Inside the SM Studio: VP reveals how K-pop's first dedicated video space came to be

SM Life Design's new music video and content studio, SM Studio, located in Paju, Gyeonggi [SM LIFE DESIGN]

 
Music videos are crucial in the 21st-century music industry. That's doubly true in K-pop, a genre where visual elements are not just complementary to, but just as important as, the music itself.
 
So it may surprise people to learn that none of Korea’s largest K-pop agencies have had their own music video studios to film in — until now.
 

Related Article

• SM Entertainment to hold global auditions in 2025

• SM Entertainment partners with MBC to create naevis content

• SM Entertainment unveils dates, lineup for 'SMTOWN Live 2025' at Gocheok Sky Dome

• SM Entertainment begins celebratory project ahead of 30th anniversary next year

 
SM Entertainment’s printing and merchandise production subsidiary, SM Life Design, finished the construction of its 5,960-square-meter (64,152-square-foot) studio in the northwestern city of Paju, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 11, making SM Entertainment the first K-pop agency to own a large-scale studio solely dedicated to shooting music videos and other visual content for the company’s artists.
 
Dubbed the SM Studio, the facility began operation on Jan. 1 with the start of the new year. There are two buildings: the main 4,778-square-meter studio and a 1,182-square-meter storage building that can also be used as a smaller shooting location.
 

Nam Hwa-min, vice president of SM Entertainment's merchandise subsidiary SM Life Design [SM LIFE DESIGN]

SM Entertainment, whose wholly owned subsidiary SM Studios owns 29.3 percent of SM Life Design, rented out the studio for the entire year, but artists' shooting schedules are a secret, as would be expected of a K-pop company. The studio cost 31 billion won ($21.2 million), which SM Life Design paid in cash.
 
The synergy that will come from the studio will not be visible right this instant, but it will be definite, according to Nam Hwa-min, vice president of SM Life Design.
 
“It’s not because the SM Studio makes it cheaper for SM Entertainment to make a music video, but because the studio will not only allow the company to create a music video in a better environment than any other competitor in the country, but also allow for the capital to circulate within the SM umbrella — a significant plus for a corporate body,” Nam said.
 
It was Nam’s idea to build a studio for music videos, one he thought of when he first joined SM Life Design in 2018 and became chief financial officer (CFO) in December 2021. Nam began his career in finance and the management of heavy industries, including Doosan followed by HD Hyundai. He gained insight into the importance of a well-made “shipyard,” so to say — a sturdy manufacturing system to heighten the quality of a company’s products.
 
“What the studio will provide is better infrastructure, a better environment for everyone,” Nam said. “Most large-scale studios are hard to access from Seoul and often lack necessary facilities, such as a makeup room or even proper bathrooms. Having a studio of this scale near the capital city with everything tailor-suited for K-pop artists, creators and staff will lead to higher quality content, even if it doesn’t immediately show through numbers.”
 
The Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Nam for an interview last month prior to the opening of SM Studio to talk more on the meaning and potential of the new facility.
 
The following are excerpts of the interview that have been edited for length and clarity.
 

SM Life Design's new music video and content studio, SM Studio, located in Paju, Gyeonggi, seen from a birds-eye-view [SM LIFE DESIGN]

Q. Please explain more about the benefits of the new studio. What would SM Studio make possible that isn’t available when a company rents a studio from the outside?


A. Firstly, there are only about 10 major studios that rent out the space for music videos. K-pop agencies have to fight for that limited slot, which rushes the producers to work on a tight schedule. If something goes wrong during the initial shoot, they have to demolish the set and build the entire thing over again to continue the process, especially because they can’t share their resources with the competitors that will be using the studio as well.
 
SM Studio, on the other hand, allows us to store the props and other equipment in the building and reuse them for other artists. Being able to store and share resources also aligns with the so-called environmental, social and government management that’s important in the investment market.
 
Real estate is also one of the best investments in the long run because its value only increases by the day. Its close proximity to both Incheon, where the country’s largest airport is, and the capital could also turn the studio into a tourist spot for K-pop fans in the future.
 

Nam Hwa-min, vice president of SM Life Design, gives a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony on Dec. 11, 2024, at the newly-opened studio in Paju, Gyeonggi. [SM LIFE DESIGN]

When did you start planning for SM Studio? What was the biggest obstacle to making it come true?
 
I proposed the plan before I became the CFO, because I saw how reasonable real estate prices were in the Paju area. It’s close to western Seoul’s Sangam, where all the big TV broadcasters are, and I saw the opportunity that proximity could bring us. We bought the land two and a half years ago and started construction around six months later.
 
The most difficult part of building an entirely new facility usually comes from getting the permits and authorization from the city government — getting to know the right people and then meeting all the regulations and criteria. I asked around and got help from everyone I got to know throughout my career to make sure that it wouldn’t take too long for us to get this done.
 
Long story short, I looked around for land that didn’t need to have its use changed and got all the process done in around two years.
 

Nam Hwa-min, vice president of SM Life Design, gives a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony on Dec. 11, 2024, at the newly-opened studio in Paju, Gyeonggi. [SM LIFE DESIGN]

How long does it take, and how much does it usually cost to shoot a music video?
 
It all differs, but we could say that it usually takes around 300 to 400 million won and a week to make a good music video. Half of the week goes to setting up the shoot — getting the props and the set ready and then taking it all down and discarding the leftovers after a three-day shoot, which is the average.
 
If something goes awry, whether that be because of the artist’s schedule or other outside factors, that process had to be repeated all over again to make the deadline, which was one of the difficulties of having to rent an outside studio for shoots.
 

Nam Hwa-min, vice president of SM Life Design, third from right, poses for photos with SM Entertainment executives including the agency's co-CEOs Jang Cheol-hyuk and Tak Young-jun (fourth and fifth from left) at the opening ceremony of SM Studio on Dec. 11, 2024, at the newly-opened studio in Paju, Gyeonggi. [SM LIFE DESIGN]

What other benefits will SM Studio bring, other than for better music videos?
 
We built the studio so that it could accommodate not just music video shoots, but also other purposes in the future, such as shooting dramas and films. That’s why we soundproofed the walls and built it so tall, even though that’s not so necessary for shooting music videos. It could even be used for SM Entertainment artists to rehearse their concerts, which had to be done very quickly at the concert venues in the past.
 
For now, we want to emphasize that this is the first large-scale music video studio to be built in Korea by a K-pop agency. It will be a big upgrade for SM Entertainment in more ways than meets the eye.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]