K-Pop — Off The Assembly Line And Into America
If you went to the Mad Decent Block Party in LA, you must remember the gray-haired girl in oversized leather jacket on stage with Diplo. CL, leader of the Korean idol group 2NE1, was probably far from what you’d expect as a K-pop diva.
Flawless faces — and bodies, perfectly syncronized dance steps, blissful smiles and lovely winks, are what identify groups like Girls’ Generation and Super Junior. South Korean record labels are known for “manufacturing” pop stars, among which S.M. Entertainment created and maintains the most coveted assembly line. It is a completely different business model from the one in the American music industry, but nonetheless proved successful and profitable.
Typically, the Korean agencies recruit kids as young as ten years old through global auditions as well as local scouts. There is a trend of selecting promising teenagers from China and America, because of their language skills and cultural familiarity. Recruited trainees would attend schools in the day and train at their agencies afterwards until late night. Some would be performing on stage in several months, but some practice for 7 years until debut. Before even producing any music, the Record labels spent millions of dollars to house these aspiring young people and transform them into lucrative brands. In the U.S., record labels bring in talents of potential and sign contracts with them on an album-basis, where investment mostly starts from paying for producers and studios to make records.
In Korea, promotion of a new artist or a new record almost always begins in a music program on TV. Every major TV network has at least one weekly program devoted solely to artists performing. Each of them has a chart encompassing physical record sales, streaming popularity, and audience votes. Artists’ successes largely depend on stage broadcasting as well as casting in variety shows. However, in the U.S., even the MTV channel has become much less committed to pure music programs. “With the exception of awards shows, which are infrequent, there are few prime-time TV formats for promoting pop music; artists must rely on radio and concert tours to build a mass following.” American music artists in major labels make the most money from touring and related merchandise, and earn about 10% of their income on commercials and endorsement deals. But their Korean counter parts are mostly paid for putting their names and faces on everyday products from school uniforms to soft drinks.
K-pop fans generally chase their favorite groups for around 6 years and send them off to acting careers or, if fortunate, a serious musician’s track. Labels schedule each artist to complete an album almost every two years, and release singles and half albums in between to keep artists relevant. With the rise of digital sales and streaming services, the American industry is favoring releasing single songs instead of albums. The American artists also have more freedom and control in the music they make as well as how often they present it. In contrary, Korean entertainment conglomerates are constantly watching what their artists eat and where they go.
Despite the huge success of S.M. Entertainment’s sophisticated star-making system, a man who had been frequently disapproved by the mainstream players has made the phenomenal “Gangnam Style” and reached the most exposure of K-pop in the Western world. It will be interesting to watch how Psy’s label, YG Entertainment — known for cultivating artists’ creativity and individuality, lays out CL’s upcoming debut in the U.S.
Reach Staff Reporter Yiyi Liu here.
