as the visionary producer makes more public appearances, delivering speeches on the future of K-pop in Seoul and promoting his Chinese girl group A20 May globally.
Lee, founder of SM Entertainment, reportedly agreed to a three-year domestic music producing ban when he sold his entire 14.8 percent stake in the K-pop powerhouse to Hybe for 422.8 billion won ($290 million) in February 2023. According to the non-compete clause, he is restricted from music production activities in Korea until early 2026.
Upon his departure from SM Entertainment in March 2023, Lee said, “K-pop must evolve into global music that goes beyond Korea. The next era of music will be a fusion of culture and technology, with the goal of contributing to a sustainable future.” His words hinted that his role as an innovator was far from over.
“Although A20 May has not yet expanded to Korea, a domestic comeback seems only a matter of time,” an entertainment official said on Sunday. “Regardless of whether his activities are based in Singapore, China or the US, it’s clear that his target is global.”
With less than six months left until the clause expires, the producer has freuqntly been appearing both at home and abroad. He was inducted into the Asian Hall of Fame in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, joined by longtime collaborator producer Yoo Young-jin and Girls’ Generation’s Sunny, who works in trainee management at A20.
In October, he was the lead advisor in the white paper “From Generation to Attribution: Music AI Agent Architectures for the Post-Streaming Era” by music tech startup NewTune. The paper has been submitted to NeurIPS, one of the world’s leading AI conferences. That same month, Lee gave a keynote speech titled “Culture Technology in the Age of AI” at the 26th International Society for Music Information Retrieval conference held at KAIST in Daejeon, where he discussed the fusion of culture and technology as the driving force behind K-pop’s global rise.
A20 May poses for a photo during the “Asian Hall of Fame” ceremony held at The Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, Nov. 1. (A20 Entertainment)
Just two weeks earlier, on Sept. 18, Lee also gave a keynote speech at the Global Media Conference held at Lotte Hotel Seoul, speaking on “The Birth of a Cultural Operating System: K-pop and the Design of the Next Civilization.” In June, he was invited to speak at the France Music Week Summit at Place de l’Opera in Paris and met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace. Macron reportedly proposed that Lee open an office in France and discussed potential collaborations between creators of both countries.
Lee’s efforts to maintain public visibility through domestic public relations channels suggest that his return may already be in motion.
Meanwhile, A20 May — a Chinese girl group produced by Lee — has been gaining significant traction since its debut in December 2023. The group has released four digital singles and achieved notable success in both China and the US. Their second single “Boss,” released in April, topped QQ Music’s new song chart and reached No. 8 on the main Hot Song Chart, later earning the group a performance slot on CCTV’s Chinese Music Top Chart. The track also entered Mediabase’s US Top 40 mainstream radio chart for five consecutive weeks, marking the highest-ever ranking for a Chinese female artist or group.
A20 May continued their momentum with “B.B.B (Bigger Badder Better)” in August, which ranked No. 1 on QQ Music’s real-time new song chart and topped multiple daily and trend charts. At the Asian Hall of Fame ceremony on Nov. 1, the group won the new artist award.
Lee founded A20 Entertainment in May 2023, just two months after leaving SM Entertainment amid a heated management dispute. Contrary to industry insiders’ expectations that he would stay away from the industry, Lee established A20 Entertainment’s headquarters in Singapore with branches in the US, Japan and China. The trainees introduced through A20’s YouTube channel last October were mostly Chinese and Japanese nationals, a move likely linked to restrictions on domestic activities.
While A20 May’s sound bears similarities to conventional K-pop, Lee described the group’s style as “Zalpha Pop” — music tailored to Generation Z and Alpha — distinguishing it from traditional K-pop.
Music critic Lim Hee-yun said that Lee’s focus on the Chinese market may hold greater significance than his return to Korea.
“From both consumer and producer perspectives, China represents a natural next step for leading future global markets,” Lim said. “Rather than focusing on his possible return to Korea, it will be more interesting to see how Lee combines entertainment and technology to further expand K-pop’s global reach.”
jaaykim@heraldcorp.com