Korean Music Industry Research Articles

The Importance of Friendship; Storytelling in Korean Music Industry by SEVENTEEN

Hallyu or K-Pop or pop culture from South Korea divided into several generations, the third generation that truly blasted through their most distinguishable of developing and storytelling concepts, conveying more than music, but stories and own concepts. SEVENTEEN's storytelling conveyed messages about friendship lead to being a support system in the community seek answering the where some researchers also mentioned having a strong support system led to many positive benefits and with many estimations of adult over the world experienced loneliness to mental illness. Using the narrative paradigm and observing SEVENTEEN’s concerts and its contents to discover the meaning of SEVENTEEN’s storytelling. Based on Friendship research by Parker & Asher, founded SEVENTEEN growth, relationships, and life are all embodied in performances the members create together becoming the value they brought to the world. Their shared moments, music and performances lead to a positive special and unique relationship with their audience and establishing a supportive and affective environment throughout the community. SEVENTEEN lights up the positive energy, as a support system were it being able to minimize the negative effects from youth-hood period.

Peran Platform Weverse Sebagai Sarana Interaksi Dan Ekonomi Dalam Industri K-Pop

Weverse is a platform launched by HYBE Corporation in 2019 and has played a central role in facilitating interactions between fans and artists in the Korean music industry (K-pop). Through exclusive access to content, direct communication with artists, and a membership system offering discounts and exclusive content, Weverse has become a "home" for K-pop fans and an important revenue source in the industry's economy. This study uses a qualitative approach with a systematic literature analysis design to explore the impact of Weverse in the K-pop industry, highlighting the importance of this platform in deepening the relationship between artists and fans as well as its contribution to the business model and economy in the Korean music industry.

The Business Model and System of the Korean Music Industry within a Collectivist Society

The Business Model and System of the Korean Music Industry within a Collectivist Society

The rise of artificial intelligence as the future of Korean culture diplomacy

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of technology, pushing everything online and necessitating human adaptation to computers. Industry 4.0 proved invaluable during this pandemic, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerging as a key player, particularly in the beloved South Korean music industry, which enjoys international acclaim. The pandemic played a significant role in the increased use of AI within the K-POP industry, with the emergence of the Aespa Girl Group being a pivotal moment in shaping a futuristic concept. This research aims to investigate the recent surge in AI usage as a futuristic K-Pop concept through a qualitative literature study method. This paper contends that AI has the potential to profoundly impact Korean cultural diplomacy, serving as a game-changing element in the realm of digital diplomacy. While AI has traditionally been applied in high-context scenarios, such as search engines or high-tech automotive control systems, its application in cultural contexts could propel South Korea's cultural diplomacy to unprecedented heights, rendering the concept difficult for other nations to replicate.

K-POP 아이돌 그룹의 세대별 이슈 변화 분석 고찰

This study aims to identify the major issues in the news big data related to generational idols formed by the growth and development of idols amid the current global spread of K-pop, and to suggest ways to strengthen the competitiveness of the Korean music industry by identifying the major issues that are being formed through the media for each generation of K-pop idols and how they have changed. For this purpose, news big data LDA technique was used as a topic modeling analysis method for 55,660 cases, and as a result of the topic modeling analysis, common issue types of six dimensions were derived. The main issue types are activity dimension, marketing dimension, global dimension, social contribution dimension, dispute dimension, and fandom dimension, and policy, industrial, and academic implications are proposed based on the results of this study.

Between strong and weak copyright: their impacts on the Korean music industry

ABSTRACT A common perception is that a strong copyright regime protects cultural diversity and creativity; thus, it should be well developed, implemented, and respected. However, this belief may be different for certain industries or countries. In other words, strong copyright may not bring about a positive impact as expected whereas weak copyright can bring about positive impacts contrary to one’s expectations, which is different from the conventional belief on copyright. This paper explores this issue with the Korea music industry. Although this industry has recently enjoyed global popularity with K-pop, it was lesser-developed as it endured many difficulties over several decades. By comparing and analyzing these two contrasting periods, the case of the Korean music industry demonstrates that both weak and strong copyright has helped with its development. This interesting case can provide meaningful implications regarding the practice and development of copyright and its impact on the growth of the music industry, particularly in the era of digitization.

