The Success of Korean Pop Music

The Success of Korean Pop Music

Introduction

Ove the past decade, the popularity of Korean culture through popular music has achieved huge success. The continued rise in popularity is a process that continues to receive international attention. In 2012, PSY attracted the whole world with his famous song ‘Gangnam Style.’ The singer and songwriter recorded over 2.5 billion views on YouTube, making the song the most viewed on the music streaming site. However, the Korean Pop (K-Pop) was already successful long before PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style.’ The music culture attracted huge crowds in Japan, Singapore, and other nations across South-Eastern Asia since the early 2000s. Since the early 2010s, K-Pop has been establishing international marks in Asia, the Middle East, and the rest of the world. The Korean wave, also known as Hallyu, is responsible for the popularity of pop culture in the region. The advancement of media technologies and support from the Korean government has been essential in the growth of K-Pop. In addition, globalization, cross-cultural relationships, and Korean diaspora are notable factors behind the success of this music culture.

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In 2005, the global music industry revenue from records totaled about $20 billion. Even with this success, the sector lost over $3 billion since the early 2000s. The growth of the internet and media technologies created an industry where physical music records were in danger. According to Global Market Overview (2017), the music industry lost an additional $4.5 billion in 2016 due to the effects of the digital media, internet piracy, and online video-streaming sites such as YouTube.

In sharp contrast to the rest of the world, Korean music has been growing since the early 2000s. According to the International Federation for Phonographic Industry (IFPI), K-pop ranks as one of the largest music markets in terms of total revenue. Since late 2012, Korea joined the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden as among four nations to export more music than imports. Therefore, k-pop has increasingly become among the popular music culture in the world.

K-pop is among the products of the Korean wave Hallyu. However, the success of the music culture is associated with other South Korean cultural elements gaining international popularity. Notably, Korean movies, dramas, and cultural events drove the Hallyu in the 1990s, especially in China. According to KMM, the Korean government stopped limiting state-owned media companies, which encouraged private investments into the entertainment industry. In 1991, the government pressured television companies to get cultural products such as dramas and movies from independent producers. The implementation of these guidelines created the foundation of the Korean wave and popularized k-culture in China. At this time, Korean media companies realized dramas and films were not sustainable export but the government’s move to control South Korea’s image. Between 1994 and 2007, the total revenue for Korean movies and dramas grew from $5 million to $150 million.

South Korean music was not completely irrelevant during the 1990s and early 2000s. According to KMM, Korean boy band High Five of Teenagers (HOT) was established in 1996 and inspired the popularity of K-pop in China, Japan, and other southeast Asian nations. In addition, another Korean singer Kwon Bo-ah (BoA), HOT, and other musicians, opened the Korean wave to new markets, especially middle-aged women in Asian countries. In addition, k-pop music attracted young people in Europe and North America through its powerful and energetic music. As digital technologies continued to evolve, Hallyu promoted the diffusion of Korean cultural content such as films, dramas, and music to the rest of the world. The popularization of this K-brand made consumers eager to try new music or movies from South Korea. K-pop, through Hallyu, continues to play an important role in building the Korean image since the 1990s. In 2016, K-pop contributed approximately $3 billion to the Korean economy form music, dramas, movies, and other cultural products from Hallyu. Thus, the Korean wave established a firm foundation for the rise and success of K-pop in China, Japan, China, and other nations.

            The development of the Korean music industry started long before the establishment of k-pop. Traditional South Korean pop music, popularly known as ‘kayo,’ included chanson, ballads, and turotu. These forms of music were imported from other countries such as Japan in the colonial period and US military bases during the 1950-1953 Korean war (). In addition, most of the popular musicians during the ‘kayo’ period, including Cho-Yong Pil and Mi Ja-Lee, recorded and performed thousands of songs to the Japanese and Korean market. These singers, including Nam Jim and Na Huna, advocated for the traditional popular music, kayo, although it featured western genres, including jazz, blues, and rock. However, South Korean perception of classical singers was overshadowed by sex scandals, obscene images, and gangster agents. However, these issues did not mean Koreans did not love the Kayo songs. Most of the population admired listening to traditional songs by Pil, Mi, Jim, and Huna even though their behavior was unpleasant.

