Jonghyun ‘JH’ Kah, CEO of HYBE, on its expansion in Latin America

Following its acquisition of Exile Music in November, HYBE is expanding its global entertainment empire in Latin America, opening new offices in Mexico City, Miami and Los Angeles and introducing new properties to its Latin America-focused operation.

The move includes a new label, Docemil Music, and a name change from Exile Music to Zarpazo. Another division of Exile, Exile Podcasts, will be renamed Aha Podcasts.

“Latin music is one of the fastest growing genres in the global market,” said Jonghyun ‘JH’ Kah, CEO of HYBE Latin America, in an exclusive conversation with Billboard. “Also, there are very agile and smart local independent music companies that aim to change the status quo by developing new artists and really sticking with them.”

Likewise, Kah adds, the Latin market is unique because of the longevity its artists enjoy; Many old songs have a long shelf life. “Our goal is to rediscover the soul of the Latin sound and turn it into a global phenomenon by focusing on talents that resonate with different generations and have a decisive impact on the world of music, not only within the Latin sphere.”

As part of the HYBE Latin America executive team, Jeremy Norkin, co-founder of Exile Music, will remain as COO. Docemil will be based in Mexico City and will be led by general manager Fernando Grediaga, who brings more than 23 years of industry experience working at EMI Music and Universal Music, among others.

Zarpazo, formerly Exile Music, is based in Miami and will now become part of HYBE Latin America, under the leadership of Grediaga and Santiago Duque. The latter previously worked at Rimas Entertainment and Sony Music. He roster from Zarpazo include emerging artists Magna and Chicocurlyhead.

HYBE Latin America also includes a boutique touring agency run by Norkin, with a diverse roster of artists including Quevedo, Cypress Hill, Nach, KHEA and Marc Seguí.

By expanding in Latin America, HYBE seeks to tap into a growing market without gender boundaries, Kah says. “We see a lot of diversity in Latin music and we are not tied to any particular genre. As K-pop can encompass many different musical genres, I think Latin music can be more diverse in many ways,” he adds.

“As music transcends borders, our goals cannot be limited to geographical boundaries. Mexico is the most populated Spanish-speaking country in the world, which is why we have our headquarters in CDMX. However, the Hispanic market in the United States is as large or perhaps even larger than that of Mexico. We also take into account that Latin artists come from all over the world, including America and Europe.”

HYBE, of course, is known for developing K-pop megastars like BTS through a sophisticated artist identification and development infrastructure. “HYBE always seeks out the best talent, allows them to discover their authentic voice and connects them with their fans. The K-pop training system is competitive as we try our best to train well-rounded professional artists,” says Kah. “In our new efforts, we will seek out talent and give them the tools they need to improve. “Our goal is to ensure our artists discover their own unique voices and build stronger relationships than ever with their fans.”

That said, Kah adds that HYBE Latin America “will not simply replicate our Korean or US practices.” Rather, he says, “our system will try to find the best of both worlds. The Korean approach is very unique and the start-up costs are extremely high. In Latin America we want to renew our model, we want to plant seeds and see how they grow. It took K-pop more than a decade to get where it is. I hope that in 10 years we can confidently say that we achieved the same unique success here.”