Content Consumption Patterns of Korean Pop Fans in India

Digitization and pop culture has come a long way. Making and taking experiences online has given new spectrums for fans to participate and integrate. The Hallyu wave, one of the recent flagbearers of the pop culture phenomenon, facilitating the global rise of K-pop, has brought in new lessons for the music industry. With cultural similarity and fascination that draws audiences to K-pop, the Korean music industry relies on a solid audience presence for fans to interact, consumer, and garner intimacy from them as a two-way exchange. India is one of the Asian countries that has caught on to this wave through rapid digitization, giving the country a strong base of consumers. Content consumption through videos and articles is one way that fans learn more about Korea’s music, culture, and people. The following paper examines the nature of content consumption amongst Indian K-pop fans based on three parameters, the quantity of consumption, the preference of platform, and the perceived intimacy, given between the fans and K-pop by these platforms.

Korean-popular Facebook fan page analytics in Thailand

<span lang="EN-US">The purpose of this study was to gather, analyze, and elaborate big data on Facebook’s essential information, with a specific focus on the information obtained from Korean-popular (K-Pop) fan pages on the social networking site. For this analysis, a total of 3,531,736 comments by Korean-pop fans were gathered from various K-pop Facebook pages. In order to interpret how 11 extremely popular Facebook pages shape Thai fans’ enthusiasm for the South Korean music industry, descriptive statistics and visualization analysis were employed. Finally, data analytics and correlation analysis were used to evaluate the essential understanding of the Facebook pages. The research revealed three key findings: i) K-pop fan pages provide more opportunities for Thai fans to express their support for K-pop artists and advocate for causes, ii) K-pop fan pages provide more opportunities for Thai fans to communicate with K-pop artists, and iii) K-pop fan pages build opportunities for Thai fans to establish a more glamorous online presence despite limitations concerning financial resources, foreign language skills, and opportunities. In the future, the research outcomes may be valuable for academic studies and practice.</span>

대중의 트로트 장르와 트로트 경연프로그램에 대한 인식연구

This study is based on perceptions toward the trot genre and audition programs; accordingly, it is expected that the problems caused by biased media production can be predicted. First, this study’s results revealed the general perception of the public about the trot genre. It was observed that viewers tend to enjoy trot-related entertainment shows more than trot music itself. Notably, it can be a result of the fact that the trot craze began with the creation of trot singing stars on audition programs. Furthermore, this can be considered as evidence that reflects the current trend of trot popularity. Analyzing the results of the study on viewer attitude toward trot-related programs, there was a mix of negative and positive findings. The positive results include the popularity of trot shows that people from different generations can enjoy together, as there are now more trot programs than before that encompass all generations. The negative results include viewer aversion to trot itself or to excessive programming, which was caused by broadcasting stations deciding to produce too many programs that feature trot singers. In particular, the high negative perception toward entertainment featuring trot singers is an inevitable result of these media practices. In addition, the statement, “I don’t watch the trot-related TV programs because I don’t like the broadcasting station” was commonly given. This may be because the production of trot-related programs was started mainly by general programming cable TV channels. These TV channels have the freedom to make whatever shows they want, and they have produced countless trot-related TV shows. The TV shows produced by the general programming cable TV channels, unlike the ones made by the three major land-based TV stations of South Korea-KBS, MBC, and SBS-have unique characteristics based on each specific broadcasting station. Subsequently, this creates differences in individual preferences for different trot-related TV shows. The study also shows that viewers do not believe that success in these programs guarantees that the winners will become stars. This shows that the excessive production of trot-related TV programs has made it hard for viewers to recognize who has won the audition. Contrary to the negative perception of these trot-related programs, a very positive evaluation was given in terms of the fairness of the judging. Through the combination of the overall perception concerning trot itself and the perception of trot-related media programs, the results of this study reflect the popularity of the current trot genre. Importantly, viewer perception towards the media related to trot was negative. Contrary to the current high popularity of the trot genre, the existence of negative perceptions regarding trot-related media content has significant implications for media content production. This study has academic significance; principally, it is an empirical analysis of the trot craze that has gripped the Korean music industry.

