“K-pop” is a trend all over the world. Since the hit of the “Gangnam Style”, people started to pay attention to the Korea Pop. People may not know all of the singer or the group but they must hear some of there song on the street or the advertising, Girl’s Generation, Big Bang, Psy etc. Jose Wendell Capili, a professor of creative writing and comparative literature at the University of the Philippines said “Korean pop is going to be around a long time” because of the government support, some people agree but some of them don’t. Let’s find out why:
The censorship of music in Korea has a long history since the Japanese annexation prior to the Korean War. There were around 1200 songs being prohibited before 1992. Also, they had a regulation in 1972 about foreign jazz and rock and roll songs can only be performed after 11 p.m. The government supports the telecommunication industries, it leads to a bost of information technology and internet usage in the early 1990s. It really helps in promoting the music industry that people can share the music information or the music video anytime anywhere.
For the development of domestic markets, Korea did have provided a lot of opportunities to the talent. For education, people can go to the “K-pop school” to follow their dream to get training and learn how to become a star. They also have different talent show like “Super Star K” or “K-pop Star” to show their talent. Going to the school or join the talent show is not the end to become a K-pop star, they must get into one of the K-pop agencies to train and make a real boy or girl groups. It already has over 25 K-pop agencies in Korea, all of them will have regular audition to make sure their company has enough talent to show the public.
Audtion of Lee Hayi in K-pop Star (talent show)
After the talent show, she become the singer of Korea
Already have 2 album
For the development of overseas markets, Korea government have provided subsidies for the company in international events. The government also established numbers of cultural offices in many cities around the world to promote K-pop. These offices will host events which to help to raise the awareness of the culture. For example, in October is the culture mouth in Korea. In the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Hong Kong will hold different event or roadshow to promote the Korean Culture like “The Festive Korea 2018”.
We can see that the Korea government make effort in supporting the music industry, but why some of the people still not agree? After I read an article by Jihyun Kim , I started to know why. Although the government has support to develop for the market they seem ignored to the domestic worker (singers). There is so many K-pop singer but not everyone can be the super-star. PSY and Big Bang are only a very small part of the music industry can earn living for being a singer in Korea. Musician Lee Lang made headlines after the Korean Music Awards about the dark side of the music industry in Korea. Many artists can not make a living because they forced to give the song for free and they scared to speak out for their rights. The minimum wage law does not apply to the music business so it is lack of a standard fee for the performance of the musicians.
Only a small part of the boy group in the K-pop industry
There are many other boy groups ,girl groups and the individual singers
Korean government set up a Welfare Foundation which aims to support aid to around 24000 artists for insurance cover and hardship payouts in 2012. Under the law, the artists must submit a list of album that they made over the past 3 years and show that the income is more than US$1100 which to support them as a professional artist. It really not makes sense that people need to show they have an amount of money to get a subsidy. The artist does not get paid in the reality so how can they pass the law to get welfare.
Korean government has well-develop on promoting the music industry, provide educational support to the youth. But it lacks of policy to support the singer to protect their right.
References:
Special K – Idols Unlimited. (2012, January 21). Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/article/990782/special-k-idols-unlimited
Kwon, S., & Kim, J. (2013). From censorship to active support: The Korean state and Korea’s cultural industries. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 24(4), 517-532. doi:10.1177/1035304613508873
Sang-Hun, C. (n.d.). Cramming for Stardom at Korea’s K-Pop Schools. The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2013, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/arts/music/Cramming-for-Stardom-at-K-Pop-School.html.
Kim, J. (2018, January 16). In Korea’s multi-million-dollar music industry, labour exploitation is the norm. Retrieved from https://www.equaltimes.org/in-korea-s-multi-million-dollar
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