The Blackpink Solo Career Nobody Is Talking About

Business Summary

BLACKPINK’s four members renewed with YG Entertainment in December 2023 as a group, but not as solo artists. That split their business into two parts: group activities remained with YG, while each member pursued solo work through a different company or label arrangement.

The video compares their results across two dimensions: audience reach and recording ownership.

Business Strategies and Operating Models

• Lisa — ownership with major-label distribution and support: She founded LLOUD in February 2024 and partnered with RCA Records two months later. RCA’s press release says Lisa retains full ownership of her recordings under the deal. The video frames this as owning the asset while partnering with a larger company for support.
• Jennie — artist-owned company, undisclosed recording rights: She founded OA with her mother in November 2023, then partnered with Columbia Records. Jennie’s company ownership is known; whether she owns her recordings has not been publicly disclosed.
• Jisoo — one-person agency plus global label deal: She launched BLISSOO in February 2024 and signed a global deal with Warner Records in January of the following year. The trade-off is more control, but also responsibility for operating costs and execution.
• Rosé — reach through established companies: She signed with THEBLACKLABEL, run by producer Teddy, and later entered a worldwide deal with Atlantic Records. The video says YG owns a stake in THEBLACKLABEL, so YG may retain an indirect connection to some of her solo business.
• YG — retaining the group business: YG kept BLACKPINK’s group activities, including group releases and touring, while the members’ solo careers moved elsewhere.

Frameworks and Business Lessons

• Compare reach versus ownership: Chart performance measures audience reach; recording ownership determines who controls a valuable asset and may receive income over time. These are different scoreboards, not interchangeable measures of success.
• Use a major-label partnership to scale independently: Lisa and Jennie established their own companies while partnering with large labels. The potential benefit is greater independence alongside a partner’s resources; the terms and degree of control differ by deal.
• Account for the full cost of independence: Owning a company can mean paying for staff, marketing, and music videos—and bearing the loss if a release underperforms. Jisoo’s “one-person agency” arrangement is described as bringing both greater responsibility and risk.
• Treat legacy contracts separately from new ventures: Lisa’s record-setting “Money” streams came from a release issued under YG before LLOUD existed. Her later ownership deal applies to new recordings, not automatically to earlier work.
• Build scale through reach, then assess the economics: Rosé’s results show how established-label distribution and support can coincide with major chart performance. But the video notes that her contract and payout terms are private, so chart success alone cannot establish how much she earns or owns.

Key Metrics and Results

YG and the Contract Split

• Reports that three members might leave YG coincided with an estimated $140 million loss in YG stock value in one day.
• After all four renewed as a group, YG’s stock reportedly rose about 25%, more than it had fallen on the September news.
• BLACKPINK’s 2023 tour was reported to have generated about $148 million.
• Korean media reportedly said Lisa turned down YG offers worth about $36 million.
• YG’s 2024 revenue fell 36%, and the company lost money. The video says revenue rebounded in 2025 with BLACKPINK back on a world tour.

Lisa

• “LALISA” received 73.6 million video views in 24 hours, a Guinness record cited in the video.
• “Money” became the first solo K-pop track to pass 1 billion Spotify streams. The video gives an industry estimate of $3–5 million for a billion streams, shared among rights holders—not Lisa’s individual payout.
• Alter Ego debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with about 46,000 first-week units.

Jennie

• Ruby debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with 56,000 first-week units.
• A remix featuring Jennie reached No. 5 on the Hot 100, described as her first U.S. top 10. The subtitle’s wording for the remix collaborators is unclear.

Jisoo

• She released “Click” as a pre-release single from her first full solo album. The video does not provide comparable chart or sales figures for the track.

Rosé

• “APT.” with Bruno Mars reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, which the video describes as the highest position for a female K-pop act.
• Its video surpassed 2 billion YouTube views in under a year; the song reached 1 billion Spotify streams in 100 days, according to the video’s cited Guinness records.
• Rosie debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 102,000 first-week units—nearly twice Jennie’s and more than twice Lisa’s reported first-week totals.
• “APT.” reportedly set a record for most weeks at No. 1 on a Billboard global chart outside the U.S.
• The video says the song earned three Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year.

BLACKPINK as a Group

• The video says the group’s Deadline EP, released through YG, debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

Bottom Line

By the video’s comparison, Rosé leads on reach, while Lisa is the only member whose recording ownership is publicly documented. Jennie’s and Jisoo’s recording-ownership terms, as well as the financial terms of all four solo deals, are not public. YG’s remaining business with the members is primarily tied to group activities, alongside its reported stake in THEBLACKLABEL.

Presenter and Sources

No individual presenter is named; the video is from Idol Receipts. Sources cited in the subtitles include label press releases, Billboard, Guinness, and YG Entertainment filings. Labels and companies discussed include YG, LLOUD, RCA, OA, Columbia, BLISSOO, Warner Records, THEBLACKLABEL, and Atlantic Records.