The Biggest “Lies” SM Entertainment’s SM 3.0 Promised, According To Fans

After Lee Soo Man stepped down as the CEO of SM Entertainment, the company announced its latest business strategy to the public in February 2023, calling it “SM 3.0.” Under SM 3.0, the company’s focus is on IP (intellectual property) production, monetization, local and international market expansion, and investment in new subsidiary businesses. With this new strategy, SM wanted to introduce a multi-label system to help it produce “mega IP.”

Regarding the future plans for all artists under SM Entertainment, the company made specific promises to fans on its official YouTube channel. But three months into these announcements, some fans are starting to feel deceived. A current Reddit thread has compiled some of the complaints fans have with SM 3.0’s promises, which include the following.

Inequal attention to artists

The original poster raised their concerns about SM’s continued bias towards certain artists under the label. One of the promises made by SM 3.0 was to deliver content from all artists without any bias, but fans feel that all their recent releases have been focused primarily on aespa and NCT.

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What’s the biggest lie SM 3.0 promised so far?
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Some even pointed out how SM failed to uphold the promise of communicating artist information through SNS effectively. Fans of Red Velvet expressed their disappointment at how poorly their world tour announcement was managed and the lack of content from the group so far.

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Plans related to NCT didn’t materialize.

In a video explanation of SM 3.0’s future plans, SM Co-CEOs Chris Lee and Young Jun Tak claimed that NCT Tokyo would debut in 2023 and mark the end of the infinite expansion of the group. They officially announced that there wouldn’t be any changes in the lineup going further.

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However, Sungchan and Shotaro, the two SM Rookies who were introduced as the new members of NCT and NCT Tokyo, recently left the group. SM announced that they would re-debut in a different boy group.

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Kwangaya 119 platform is still non-existent

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SM 3.0 came with some unique strategies for protecting artists, one of which was a proposed platform tentatively named Kwangaya 119. The idea was to allow fans to report or tip off the label about suspected illegal activity related to their artists. The platform was supposed to be launched in the first half of 2023, but there have not been any follow-ups.

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New Music Releases

In the initial explanation video of SM 3.0, it was officially announced that the label is planning multiple album releases and concerts for its artists. It included mini albums from SNSD’s Taeyeon and NCT’s Ten. However, fans are unsatisfied with the lack of progress in these plans.

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EXO-ls are also disappointed that despite promising an EXO comeback in the first half of the year, it got pushed behind.

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According to SM’s recently announced plans for the upcoming quarters, Taeyeon’s mini album is supposedly slated to be released during the third quarter, along with eight other releases. But netizens are weary of how well these plans will be executed.

However, some fans feel it is too early to pass judgment. There seem to be quite a lot of people who are giving SM Entertainment the benefit of the doubt and believe that the company will deliver on its promises once it has successfully handled its ongoing legal battles.