Lee Sung-soo

Lee Sung-soo (; also spelled Lee Sung-su; born November 3, 1979) is a South Korean music production director and Artists and repertoire (A&R) executive. He is the chief A&R officer of SM Entertainment. He was formerly the CEO of SM Entertainment and SM Entertainment USA. Lee began working for SM as early as 1998 as a part-timer and officially joined the agency in 2005 as an A&R representative, before later becoming head of the production division.

Lee is an expert in the field of music production and is considered one of the key figures who has led the growth of SM. A member of the company's core organization of A&R, he has been responsible for the songs and concepts of SM artists such as BoA, Girls' Generation, Shinee, f(x), Exo, Red Velvet, and NCT. He is also known for introducing the idea of the songwriting camp to the K-pop industry.

Life and career Born on November 3, 1979, Lee Sung-soo graduated from the Department of International Trade at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. He is the nephew of SM founder Lee Soo-man's late wife. Lee began working for SM Entertainment as early as 1998 while attending university as a part-timer focused on various tasks, such as identifying fan club trends. He developed an interest in A&R and attended the SM Academy, where he studied computer composition and arrangement, stating that he should "know how to make music to be good at A&R". He officially joined SM in 2005 as a member of the A&R department and worked with Chinese singer Zhang Liyin as his first project. whom he wrote two songs for: "Romeo and Juliette" and "The Name I Loved". He became head of the A&R department in 2009 and head of the production division in 2015, directly under Lee Soo-man. He had first started teaming up with foreign composers in the early 2000s, but initially found it difficult due to the low profile of K-pop at the time. Following the release of several hit songs by SM artists in 2009, he began to be invited to songwriting camps hosted by foreign music publishers, and brought the idea back to South Korea. Over the years, he identified talented composers and compiled them into a list, and within SM, they formed a studio that could operate a songwriting camp all year round. Lee stayed abroad for a third of the year and formed a "strong" network of foreign composers, hosting songwriting camps for SM with them and the company's in-house composers. This system was eventually adopted by other K-pop companies.

Lee was appointed a registered director in 2017 Through the announcement of the company's appointment of two new executives, Lee was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO), with Tak as the chief marketing officer (CMO), as SM celebrated its 25th year.

In 2023, Lee and Tak became embroiled in a dispute over SM's management rights with founder Lee Soo-man. After being pushed out of the company due to shareholder outrage over high producing fees, Lee Soo-man sold his shares to Hybe Corporation, making them the largest shareholder. Lee and Tak, who had been planning to restructure the company, allied themselves with technology company Kakao in an effort to guarantee SM's independence. Lee announced his intention to stand down as CEO and return to his role in A&R. He was appointed the chief A&R officer (CAO) and is leading the A&R Committee following SM's reorganisation. He was also appointed CEO of Kreation Music Rights, a newly-created subsidiary that focuses on music publishing.

August 2, 2014 Busan

June 19, 2019 New York City David Rubenstein Atrium

June 25, 2019

CKL Stage

September 7, 2019 Starfield Library

September 24, 2020 Gimpo Camp One

September 25, 2020

October 7, 2020 Seoul Conrad Hotel

November 21, 2020 Goyang CJ ENM Ilsan Production Center

July 1, 2021

October 7, 2021

April 27, 2022

July 6, 2022 Daegu Hotel Susung Convention Hall

"—" denotes events where its venue was not publicized or was held online.

Filmography +List of documentary title, year released, and role Year Title Role 2022 K-pop Generation Himself

Accolades Awards and nominations + Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee(s) of the award, and the result of the nomination Award ceremony Year Category Nominee(s) Result Korea Creative Management 2019 Job Creation Lee Sung-soo 2020

Listicles + Name of publisher, year listed, name of listicle, and placement Publisher Year Listicle Placement Billboard 2022 Indie Power Players Placed International Power Players Placed 2023 Placed