Digital Trends in the Consumption of South Korean Music Industry Cultural Products

Over the past few years, there has been rapid growth in the South Korean music industry. Due to such strong growth, this industry is experiencing oversaturation. Therefore, there are problems in creating and introducing new products to the market, as well as finding new export markets. In such conditions, the use of digital marketing of cultural products has been developing, as has digitalization of content consumption. This study focused on the digital trends in the consumption of South Korean cultural content in Russia. The study analyzed the music industry of South Korea, its segmentation, and main export values. Additionally, the competitive environment of the market was analyzed. In order to identify digital consumption trends, representatives of the target audience of South Korean cultural content in Russia were studied. As a result, the main consumer patterns regarding the digital consumption of the cultural content were identified.
 Keywords: cultural product, digital consumption, digital communication, South Korean music industry, Hallyu

Transformasi Aktivitas K-Popers Di Media Sosial: Analisis Drone Emprit Dalam Framing Isu UU Cipta Kerja

The purpose of this study is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of K-Popers activities on social media against the framing of the 2020 Omnibus Law on Job Creation. This type of research applies qualitative approach. The method used is framing analysis with the Entman model to observe framing in two main dimensions, namely the collection and evaluation of problems or the importance of some aspects of reality/issues. The results of the research show that there have been widespread rejection of such a Job Creation Law in various regions in Indonesia, and K-Popers have emerged as supporting actors in the resistance movement. Several hashtags that later become trending topics cannot be separated from the role of fans of the South Korean music industry. K-popers play their role through social media in this issue by paying attention to what is happening (trending) in Indonesia.

Industrial Hip Hop Against Hip Hop Industry

Industrial Hip Hop Against Hip Hop Industry

Digital Transformation and Disruptive Management

The digital transformation disruptive on music industry in South Korea expresses objectives are to study risk and disruptive technology on an impact in the music businesses; also, how Korean music industry manages during in the digital era. Besides, using risk theory, demand and supply theory, including disruptive information to support. Methods are used mostly via qualitative data. The result finds from risk that has affected both consumers and producers. Companies and labels in music industry may lose incomes and powers to control the market. Consumers may pay much costs to consume products. On the other hands, consumers have varieties of channels to access in music. Moreover, South Korea adopts and creates the developed technological products to survive in digital age. Technology and digital transformation in music industry have both advantages and disadvantages to the role of people who play in this field. To cope with the changes, industry needs to develop and adapt itself on surviving and handling the competition from more competitors and technology. They should find an approach to adapt, continue and develop an efficiency in the manufacturing sector such as seeking strategies to grasp market, generate another source of revenues by viewing both competitors and partners. Opening minds to challenges for deploying, launching, digitizing, and modernizing the new digital capabilities deeply on how distribution network be integrated into the music industry transformation process to interact with the customers. Because the digital transformation has appeared as a key press in society rather than an option from now on. Keywords: Digital, Disruptive, Music, South Korea, Transformation

A Study on the Growth Pattern and Regional Competitiveness of the Korean Music Industry

Purpose - Korean pop music and movies have attracted a vast audience across the world, resulting in a rapid increase in the export of cultural products in the 21st century. This phenomenon is often called as the Korean Wave. The Korean music industry has played a pivotal role in the export of cultural goods and services, as well as the general Korean Wave phenomenon. This research was performed to examine the growth pattern and competitiveness of the Korean music industry by region. Design/Methodology/Approach - This study collected data on the seven sub-industries of the music industry of Seoul, seven Cities and nine Provinces for the period from 2013 to 2018. The data are regrouped for four regions: Seoul Metropolitan Region (Seoul, Incheon, and Kyunggi-do), Central Region (Daejeon, Sejong, Kangwon-do, Chungcheongnam-do, and Chungcheongbuk-do), Honam Region (Kwangju, Cheonranam-do, Cheonrabuk-do, and Jeju-do), and Yeongnam Region (Busan, Daegu, Wulsan, Kyungsangnam-do, and Kyungsangbuk-do). The paper then examined the data by applying shift-share analysis and regional growth differential analysis. Findings - The Korean music industry has experienced rapid growth, while the metropolitan region leads the Korean music industry in sales. However, the metropolitan region lacks competitiveness in some sub-industries. Such sub-industries in other regions will be able to compete with leading regions and increase their competitiveness over capital regions. Research Implications - The Korean music industry plays a central role in the export of culture related services, products and goods. Moreover, the Korean music industry can improve images of Korean goods and services of international consumers. For a sustained growth of the Korean music industry, it is pivotal to find effective methods to correct the regional imbalances within the Korean music industry.

