Lee Sung-soo

Lee Sung-soo (이성수; also spelled Lee Sung-su; born November 3, 1979) is a South Korean music production director and A&R executive. He is the chief A&R officer of SM Entertainment and CEO of Kreation Music Rights. 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. The first group he worked with was Shinee, 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. By that point, he was directing 80 percent of artist production. Lee worked with numerous artists, including BoA, Girls' Generation, Exo, Red Velvet, and NCT, but his influence was most clearly felt in the work of Shinee and f(x), whose "unique" style stood in opposition to the intense, performance-driven music championed by Yoo Young-jin, SM's music director.

In 2013, Lee introduced the idea of the songwriting camp to the K-pop industry. 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. He was also responsible for the creation of SM Station and SM Classics.

Lee was appointed a registered director in 2017 and became CEO of SM Entertainment USA in 2019. On March 10, 2020, SM announced through the board of directors that Lee Sung-soo, general director of music production, and Tak Young-jun, general director of artist management, had been appointed co-CEOs of the company. 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. On March 12, Hybe withdrew from the takeover battle, ceding control of SM's management rights to Kakao. Lee announced his intention to stand down as CEO and return to his role in A&R. His term came to an end on March 31. 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.

Accolades
SM Entertainment was selected in the job creation category of the Korea Creative Management 2020 award for two consecutive years. Lee Sung-soo was mentioned as having a pivotal role in establishing SM as a "leading entertainment company in Asia," adding that Lee maintained the company's musical color and completeness due to operating and developing his system with producer Lee Soo-man since the mid-2000s. Lee was listed along with Tak Young-jun in Billboard's 2022 International Power Players, and was included again in 2023. Additionally, Lee was on the list of Billboard's 2022 Indie Power Players, along with Tak, with Lee expressing his satisfaction with their achievement being noticed as the "trailblazers in the global music industry during such an exciting time for K-pop."