my timesThe Korea Times
pzzang

Pyo Kyung-min

Korea Times K-Culture Reporter

Stay tuned for Pyo Kyung-min's latest K-pop stories, where she digs into the backstories that matter. She’d love to hear from you — share your thoughts at pzzang@koreatimes.co.kr. After all, every article gets better with insights from those who love the scene, just like she does!

Go to Email

Read more

K-pop

K-pop soars on Asian tour revenue, physical album sales

K-pop is riding a surge in concert ticket and physical album sales, two of the industry's key revenue streams, as data released this month showed the genre dominating Asia's touring market and closing in on 100 million album sales for the year. The two businesses sit at the core of K-pop agencies' earnings. At HYBE, concerts brought in 647.7 billion won ($488.5 million) of its record 1.45 trillion won in second-quarter revenue, while albums and digital music accounted for 326.8 billion won, followed closely by merchandise and licensing at 310.6 billion won. K-pop acts took six of the 10 highest-grossing touring spots in Asia over the past year, led by boy band Seventeen, which grossed $97.4 million and sold 661,088 tickets, according to U.S. concert industry publication Pollstar's Asia Focus Top Touring Artists chart. The chart covers shows played between Aug. 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026. K-pop acts filled the chart's top four spots. TWICE came in second with $76.18 million, followed by TXT and BTS, which grossed $49.07 million in Asia as part of the latter's "ARIRANG" world tour. BLACKPI

Oct 21, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
K-pop soars on Asian tour revenue, physical album sales
K-pop

Grammy boycott debate turns toward K-pop acts that submitted

Fans were angry at the Recording Academy for creating the new Asian pop category for the Grammy Awards, but some of that anger is now directed at K-pop acts that reportedly submitted for the category. The Academy has not officially disclosed which acts entered the category, though some have been named in local media outlets. Criticism has mounted in some online fan communities, with people questioning whether the acts should compete in a category that many see as discriminatory and some even asking whether they really want to win a "racist award." Others have countered that pursuing a Grammy nomination is a practical choice for artists. The debate traces back to June, when the academy announced that Best Asian Pop Music Performance, one of five new categories, will debut at the 69th Grammy Awards in February 2027. The award covers recordings that make meaningful use of one or more Asian languages, but many in the Korean music industry questioned whether it would wall K-pop off into a separate box instead of recognizing it in the main categories. Boy band BTS brought the debate to a head on

Oct 21, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Grammy boycott debate turns toward K-pop acts that submitted
K-pop

Ex-NCT member sees opportunity in K-pop music for kids

K-pop songs have long rung out across Korean kindergartens and elementary school classrooms, but few of them were ever written with children in mind. Former NCT member Mark Lee says he wants to fill that gap himself with what he calls "kids-pop." The idea has taken shape through "Mark Lee & Kids-POP," a YouTube series launched in September on the channel for Upper Room, the label he founded after leaving boy band NCT and SM Entertainment in April. In each episode, the Canadian singer meets children, listens to their stories and looks for musical ideas in them. The gap he points to is a familiar one. iKON’s 2018 breakup song “Love Scenario” became a singalong staple among kindergartners, in addition to topping Korea’s year-end digital chart. Even “Golden,” the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper from Netflix’s animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” that won over young viewers worldwide last year, was written as a pop anthem for a fictional idol group rather than as a children's song. So far, the industry's answer has largely been collaborations with children's brands, with some i

Oct 19, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Ex-NCT member sees opportunity in K-pop music for kids
K-pop

KATSEYE's 'Gabriela' reaches 1 bil. streams on Spotify

"Gabriela" by KATSEYE, the global girl group formed by HYBE and Geffen Records, has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, becoming the group's first song to enter the platform's Billions Club. According to Spotify, the track reached the milestone Friday, about 16 months after its release on June 20, 2025. Released ahead of the group's second EP, "BEAUTIFUL CHAOS," "Gabriela" blends sleek pop production with Latin-tinged acoustic guitar. Its music video draws on Latin American telenovelas and features a surprise appearance by actress Jessica Alba. It had amassed more than 97.3 million views on YouTube as of Sunday. The song has also enjoyed a sustained run on major charts. It peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 17, marking the group's highest position at the time, and spent 28 weeks on the chart. It also reached No. 9 during a 26-week run on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart. On Spotify's Weekly Top Songs Global chart, "Gabriela" peaked at No. 10 and has logged 64 weeks. It also reached No. 38 on the U.K.'s Official Singles Chart. KATSEYE has continued that momentum with its

Oct 18, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
KATSEYE's 'Gabriela' reaches 1 bil. streams on Spotify
Music