개인의 음악 소비에 미치는 미디어 영향력에 관한 고찰

Media has grown with the development of the times and Music industry has advanced with the media. In this respect, the purpose of this study is to analyze influence of media on personal consumption of music and gain insights. Firstly, this study figured out mutual relationship between media and culture based on national certified Ga-on Chart, grasped the flow of media and personal consumption, and analyzed the influence of 2020 TV program and Musics that were popular in SNS on personal consumption of music. As a result, It was shown that the musics which were mentioned on TV program or SNS quickly climbed the music charts again and led hot trends of some genre as rediscovering and promoting stars. That is, advanced media has influence on not only personal consumption of music but also the genre and one’s taste. From the results, this study suggest implications about music market which is led by advanced media and contribute to the growth of Korean music industry.

Regional Hip Hop and the Seoul Metropole

Advances in music technologies over the past two and a half decades have effectively democratized the production and distribution of music and de-agglomerated music industries in much of the developed world. Artists are no longer pressured to move to centres of musical agglomeration to further their careers and can now grow their profile while remaining in their respective localities. However, this phenomenon has not taken hold in the Korean music industry, which remains hyper-agglomerated in Seoul. Hip hop artists in Korea continue to cluster in the capital, while hip hop scenes in provincial cities are in a constant state of flux. This study examines the current state of provincial hip hop scenes through the case study of Gwangju, where interviews with local hip hop artists and participant observation was conducted between 2016 and 2019. This article argues that the concentration of commercial, political, media and educational institutions in Seoul forces ambitions of moving to the capital city upon provincial youths from an early age and pushes a Seoul-centric culture that weakens their bonds to their respective localities. Artists and crews in provincial cities are thus largely ignored by local audiences forcing them to move to the capital in search of success, which in turn weakens their respective local scenes.

Pengelolaan Kesan Roleplayer K-Pop Melalui Media Sosial Twitter (Studi Dramaturgi Pada Akun Twitter Fandom Di Kota Bandung)

Korean Wave has become a trend in Indonesia, which was started with the high popularity of K-Drama (Korean Drama) back in the 2000s among the Indonesian. Along with the high interest in society, the Korean government kept spreading this Korean wave. In 2011, the Korean music industry, known as K-Pop started to appear and arise a big group; boyband and girlband. Since then, some fandoms or an assemblage of people who puts a high interest in them. The fandom members usually make some activities, one of the activities in the new media is a roleplay.Roleplay is one type of the games on social media played by individuals by acting like him/herself, potraying and imitating the characters that was delivered with how he/she writes status and responds to comments from others. This study focuses on the impression management of K-Pop Roleplayers on social media Twitter with qualitative research methods and dramaturgy approach to the three informants whom are the active Roleplayers on Twitter. Based on the results of the research of K-Pop Roleplayers on social media Twitter to keep and form a positive impression at the front stage is the Timeline. This research was also using the middle stage, Roleplayers perform displacement from Timeline towards more personal media such as direct message and KakaoTalk. As form some of the preparations made by the players at the back stage through was that pre-survey idol character through a variety show on YouTube.

The Digital Transformation of the Korean Music Industry and the Global Emergence of K-Pop

There are a number of voices who blame digitization for having a number of negative effects on the music industry including a decline in album sales, copyright infringement, unfair royalty payments, and competition with foreign multinationals. Yet, the global emergence of Korean pop music or K-pop suggests a different narrative, particularly given that its growth was largely unexpected among industry experts. Understanding the key to its international breakthrough can thus produce meaningful lessons for the music industries of other countries for their own further take-off. This constitutes the focus for this paper. Digitization has influenced various sectors of the Korean music industry such as business, society, and consumers. It has also transformed the management focus of the industry from analog to digital, from offline to online, from albums to songs, from specialization to integration, from domestic providers to international suppliers, from audio sound to visual images, from possessing to accessing, and from limited integration to synergistic network. This signifies that embracing technology advancement can enhance the competitiveness of cultural industries.

