entertainment companies in korea use a boot-camp system in grooming their idols. in the case of s.m. entertainment, the company receives 300,000 applicants in nine countries every year. they possess training facilities in the gangnam district of seoul, where recruits then train for years in anticipation of their debut. sm was called the first company to market "bands as brands", and commodify not just the artists' product, but the artist(s) themselves. such techniques have resulted in mass recognition abroad and helped to spark the korean wave, which benefits entertainment companies by broadening their audience. as domestic fandom is not generally enough to produce the profits that these corporations and their players require, branding and marketing of the artist/group has become central to industry profits and thus a defining feature of the genre today.