During the period before the K-pop, musicians found it impossible to make money from selling records. There were increased cases of music piracy through audiotapes. Singers used buses to remote cities and perform live concerts so they could make revenue. Notably, gang members would flock into these concerts to extort money from managers and military dictators demanding sexual services from Kayo singers. Even though the government personnel demanded sex from Korean pop artists, they still banned most of the songs from the public. As the traditional pop music suffered from government bans and piracy, musicians had to bribe television producers, radio presenters, and newspaper reporters to secure airtime. Although created under American and Japanese influence, most of the popular Kayo songs maintained features that reflected the Korean origin. However, traditional Korean pop music was purposely for television and radio audiences. Kayo music created the foundation for the development of the modern-day K-pop genre. Other factors that contributed to the music include the growth of technology, globalization, Korean diaspora, and support from the South Korean government.

            The development of Hallyu opened up new markets and widened the consumer base for Korean music, films, and other cultural products. Before the 1990s, Korean popular music catered for domestic listeners with a few musicians targeting a global audience. The actual inspiration that created and sustained the popularity of K-pop was the ongoing changes in society. Notably, the most important of these changes was the development of media technologies. In the 1980s, there was a significant rise in music videos and broadcasting television since the launch of Music Television (MTV) in the US. K-pop music was suitable for this era as the music displayed attractive singers and dancers. In addition, Korean music was seen as a form of perfect pop culture that consisted of catchy, melodies, fashionable clothing, and exciting dancing.

There are two major developments in technology that led the music industry towards digitization. According to KMM, the MP3 player invention in 1996 and YouTube in 2005 are the key products that oversaw the transformation in the music sector. Notably, South Korea was the first music industry to generate more than half of its revenue from digital sales as early as 2005. The country has been more effective and efficient in adopting the transformation into a digitized music industry than China, and Western nations. In addition, K-pop managed to achieve international success in comparison with other countries such as Japan.  During the early 2000s, the Korean music industry was presented with conducive conditions such as cultural globalization that supported the sector. However, with the continued growth of technology, music piracy also increased rapidly across South Korea, hugely damaging the industry. According to KMM, the Korean local music industry, in partnership with major telecommunication companies, offered cheap music services to boost data service revenues through mobile platforms. Today, this pattern is adopted by most countries in the world, replacing the traditional retailers and wholesalers.

Moreover, the development of social media networks created new benefits by connecting musicians to fans and attracting new ones. Compared to other platforms such as concerts, tours, record CDs, television, and even digital songs, services such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are more accessible to people. The advanced technologies of mobile platforms, smartphones, and the internet facilitated the growth of the K-pop fan base. The social media platforms do not require the audience to have a timely presence compared to the others. In addition, K-pop artists use the sites to enjoy the promotion and distribution capabilities that other methods such as radio, television, and CDs do not have. Notably, the only restriction music audience has in accessing YouTube is the requirement to watch an advertisement before the video. The widespread piracy in the industry led to the development of business-to-business strategies enabling K-pop fans to consume music free of charge. Although all K-pop music agencies implement this strategy, the content relies on royalty revenues of music’s appeal to consumers.

The modern supply chain of the K-pop music industry requires all stakeholders to update their content on YouTube for free. Korean labels, artists, producers, composers, and musicians then collect the business-to-business royalties from the site based on the number of views. According to KMM, the revenue generated by the K-pop music industry depends on the content of consumer attraction value. The growth of the Korean music industry will continue since SM Entertainments, Asian music YouTube channel has over 15 million subscribers. The channel has created K-Pop videos to be an attractive market for businesses seeking to promote their products on YouTube. Notably, more than 95 percent of the subscribers from the channel are not from South Korea, proving K-Pop’s music global appeal. Notably, most of the users may be Korean citizens in the diaspora. The development of new technologies, including YouTube and social media, has been the leading factor towards the success of K-pop music in the modern-day.

South Korean government also facilitated the expansion of the k-pop music industry. According to KMM, policymakers in the country implemented the expansion strategy to boost tourism, image, and other business institutions to improve Korea’s position to the rest of the world. In addition, the Korean Ministry of Culture implemented a $500 million budget to build an industry that exports local culture in terms of music, films, drama, fashion, and other cultural products. Starting in the early 1990s, the Korean government provided several institutions with the responsibility to market k-pop music on the global level. These institutions actively and directly promoted the culture in three ways. Firstly, they are responsible for displaying K-pop music and talent at global events. For instance, the Incheon Asian Games in 2014 were visited by Korean artists to promote the culture. Secondly, since K-pop groups have huge international influence, the institutions teamed with the artists to market the cultural industry. Finally, the agencies performed a lot of charity work in the country, which promoted talent organizations in delivering new stars to the music industry. Through this approach, the Korean government was in control and create a global image as well as increase its influence.

