110822 Questions remain over young K-pop idols’ conditions

Sexual overtones, lack of diversity among challenges to overcome

Since the Korean pop music idol group’ concerts in June in Paris, the K-pop industry is leading a second Korean Wave around the globe. This is the last installment of the two-part series of articles looks at the bright and dark sides of K-pop, respectively. ― Ed.

The K-pop boom and the popularity of Korean idols are often attributed to Korean entertainment agencies’ tough training that nurtures talented aspirants and turns them into global idol stars.

However, what one person might see as “passion and devotion” for practicing singing and dancing for long hours every day can be viewed by another as “exploitation” of young aspirants by management agencies.

Girl group KARA, who were once embroiled in a dispute with their management agency over a contract, performs at the 2011 Korean Music Wave Festival at the Incheon Munhak Stadium on Aug. 13. (Incheon Tourism Organization)

 

As more K-pop idol groups perform overseas and become exposed to the international entertainment business, hidden sides of the K-pop in terms of harsh labor conditions will surface, one critic said.

“When they (Korean idols) go overseas, the first thing they will see is the different perspectives on their work. Those considered as a typical practices in Korea are not really typical practices overseas. If your contract says you’ll work only eight hours a day, you don’t work longer than that overseas,” pop music critic Cha Woo-jin said.

“In Korea, part-timers in the entertainment industry work as if they were ‘volunteering.’ They often travel to remote areas and stay the night frequently without extra pay. But in advanced countries, employers’ contracts with part-timers are strictly adhered to. Otherwise, employers can be sued and fined.”

The tight performance schedule of Girls’ Generation in June led many fans of the girl group and Internet users to wonder how the group managed to cope.

According to the official schedule disclosed on the group’s website, Girls’ Generation’s concerts and entertainment activities were as follows: “MJ presents special” on June 8; “Samsung Taiwan Anniversary” on June 9; “SM Town in Paris” on June 10-11; “NHK Music Japan” on June 12; a five-day break; “Japan Arena Tour” in Tokyo on June 17-18; “MTV VMAJ Fan Meeting” in Chiba on June 25 and another “Japan Arena Tour” in Tokyo on June 28-29. The nine members of the girl group have not complained about the schedule, though.

The tight schedule for performances and events was the major cause for former TVXQ members taking legal action against S.M. Entertainment. Junsu, Yuchun and Jejung ― who later split off to form JYJ ― had claimed in a 2009 lawsuit that they were forced to perform too many shows under an excessively long 13-year contract.

An entertainment industry insider, however, asked why people think training an athlete and training a singer are different.

“Korean people don’t raise issues with tough training and long workout hours of a national sports star striving for a gold medal. Why can’t K-pop stars be regarded as the same?” said an industry insider who requested anonymity.

“The hard and tough training system is the driving force of the K-pop boom.”

Sexualizing K-pop teens is another frequently raised issue.

Kim Su-a said in her book “Idol: Culture Report on Idols from H.O.T. to Girls’ Generation,” that Korean male fans of girl groups call themselves “samchon fan” (uncle fan) to justify sexualizing teen idols.

“Setting a family-like relationship with the idols effectively blocks criticism that they love them because they want to actually touch and hold them,” the writer said.

Will Cote, a 28-year-old lecturer at Sungkyul University, raised issues with what the expatriate called the “superficial appearances and robotic dances” of the K-pop idol groups.

“Why I’m not interested in K-pop? I don’t like the sexual overtones in it. I don’t like the dancing,” Cote said.

“To me, it sounds all the same and pretty superficial.”

He added that K-pop bands seemed to have been created by entertainment agencies to make money and that they only appeal to teenage groups.

“I’d rather call trot music more Korean. It’s old-fashioned but I like music to have deeper meanings to it,” he said.

Lack of diversity in terms of musical genre is another challenge that K-pop needs to overcome, experts say. When people refer to K-pop, the music of indie bands, folk singers and rock groups is still excluded from the discussion.

Although there were some bands holding a showcase in Japan or in Southeast Asia recently, the proportion of such rock bands is only a fraction of K-pop idol groups who have a strong impact and presence in the global market.

On the Gaon Chart, the national Korean pop chart, almost half of the top 100 songs in July were by idol groups. The rest were either cover versions featured in the MBC reality show “I Am a Singer” or songs co-produced by hosts of the MBC program “Infinite Challenge.”

In terms of indie or rock music, only three songs by indie band 10 cm were on the list but that was because the group was featured in the MBC program “Infinite Challenge.”

