Showbiz Tycoon Targets China with New Boy Band

Published on 2012/03/30 | Source

EXO-M /Courtesy of SM Entertainment

Showbiz tycoon Lee Soo-man has often said that China's entertainment market will overtake Hollywood one day, and the ultimate goal of his company SM Entertainment will be making China's Hollywood his home ground.

Now Lee is set to unveil a new weapon to target the Chinese pop maket -- six-member manufactured group EXO-M. They will make their debut with showcases in Seoul on Saturday and in Beijing on Sunday.

EXO-M were trained strictly for the Chinese market from the onset. Out of six members, three -- Lu Han, Tao and LAY -- are Chinese nationals, and Kris is Chinese-Canadian. The two others are Koreans but have Chinese-sounding names, Xiu Min and Chen.

There have been successful manufactured bands with foreign members, such as 2PM with Nichkhun and Miss A with Fei and Jia, but none where foreigners were in the majority.

The Chinese members were scouted in China and Canada and went through three years of training in Korea with Korean members. SM Entertainment said they taught Korean to the Chinese members and Chinese to the Korean members. Their debut song will be released in Korean in Korea and in Chinese in China.