Moreover, the law and law reformations in South Korea were key to the rise of the entire music industry and the success of K-pop. According to KMM, due to the escalating political tension in the early 1970s, the Korean government had banned all forms of music that had a connection with Japan. In addition, the authorities censored western music, such as rock and jazz for fear of influencing the Korean population negatively. However, the American music culture began to be accepted in world societies in the early 1990s. By 2002, the Korean government had removed all the restrictions on Japanese or western cultural products. The move was damaging to the Korean society as local artists began competing with foreign culture. Notably, the move has been beneficial as it established the creativity and diversity of local content, which transformed into today’s k-pop.

The Korean mainstream media played a key role in the rise and success of the K-pop music industry. According to KMM, Korean news media started commenting about the Hallyu in the early 2000s. The public was surprised by the information as the outlets could not explain the rise in popularity of Korean cultural products in Japan, China, and other southeast Asian nations. Notably, the 2002 South Korean television drama series Winter Sonata became successful outside the country, which explained the Korean wave. The events inspired new writing on K-pop culture overseas. The newspapers approached politicians and professors to comment on the Hallyu, who believed Korea would become a big country in terms of popular culture. Ordinary Koreans developed a belief that the country’s culture is of huge interest from the rest of the world through the words of journalists. In addition, the Korean media ignored the negative coverage of the wave, especially from American critics. Thus, the media facilitated the rise of K-pop culture by focusing on the Hallyu.

Like most of the East Asian nations, Korean society is based on values that emphasize love for humanity. According to KMM, the products originating from the Korean wave were influenced by the values of peace and justice borrowed from traditional China. Hallyu products such as K-pop dramas and music became more relatable to the public as they made people think about humanity, relations, and love. Notably, K-pop music displays modern Asia, which is highly appropriate throughout the region. The form of music manages to capture the passion of the young Asian population and provide them with entertainment unavailable from previous generations.  K-pop music is a crossbreed of Asian and western features that creates a product that signifies modernity. Hallyu establishes a market for East Asian youths who never looked to American and European pop music. K-pop music filled the space within the market, which focuses on the values of humanity.  While western performances appear more sexualized and socially different, K-pop artists appear to be gentle, clean, and well-crafted. Notably, K-pop appealed to more markets, including the Cristian and Muslim societies. The focus on the East Asian market contributed to the success of K-pop music.

As South Koreans and other Asians migrated to other countries around the globe, the K-pop culture became a mode of staying connected to their heritage. According to KMM, although Korea is a small nation with an estimated population of around 51 million, the migrants are the most scattered in the world. Moreover, about 8 million Koreans spread across 175 territories making their diaspora the second largest after the Jews. In 2016, the most notable regions with a huge number of Korean migrants included China (2.6 million), the United States (2.5 million), and Japan (2.1 million). This diaspora laid the foundation for the diffusion of the Korean wave cultural products such as K-pop music. Korean and East Asian migrants in other nations consume the music to stay connected with heritage and home culture. For instance, 4-member girl group 2NE1 consists of two American-Koreans who use the English language in their lyrics. The combination of western and Korean elements in K-pop music continues to facilitate the success of the industry.

Finally, the marketing strategies adopted by Korean agencies in the country plays a huge role in the success of K-pop. In 2016, Korea was among the top ten music industries in the world in terms of revenue. According to KMM, half of the total sales were generated from overseas markets, making the global industry more valuable to K-pop. For Korean music agencies to compete both locally and internationally, attracting new consumers is a challenging task. Even though the Hallyu interest exists, K-Pop music is yet to overcome cultural and language issues while competing against global artists. However, Korean music companies implemented cultural technologies to produce, market, and market K-pop. The agencies used three strategies, including outsourcing, localizing, and entering global markets. They turned to turn bands into brands such as BTS, EXO, Blackpink, and Seventeen. The approach made the Korean music industry to become unique in the world.

K-Pop music has become a global music genre enjoyed by Koreans and people from other nationalities. The Korean wave, Hallyu, has been built for over two decades since the early 1990s. The success of K-pop in the modern world can be explained in multiple factors. One key factor includes the development of media technologies, including the MP3 player and YouTube video streaming sites. In addition, the South Korean government supported the growth of the K-pop culture through favorable policies, funding, and promotion. In addition, the Korean diaspora population continues to market K-pop music to the rest of the world. More notably, the evolution of social media platforms in the early 2000s helped Korean music artists to attract new fans, especially from East Asia and the West. The Korean government takes this opportunity to actively promote Hallyu and K-pop as part of reorienting the economy in the face of the world.

Conclusion

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