An Analysis on the Culture Industrial Utility Value of the K-Pop Idol Production System : Focused on the Case of SM Entertainment

한국 대중음악산업을 이끌어 온 아이돌 음악은 한류의 첨병 역할을 하며 해외에서 K팝이라는 장르로 카테고리화되는 수준에 이르렀다. K팝의 주 인기 요소인 ‘보는 음악’ 구현 등을 목적으로 SM엔터테인먼트 이수만이 고안한 아이돌 제작시스템은 제조업과 같이 전문화, 분업화된 기획-캐스팅-트레이닝-프로듀싱-매니지먼트의 5단계 공정으로 구성된다. 그중 트레이닝 과정은 연습생 제도와 장기간의 훈련을 통해 ‘보는 음악’을 완벽하게 구현할 수 있는 아이돌을 양성하는 인큐베이터 역할을 한다. 그럼에도 그간 국내외 미디어와 학계로부터 몇 가지 이유로 인해 주로 부정적인 평가를 받아온 아이돌 시스템은 경제적, 문화산업적 효용 가치를 분명 내포하고 있다. 경제적 가치의 경우 지난 15년간 한국의 세계 음악산업 순위와 수출액 변화, 아이돌 기획사의 매출액 증가 폭을 통해서 직접적으로 증명된다. 문화산업적 효용은 콘텐츠 흥행 및 지속가능성에 대한 불확실성 제거와 집단창의성 발현에 있다. 또, 전문화와 분업화를 통해 결과물의 품질에 대한 통제가 가능하고, 개인의 창조성에 의존하기보다는 전문가 집단 속 개개인의 창의력이 합쳐져 시너지 효과가 발생하게끔 장려한다. 제작시스템으로부터 파생된 연습생과 가수 인권침해를 비롯한 불공정 계약 등의 문제가 발생해왔지만, 상황 개선을 위한 업계의 자구책 마련과 정부 차원의 노력 역시 계속되고 있다. 시스템의 기본 골조를 유지한 채 단점을 끊임없이 개선하는 방식을 통해 장기적 운용이 가능하리라 판단된다.Scenes involving idols who have dominated popular songs in Korea and are at the forefront of Hallyu (the Korean wave) are now categorized as an independent, internationally acclaimed genre called “K-Pop.” The popularity of K-Pop is attributable to its unique feature of “visible music,” which is created by an idol production system. The K-Pop system developed by Lee Soo-man, the chief executive officer of SM Entertainment, aimed at producing “music for viewing”. Similar to the process structure followed in the manufacturing industry, the K-Pop system has five distinct specialization phases: planning, casting, training, production, and management. In particular, its training phase serves as an incubator for idols who can perfectly perform visible music after enrolling in a trainee system and undergoing long periods of training. Despite such unique functions, the K-Pop production system has often been negatively perceived by media both at home and abroad and by scholars. Undoubtedly, the system generates economic value and creates utility for the culture industry. First, the economic value of K-Pop increased since the introduction of the idol production system, and this value can be estimated by the changes in ranking of the Korean music industry in the world music chart, the amount of Korean music exports and also the growth of sales at idol agencies. The utility of the idol production system for the cultural industry arises from the system’s capability to eliminate uncertainty and express collective creativity. In the idol production system, the quality of products can be controlled through specialization and division of labor and a synergy is created among the creativity of various individuals, rather than highlighting any single person’s creativity. Although the system has created some problems, such as infringements of the human rights of trainees and singers under the K-Pop production system and enforcement of unfair contracts, the industry and government are attempting to improve the situation and the benefits of the system outweigh its defects. Hence, the problems can probably be solved by continuously improving the existing frameworks of the idol production system.

