Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
KOCCA selects 15 musicians for Muse On support program
Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) selected 15 musicians for this year's “Muse On 2021.” Courtesy of KOCCA
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
The state-run Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) will start offering support for the winners of Muse On 2021, an artist-promotion program run by the agency in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
KOCCA announced, Thursday, that it has selected 15 individual musicians and groups and will kick off its program this month for the winners, including concerts and financial aid to help them release their music.
“Assistance for creators is needed more than ever in this difficult pandemic time,“ Lee Hyun-?joo, head of the pop culture division at KOCCA, said in a statement. “We will provide endless support to popular music creators to help them freely challenge themselves and grow.”
The 15 participants, including Shin You-me and YESEO, and bands W24 and Nerd Connection, were selected among 418 applicants through auditions.
KOCCA will offer aid to the selected winners to help them release and distribute albums or singles and assist in marketing by producing interview and performance clips and giving them chances to appear on web series and other promotional events with social media influencers. It will also provide the musicians opportunities to perform at music festivals, including the agency's own event, Muse On Day.
Muse On Day will take place at a concert hall on Nodeul Island, located in the Han River in Seoul. Five concerts will be held from July 31 to November.
Nerd Connection, Band Nah and REDOOR will perform in the first concert.
Audience sizes will be capped at 100 people who will be required to maintain social distancing to prevent COVID-19 infections. The concert will also be streamed online through the KOCCA Music official YouTube channel.
The agency will evaluate the artistic performances of the winners until October and select the five best individuals or teams. The top five musicians will be given a chance to appear on MBC's popular music program, “Show! Music Core,” and enjoy additional opportunities to promote themselves.
Muse On is one of the agency's efforts to help the music industry by discovering and promoting talented musicians. Last year's winners include rock band DickPunks, which was the runner-up on the hit audition show, “Superstar K4,” and band April 2nd, which contributed the song “And I'm Here” to the soundtrack for the TV series “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.”