BTS, Bang Si-hyuk make the front of Time magazine, again

BTS and HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk make the cover of Time magazine. [TIME]

BTS and HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk decorated the front cover of Time magazine, and HYBE made the magazine’s list of “100 Most Influential Companies of 2022” alongside some of the most powerful businesses such as Apple, Rivian, Pfizer, Disney, TikTok, Balenciaga, Opensea, United and Spotify.

Time conducted a zoom interview with the band and Bang and published an article titled “HYBE and Bang Si-hyuk Are Transforming the Music Business — With a Little Help From BTS” on Wednesday.

“HYBE is not just a record label or a management company,” Time wrote.

“Our vision is to become the world’s leading entertainment lifestyle platform, with music as our foundation,” Bang said in the interview.

“As HYBE has evolved, it has grown from a small artist incubator — Bang handpicked the seven performers of BTS from around Korea — into what he calls a ‘360-degree business,’ in the mode of brands like Disney that own and operate a catalog of intellectual properties [IPs],” Time said.

The magazine went over the K-pop powerhouse’s feats such as its acquisition of U.S.-based media company Ithaca Holdings, its progression of the NFT (nonfungible token) business and the expansion of its fan community app Weverse.

This is the third time for the band to make the front cover of Time. It was selected to be “2020 Entertainer of the Year” in December 2020 and it made the list of “Next Generation leaders” in October 2018.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]