Study of Popular Music with YouTube Application: Focused on Major YouTube Music Creator in South Korea

본 논문은 온라인 중심으로 재편되고 있는 대중음악 시장의 변화와 관련하여 최근 새로운 비즈니스 모델로 부상하고 있는 유튜브를 활용한 대중음악의 홍보 방안에 관한 연구이다. 국내·외 음악 산업과 관련한 자료를 분석한 결과 대중음악 산업은 온라인 중심으로 재편되어 스트리밍 음원 서비스의 성장이 전체 음악 산업의 발전을 견인하는 역할을 하고 있으며, 특히 국내 음악 사용자는 온라인 음악 서비스 이용방법 중에서 유튜브를 가장 많이 활용하고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 또한, 국내 음악 산업은 주로 대형 기획사 중심으로 편중되어 있으나, 대형 기획사도 고비용 고수익 기반의 제작 방식에 변화가 나타나고 있으며 이러한 변화의 주요 원인은 소비자의 소비패턴 변화로부터 기인한다고 할 수 있다. 최근 주목받고 있는 다중채널네트워크 산업은 주요 플랫폼인 유튜브를 활용하여 온라인 기반 동영상 및 콘텐츠의 기획, 제작, 유통, 지원, 홍보, 수익화, 관리 등과 관련한 일련의 모든 비즈니스 분야에 이르는 사업으로 기존의 전통 적인 영상 제작 비즈니스나 광고, 방송, 홍보 등과는 다른 구조로 구성되어 있다. 이렇게 새로운 미디어를 활용하여 비교적 적은 비용과 쉬운 방법으로 음악을 홍보할 수 있는 방법들이 나타나게 되는 것은 소형 제작사나 인디 뮤지션들에게 대형 기획사 중심으로 편중된 국내 대중음악 시장에 대처할 수있는 새로운 가능성으로 대두되고 있다. 본 논문에서는 국내 음악 관련 주요 유튜브 크리에이터인 J. Fla, Jung Sung Ha, Raon Lee에 대한 개별 특징과 성공요인을 분석하였다. 이러한 분석과 연구를 바탕으로 채널 구성, 독창적인 셀프 브랜딩, 콘텐츠 품질 강화, 멀티채널의 구축, 소통 중심의 채널 운영, 세밀한 고객 분석, 정당한 수익 배분 요구등 7가지의 세부적인 방안을 도출하였다. 본 연구를 통해 새로운 미디어 환경에 대처하는 구체적인 대중음악 홍보 방안을 제시하여 자본 규모에 상관없이 국내 개인 음악 창작자와 중소형 제작 사가 능동적으로 음악을 창작하거나 제작할 수 있는 환경을 조성하고, 이를 통해 아티스트나 소형 제작사가 스스로 시장경쟁력을 갖추어 대형 기획사에 편중되어 있는 국내 대중 음악시장의 불균형을 보완할 수 있는 계기가 될 수있기를 바란다.This study aims at exploring the marketing strategies of popular music with MCN(Multi Channel Network) where YouTube, a newly emerging business model, plays a role as a main platform in consideration of the changes of popular music market being reorganized to go on online. The analysis of preceding research and data related to the music industry at home and abroad indicates that the popular music industry has been reorganized centered on online, thus the growth of music streaming service leads the development of the music industry as a whole, especially it is found that YouTube is the most preferred method of online music service among Korean music service users. Although the Korean music industry has been heavily weighted in favor of large agencies, currently they attempt to change the high-cost and high-profit production method, and the main cause of such shift comes from the changed consumption patterns among consumers. The recently growing MCN industry is a business model that uses YouTube, a major platform, to cover a series of businesses connected to the planning, production, distribution, support, marketing, making profit and management of online video clips and contents, which is structured in a different way from the traditional perspectives of video producing businesses or advertisements, broadcasting and marketing. The emergence of such an easy way to promote music by utilizing the new media at a relatively small cost suggests a new possibility to small producers or independent musicians regarding how to deal with the domestic popular music market that has been driven by large agencies. This study selected top 3 YouTube Music channels in Korea. Also it analyzed the characteristics and success factors of influential YouTube creators in the Korean music category such as J. Fla, Jung Sung Ha and Raon Lee. Also, based on such analyses and research, it drew up 7 specific strategies such as making a channel, creative self-branding, enhancing the quality of contents, establishing multi-channel, making communication-based channels, analyzing customers in detail and requesting for fair profit-sharing. By suggesting detailed marketing strategies of popular music that consider the new media environment, it wishes to create an environment where domestic individual musicians and small, medium-sized producers could actively be able to create or produce music regardless the size of capital, allowing small producers to have a chance to ease the imbalance of the Korean music industry being dominated by large agencies by equipping with market competitive power.