World Cultural Industry Forum highlights Sweden's impact on K-pop

Opinion leaders in the culture and entertainment fields participate in the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa

'Metaverse to play bigger role in music industry'

By Dong Sun-hwa

DAEGU ― K-pop hits like SuperM's "One (Monster & Infinity)" (2020), TWICE's "Dance the Night Away" (2018) and Red Velvet's "Peek-A-Boo" (2017) have one thing in common: all of them involved Swedish songwriters in their creative processes.

On the first day of the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum (WCIF) that took place at Hotel Susung in the southeastern city of Daegu, Wednesday, opinion leaders in cultural fields discussed how global cooperation between Korea and Sweden has facilitated the growth of the Korean music and entertainment industry.

Swedish Ambassador to Korea Daniel Wolven delivers a congratulatory address during the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa

"There are many things connecting Sweden and Korea, two of the most innovative countries in the world that have worked together in the creation and production of commercially and artistically successful music, K-pop," Swedish Ambassador to Korea Daniel Wolven said during his congratulatory address.

"Many Swedish songwriters are collaborating with Koreans to produce K-pop hits of today and tomorrow, just like they did for the American music scene in the past. I recently read a New York Times article about this collaboration, which included a quote saying that Sweden seems to have an emotional understanding of Korean melodies. If that is the case, the opposite is also true. Korean artistic creations have hit the chord with people in Sweden as evidenced by the enormous popularity of K-pop and K-dramas."

Jesper Thorsson, CEO of Export Music Sweden, speaks during the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa

Jesper Thorsson, the CEO of Export Music Sweden, echoed that sentiment, saying that many Swedish songwriters turned their heads from the U.S. to Korea and Asia. Export Music Sweden is a company dedicated to helping export Swedish music to the world by supporting different songwriters and musicians.

"In 2014, Sweden-based streaming platform Spotify launched its first K-pop playlist and the K-pop stream has increased by 1,800 percent on the platform between January 2014 and 2020," he added.

Robin Jenssen, CEO of EKKO Music Rights Europe, speaks during the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa

Robin Jenssen, the CEO of EKKO Music Rights Europe ― a sister company of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment ― explained that free music education in Sweden has played a pivotal role in incubating talented songwriters.

"A free education system has allowed Swedish people to learn music from the very early age and get better at creating strong pop melodies," he stressed. "I believe taking care of (these) people and letting them evolve are very important."

SM Entertainment CEO Lee Sung-su speaks during the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa

SM Entertainment CEO Lee Sung-su also shared how he and his company have created great synergy with Sweden.

"As a K-pop company, music is of utmost importance for us," Lee said. "We receive about 200 songs from songwriters across the globe every week. S.E.S.'s 1998 release 'Dreams Come True,' which was written by Finnish songwriter Risto Asikainen, was the first song we received from a composer from a Scandinavian country. Since then, we partnered with a legion of creators, gradually realizing that Sweden is like a hub of music in this region."

Lee added that Korea and Sweden look alike in many aspects.

"Both countries were the victims of foreign invasions in the past and we seem to share similar sentiments deep inside our hearts. I actually call Sweden my second home. I hope the cooperation between Sweden and SM continue in the days ahead."

Jenssen then talked about the future of the music and entertainment industries, delving into the roles of metaverse, a shared virtual space where users can interact via digital avatars without being limited by physical space.

"Sometimes, something really bad like the COVID-19 pandemic can fast-track the development of a new technology," he said. "In the entertainment industry, the new world of metaverse has been created, allowing us to break down physical barriers. Thanks to metaverse, artists can host concerts online, while using non-fungible tokens to monetize music and products. Fans and artists can have digital avatars, too. In the future, an accordion player in Norway will be able to work on the album of Korean singer PSY thanks to metaverse. That's the future."

He added that K-pop is probably the first genre in the world that has taken metaverse to the next level.

"I am a person who tells songwriters what to do, but I cannot be everywhere. But in the world of metaverse, I am available for millions of people."

Established by Lee Jang-woo, a professor emeritus of business administration at Kyungpook National University, the WCIF was joined by Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man, DGB Financial Group CEO Kim Tae-oh and Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange President Jung Kil-hwa, among others.