'Frozen' drives up music sales
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A scene from the Disney animated feature, “Frozen” / Courtesy of Korea Film Council
Selling 43,000 copies and counting, the movie’s original soundtrack is a rare sign of life in an increasingly dead CD market. / Korea Times
By Yun Suh-young
After conquering theaters, Disney’s animated feature “Frozen” is having a significant effect on music sales.
“Let It Go,” the most popular song from the movie’s sound track, has been the most downloaded tune on popular music charts such as Melon and Mnet in the last two months.
YouTube is overflowing with clips of Korean singers butchering “Let It Go” at their studios or television singing contests. Selling 43,000 copies and counting, the movie’s original soundtrack is a rare sign of life in an increasingly dead CD market.
It feels like a repeat of the “Les Miserables” phenomenon of early 2013 when the movie was setting impressive audience numbers, selling music and even books.
The country’s markets in film and music have been dominated by domestic products in recent years — a result of both a thriving entertainment industry and a small number of conglomerates flexing their muscle in both the production and distribution sides of the business. But music movies are one of the few genres where Korean works have failed to duplicate the strength of Hollywood creations.
Since its Jan. 16 domestic release, “Frozen” has sold more than 9 million tickets at theaters and is already the second-highest grossing foreign film ever, following the 2009 James Cameron hit, “Avatar,” which reached an audience mark of 13 million.
“When done well, music movies are commercially explosive because you are targeting audiences which are emotionally engaged. An audience is already stimulated by the movie and can relive the emotions to the music,” said film critic Park Woo-sung.
“Music is the strongest medium of conveying emotion and ‘Frozen’ is a brilliant movie that fully exploited its impact.”
While the popularity of a movie can boost consumption of soundtracks, songs such as “Let It Go” and “Can You Hear the People Sing” of “Les Miserables” often acquire the strength to transcend the popularity of the movie itself.
Among Korean works, the romantic comedy“200 Pounds Beauty” (2006), remembered mostly for its title song, “Maria,” a cover of a Blondie song that was belted out by actress Kim Ah-joong, represents the best example of a film carried by the power of its music. The 2011 retro-drama “Sunny” (2011) was credited for reviving the popularity of the 1970s German vocal group, Boney M.
“A successful music movie requires a lot of skill and creativity, because you need to be competitive with every element,” Park said.
“The film itself has to be good, with a strong plot, great scenes and good acting. The music will then have the opportunity to maximize the effect.”
Idina Menzel, the American singer who recorded “Let It Go,” could expect to sell out a few concerts here if she comes. The song managed to stay on top of the Melon list from Jan. 27 until Feb. 9, a streak the company says was the longest ever for a foreign-language song since it started doing business. The song has also stayed atop the Mnet chart for two consecutive weeks.
A Korean version of the original soundtrack of “Frozen” will also be released on Monday. The Korean-dubbed version of the OST contains 33 songs including “Let It Go,” “For The First Time In Forever” and “Love Is An Open Door” sung by Korean singers.