Starship Entertainment

Starship Entertainment was founded in 2008 by the couple Kim Shi-dae and Seo Hyun-joo with current Kakao M executive Kim Young-suk. Kim Shi-dae previously worked as a road manager for K-pop band Cool and worked for Big Hit Entertainment between 2005 and 2007, while Seo Hyun-joo worked for JYP Entertainment.[2]

Starship's first artist was ex-Big Hit singer K.Will, who released his first single for the label in 2008, "Love 119".[3] In 2010, Starship debuted their first girl group, Sistar. The following year, they debuted their first boy group, Boyfriend.[4][5]

In 2013, Starship Entertainment announced its first subsidiary label, "Starship X", which rapper Mad Clown was signed under.[6]

On 18 December 2013, 70% of the label's shares was acquired by its distributor, LOEN Entertainment (renamed to Kakao M in 2018), and made into an independent subsidiary of the subsidiary.[7]

Starship signed singer Jeong Se-woon, following his appearance on K-pop Star 3 in July 2014.[8]

In December, Starship partnered with Mnet to produce the survival show, No.Mercy, from which they formed their second boy group, Monsta X.[9] The group debuted in May 2015 with the seven winners of the show, and promoted as a hip hop boy group.[10]

In April 2015, Starship signed a mutual management contract with the Chinese label Yuehua Entertainment.[11] In December, Starship jointly debuted a new girl group with Yuehua, Cosmic Girls, also known as WJSN, aimed at appealing to both South Korean and Chinese audiences.[12]

In May 2015, Starship acquired 100% of King Kong Entertainment's shares in a strategic partnership alliance. In January 2017, Starship and King Kong registered their merger. The agencies mutually agreed to use the name Starship Entertainment while the division that manages the actors would operate under the label “King Kong by Starship”.[13]

In 2017, Starship Entertainment launched another subsidiary label, "House of Music", which focused on recruiting smaller, independent artists, with artist MoonMoon being the first signed under the label.[6] In November 2018, Starship renamed the label "Highline Entertainment".[14][15]

In 2017, the label's first girl group, Sistar, disbanded, with members Dasom and Soyou remaining under Starship.[16][17] In 2019, Boyfriend also disbanded.[18]

In April 2020, Starship debuted a new boy group, Cravity.[19] In August, Starship Entertainment won the Korea Creative Content Agency Award, for their contributions to the Hallyu Wave.[1]

In 2020, Starship began expanding their sublabel "Highline Entertainment", with a focus on artists who are prominent in subculture.[20] In April, they signed artist Wonho, previously a member of their boy group Monsta X, to the label, who debuted in September.[21] Then, also in September, they announced that singer Yoo Seung-woo had signed to the label.[20] This moved him from their acoustic sublabel "Starship Y", which brought that label to an end, as Yoo was the only artist on the label.