K-pop is growing in popularity, but there are also voices of concern. In particular, many experts consider
K-pop to be uniform around the idols created by the agency.
Korean idols who have undergone strict training through the system of “trainees”
since their teens show high-quality “Kalgunmu” and gorgeous performances.
In other countries that don’t have a plan for trainees, these points are reflected in K-pop’s charm.
But on the other hand, it brought K-pop’s uniformity and commercialization. Pop music critic Kim Yun-ha said,
“As a result of trying to escape the criticism that idol music is not musical,
it has guaranteed a certain level of quality. “But in the genre,
I couldn’t escape the frame of dance music, and a system was created with the goal of making more money.”
Some believe that even after BTS, it is difficult to be optimistic whether K-Pop will gain popularity
in the US market. “The moment we go to the US market, we need to be able to fill
more than 10,000 seats in the performance to cross the breakeven point.
It costs several decades more than performing in the Asian market, such as airplanes,
residence fees, and transportation of equipment. In Europe or the United States,
it is difficult for the production company to plan local performances due to the high cost.
The East Asian market is still a strategic market. ”
Domestic music charts with poor public confidence are also pointed out as problems.
Overseas fans listen to K-Pop music while looking for the ranking of domestic music broadcasting
or major digital music charts. However, in the first half of last year, domestic major music site charts,
including the melon chart, were engulfed in the “manipulation controversy,”
so they have little confidence in public confidence. Idol fans are also influencing chart rankings
by playing through streaming all day.
As a result, when a popular idol group releases a new album,
it is not surprising that the top of the music chart is filled with the songs from the album.
Professor Gyu-Tak Lee of the Faculty of Liberal Studies at George Mason University in Korea said,
“There is a clear difference between exerting influence on the chart in a wrong way
and voluntary behavior of fans, but both sides refer to the chart to distort the distorted information
to overseas K-pop fans who are listening to the current status of Korean music.
“We need to make efforts to provide credible charts by the government and the private sector.”
(‘2018 Korean Wave White Paper’).
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