Han on the Current Music Industry and Its Future
Meet Maestro, a blockchain-based streaming and crowdfunding platform that aims to provide a new paradigm for the global music industry.
In our previous post, we introduced you to some of our advisers, who are also active producers in the K-pop industry. Team Maestro is proud to introduce these aspiring individuals at the heart of the music industry, who share our vision towards the decentralization of music production and distribution.
Today’s Spotlight sheds light on Korean musician and Maestro partner Heejung Han (한희정) and her thoughts on the current music industry and its distribution system. Here is a short interview on the reasons why she supports Maestro Project:
Heejung Han (Pastel Music)
In the scene of Korean music, Heejung Han is a widely-recognized producer of songs such as Because I Believe, When We First Met, Cruel Trip, the OST to the popular Korean TV series Misang, among other hits.
Despite her current fame, Han knows better than anyone else what it is like to start a music career as an independent musician. Han is originally a singer-songwriter from the bustling streets of Hongdae, Seoul, where she is hailed as the “Hongdae Goddess” (one of the “Big 4,” as they are popularly called on the scene).
“Indie artists always have a thirst towards creation, and it is never quenched,” Han said, relating to her own experiences. She outlined a couple of major setbacks that most underground producers face throughout their career. “We lack a platform where artists can freely present their projects to the audience, regardless of the ‘popular taste.’”
Han herself had found fame through successfully producing a series of songs that distinguished her as a “female singer-songwriter who plays an acoustic guitar in this tranquil ambiance,” the artist laughed. “But I didn’t want to continue my career in that exact same way. I knew I didn’t want to keep producing that kind of music my whole life — it wasn’t going to be my ‘endgame.’ I wanted to do something different each time I finished a project. But at the same time, I found that it was difficult to break from your image, simply because there wasn’t a proper system that let you experiment with different styles of music.”
Han believes that Maestro may be the answer to such a dilemma. “Who knows, Maestro’s crowdfunding platform [Ensemble] could become the savior for artists — including myself — caught in such a dilemma,” the musician said. “Through such a system, our fans, as well as Korean indie music lovers around the world, could have direct access to our content. It could become the ultimate conduit to our creativity, a much-awaited means to explore different opportunities — perhaps even a whole spectrum of music.”
Han also emphasized the importance of artists receiving proper recognition of their copyrights. Theft of intellectual property is a common transgression of traditional music distributors and authorities, she commented.
Last year, Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) was involved in a dispute after it was accused of refusing to give soundtrack producers their share of the sales profit. Han had participated as the vocalist in producing the OST of Misang, one of the most popular TV series of the year; her tweet, condemning KOMCA, asserts that such infringement is common malpractice in the industry.
Han believes that Maestro’s decentralized music streaming service, Symphony, and crowdfunding platform, Ensemble, will bring a new order to the industry by ensuring artists the rights they rightfully deserve.
To learn more about Maestro Project and our goals, please visit our website and official SNS, where you can find the most up-to-date news on our team. Of course, don’t forget to give this post a full 50 applause to support Team Maestro!
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