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldm.com)

credit: koreaherald
shared by: sharingyoochun.net

110726 New Topic In Kpop : Overcome Three Main Barriers

Currently, K-pop has broken past the first barrier. That is to say, they have already established the value of their existence. However, this is just the beginning. To globalize K-pop, there are three main issues they need to overcome.

Break away from “Idol Stars”

The first generation of Hallyu was led by actors. Korean dramas were pushed forward in large numbers, with Bae Yong Jun, Lee Byung Hyun, Song Seung Hun, Kwong Sang-Woo and other actors becoming popular as Hallyu idols. However, due to extensive “blank periods” and poor management, the hallyu wave that was led by actors became stagnant.

During this time, the idol stars seized the opportunity and took over this space. Led by TVXQ, and now SNSD, Kara etc, a large volume of girl groups have been gaining the attention of overseas markets. They spearhead the Korean Idol culture, and have broken the geographic barriers between countries.

However, this trend is starting to be a little overdone, and has established the stereotype that “Hallyu = Idol stars.” Aside from music, even dramas such as “Playful Kiss” and “You’re Beautiful” star members from idol groups. To ensure that Hallyu wave can make better progress, aside from appealing to the younger age groups with idol groups, we urgently need to grasp and establish ourselves in a broader age categories and a variety of Hallyu elements. A person related to one of the idol groups said, “We need to discover new hallyu stars, to appeal to the overseas fans who do not like idol groups. If we can give them a stage (opportunity,) then the hallyu wave will be able to progress further.

Break Away From The Japanese Market

Japan, which is located next to Korea is one of the biggest appreciators of the Hallyu culture. From another angle, you can say that it was the Japanese fans’ support that have helped the hallyu stars to grow. Aside from Japan, China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and various Asian regions have seen a rise in popularity for Hallyu stars. However the truth is, a majority of the hallyu stars are over-reliant on the Japanese market’s support.

With TVXQ, Big Bang, SNSD, Kara and others, recently everyone is trying to break into the Japanese market. They are very sensitive towards the Oricon rankings. The strange thing is that, compared to the current lack of emphasis on song ranking programs in the Korean market, Korean singers are more sensitive to the ranking charts in Japan. This shows that they are using this (Oricon rankings) as a measure of their popularity in Japan.

Aside from Japan, starting from the time of H.O.T., Hallyu stars have been enjoying great popularity in China. However, the issue is that the public is only focused on a specific few stars. Although Super Junior, Rain, SNSD and other are very popular, but China, unlike Japan, is still unable to allow more groups and singers to actively promote there.

And under such circumstances, the group JYJ released their first English album “The Beginning” in October last year, and was judged as “daring to try something new.” JYJ joined hands with famous American producers Kanye West and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, and using the new group name “JYJ” released their first album produced in English. This album bears the significance of “starting their journey towards the world stage.” The three members, who have dominated the Japanese and Asian markets, have set their sights on the global market, and can be regarded as leaders in “breaking away from Japan.”

Someone in the music industry said, “When you analyze the structure of the Chinese market, it’s not hard to know that they are more appealing than the Japanese market. But so far, the progress of singers has not been as smooth as in Japan. Aside from that, they should also be looking at Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan etc, and create more roadways for the Hallyu wave.”

Break Away from Stereotypes!

The first pioneers of the hallyu wave were dramas. “Jewel in the Palace,” “Winter Sonata” made it big, and big stars like Bae Young Jun and Lee Young-Ae were born. Recently, due to “You’re Beautiful,” Jang Geun Suk has become the new hallyu star, but compared to the time of “Winter Sonata,” the power of dramas in the hallyu wave has been considerably diminished.

And the space left by the dramas was filled by K-pop. The hallyu market which was dominated by male idols has now hit a turning point led by SNSD and Kara. K-pop can be considered as the successor to J-pop, which has captured the Asian music market.

On the other hand, the power of the hallyu wave at Chungmuro (T/N: refers to the film industry – Chungmuro is the street in Korea that is famous for culture & film) has become plain. Actors who have become hallyu stars through their dramas also boosts the popularity of the movies they are featured in, but using popularity to break into the Japanese film industry is not enough, a situation where “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Someone related to sales in the hallyu market said, “Korean movies have been promoted in various overseas markets, but the effect is not strong enough to be considered part of the hallyu wave. Unlike television dramas which can be watched on public broadcast, movies require an entrance fee, so the visibility among the masses is lower.”

If we want to the multi-faceted Korean culture to be embraced in all fields, not just for dramas and music, we need to promote our movies, games and food as well as other areas, and introduce more variety.

Source : [Jrw8008 + Hankooki]
Translated & Shared by : dongbangdata.net