230203 SM has announced 'SM 3.0,' an internal restructuring of SM Entertainment in the face of fans' grievances and the changing K-pop landscape.
For BoA, if all things go to plan, this may mean that (1) she will now have a dedicated production, creative, etc team working exclusively and independently for her; and (2) she might have her own SM sub-label, where she will be given greater creative and business autonomy.
Below are the changes that may be relevant to BoA, explained in more depth:
Multi-production centers: Instead of having an executive producer with one massive team overseeing all artists (as has been the case under LSM), there will now be 5 production centers. Each of which will exclusively and independently perform management, production, and creative functions for the artist/s assigned to them.
A&R Committee: In place of an executive producer whose responsibility is to ensure that the music follows the "SM standard" (quality control), SM will establish an A&R / Music Selection Committee, headed by Chris Lee and composed of A&R managers from each production center as well as A&R specialists.
Life stages and the multi-label system: SM has explicitly recognized that younger acts and older or "mature" acts have different needs. Under SM 3.0, younger acts are to ideally grow within production centers, while “mature acts” are encouraged to form their own sub-labels, where they will be granted more business and creative autonomy (e.g. Label SJ).
The decision to create a sub-label lies in the hands of the artist/s themselves and the IP Committee. The IP Committee’s responsibility is to oversee the development and management of artists “across life stages,” from debut to maturity. The committee will be composed of the directors from each production center, the CFO, and external industry experts.
Other relevant changes include a reward structure for groups that perform well commercially (though this was not explained in depth in the video) and their goal of putting out 41 albums in 2023 compared to the usual ~30 (BoA has not announced any plans of releasing an album in 2023, but this number may mean that promotional periods per comeback may be shorter).