Baljunso (; stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a South Korean

indie label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

founded in 1991 by Kang Byung-yong, former director of CAN Entertainment. Baljunso was acquired by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

in 2014.

History

Baljunso, an indie label, was established in 1991 by Kang Byung-yong, the former CEO of Can Entertainment, who discovered many artists such as Kim Jong-seo, Jang Hye-jin, Park Sang-min, and Can. Kang stated that the establishment of the record label is to revive

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and band music associated with non-mainstream music genres rather than the idol music form that has been the foundation of influential

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

invested in the label to emphasize the variety of K-pop and globalize the industry. It then became an affiliate label of SM establishing local and international distribution, marketing, and further businesses for the company. On February 26, 2014, SM announced that the label would hold a launching ceremony called Baljunso World Wide Promotion on March 8 at Mapo District, Seoul, and will be broadcast live through

SM Town SM Town (stylized in all caps as SMTOWN) is a musical collective for the recording artists under South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment. SM Town artists have performed at the annual SM Town Live world tours since the SM Town Liv ...

's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel,

Genie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

, and Ustream. The label announced that they would debut

Play the Siren ''Play the Siren'' (, also stylized as ''PLAY THE SIREN'') was a South Korean hip-hop group that debuted in 2014 with the single "Dream Drive". History Pre-debut Play the Siren as a hip-hop crew brought the genre of urban music to Korea by com ...

, an

urban music Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

group that plays diverse genres of music based on rap. On January 21, 2015, Baljunso reported that Jang Hye-jin signed a contract with the label and planned a new song to be released on January 26.

Artists

All names listed are adapted from Baljunso's artist page on its official website. * HLIN * Wasted Johnnys * Sinchon Tigers

Former artists

(2014–2015) * Jang Hye-jin (2015–2016)

References

External links

* (Archived) {{Authority control South Korean independent record labels Record labels established in 1991 1991 establishments in South Korea SM Entertainment subsidiaries