Korea’s Four Major Entertainment Companies to Host Global Festival in 2027 via “Phenomenon” Project

HYBE, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and YG Entertainment, the four leading entertainment companies in South Korea, have launched a joint project for the first time. Under the Phenomenon project led by Park Jin-young, Chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, they aim to organize a massive K-pop festival in the country by 2027.

The four entertainment firms have submitted a merger application to the Fair Trade Commission in order to establish a joint venture for event planning. Since HYBE and SM are part of larger corporate groups, they must follow legal procedures for this merger. It is highly likely that all four companies will hold equal shares in the new entity, which is expected to be named Phenomenon.

This company will serve as a platform dedicated to planning and managing large-scale events. Its initial goal is to host a huge K-pop festival in South Korea in 2027, with plans to expand from there to major cities around the world starting in 2028 if everything goes according to schedule.

The Phenomenon project signifies “a phenomenon created by fans,” reflecting a strategy to maximize K-pop’s fan-driven nature within the event industry. Park Jin-young revealed this vision in 2025, stating that he intended to launch the world’s highest-quality music festival in Korea.

The core idea behind this project is to turn the platform itself into a brand. Allowing artists from different companies to perform on the same stage can encourage cross-fandom consumption and attract more global fans. While traditional K-pop concerts have followed an artist-centered tour format, Phenomenon aims to transform performances into sustainable intellectual property rather than mere events.

This festival, created jointly by Korea’s four major entertainment companies, aspires to become a national cultural event on par with events like Coachella in the United States, Glastonbury in the United Kingdom, and Fuji Rock Festival in Japan.