Korean startup targets 'legal AI music' via copyright tracking

More than half of the new tracks uploaded to French streaming service Deezer each day are now made by artificial intelligence (AI). The company said such uploads peaked in June at about 90,000 a day, up from roughly 10,000 in January 2025. The record industry's response is shifting from the courtroom to the negotiating table. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, which sued AI music generators Suno and Udio in 2024 alongside Sony Music, have since settled with Udio. Warner has also settled with Suno. What the industry still lacks is a way to pay the people whose music feeds these systems. Streaming runs on a simple formula, in which a song is played, counted and paid for, but nothing comparable exists for AI-generated songs that draw on existing ones. For now, platforms are simply keeping fully AI-generated tracks out of royalty payments. These are not distant problems for Korea. K-pop reaches much of its global audience through the same streaming services, and at home, AI-assisted tracks have recently climbed the charts on Melon and YouTube, even though major streaming platforms

Oct 16, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Korean startup targets 'legal AI music' via copyright tracking
K-pop

Boy band DAILY:DIRECTION explores where love leads on 1st EP

Eight months after its debut, rookie boy band DAILY:DIRECTION is taking the idea behind its name — that everyday choices add up to a direction in life — and pointing it at a bigger question of which road leads to love. The six-member ODDWAVE act, made up of EN KIM, Kim Joo-hyoung, Lim Ji-hwan, E-VAN, Lee Won-woo and Jang Yoon-seok, dropped its first EP, "WHICH WAY," on Wednesday, presenting listeners with a record built around the question of where to go next on a journey together. The all-Korean group debuted in February with the single "FIRST:DELIVERY." The members met the press at a performance hall in Jung District, central Seoul, hours before the album's release, to talk about the making of the record. "While preparing, we thought a lot about how to show the six of us, each with a different charm, and how best to bring out a refreshing side," Lee said. The members stressed that the album traces the path toward love. EN KIM turned the question back to reporters, asking whether any particular love came to mind for them, before describing the record as one that "asks questions about

Oct 14, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Boy band DAILY:DIRECTION explores where love leads on 1st EP
K-pop

Min Hee-jin referred to prosecutors over Illit plagiarism claims

Min Hee-jin, former CEO of HYBE subsidiary Ador, has been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of defamation and obstruction of business over her claims that HYBE girl group Illit copied NewJeans, a girl group she had nurtured. The Yongsan Police Station in Seoul confirmed Tuesday that it had sent the case to prosecutors on Oct. 1, believing Min spread false plagiarism claims to disparage HYBE and Illit's label, Belift Lab. Two former Ador vice presidents were also referred on the same allegations. Min first raised the allegations in April 2024, claiming Illit had copied NewJeans' debut strategy, choreography and visual concept. Belift Lab filed a criminal complaint against her the following month. Courts evaluating the disputes have so far declined to recognize the plagiarism claims. In March 2025, ruling on Ador's injunction request to confirm its status as NewJeans' agency, a court said it was difficult to view Illit's concept as a copy of NewJeans. In October 2025, a court upholding NewJeans' exclusive contracts with Ador found some similarities in the groups' internal documents and p

Oct 14, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Min Hee-jin referred to prosecutors over Illit plagiarism claims
K-pop

How g.o.d's Son Ho-young learned to take long way into solo career

For most of his career, Son Ho-young of legendary K-pop boy band g.o.d, believed that enough effort could fix anything, and that belief led him to spend eight hours a day on vocal practice for many years. Two decades into his solo career, the veteran idol has arrived at a gentler conclusion: Some things don't give way no matter how hard you push, and sometimes taking the long way around is how they finally work out. That idea runs through "Go Around," the digital single he drops Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of his solo debut and his first solo track in about five years. The 46-year-old will follow it with "HORIZON," his first solo concert in five years, on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at KBS Arena in Gangseo District, western Seoul. Son rose to fame as one of the five members of g.o.d, which debuted in 1999 under JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young with "To Mother," a song about a boy growing up poor while his mother quietly sacrificed for him. The group won over the nation with a string of hits including "Love and Remember" (1999), "Lies" (2000) and "Road" (2001), earning g.o.d th

Oct 14, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
How g.o.d's Son Ho-young learned to take long way into solo career
K-pop

INFINITE's vocalist plays the devil on his solo anniversary album

Nam Woo-hyun, the vocalist of boy band INFINITE, could easily have marked his 10th year as a soloist by returning to the ballads that launched his solo career. Instead, the title track of his new album casts him as a devil, a character he traces back to the hardest stretch of his life. “2X8,” his second full-length album, drops Wednesday, and its title fits several milestones into three characters. Two plus eight makes 10, for his years as a soloist. Two times eight makes 16, matching both the number of tracks and the years since INFINITE debuted in 2010, and the two numbers together form his birthday, Feb. 8. Nam co-wrote the lyrics and music for every track on the album, which took about a year to complete and moves from an orchestral intro through pop rock and R&B before closing on a ballad. “The tracks span a lot of genres, and they’re the result of 10 years of making music,” Nam said in an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Gangnam District, Seoul, Tuesday. “This album gathers everything from the past decade in one place.” Nam debuted in 2010 as the main vocal

Oct 14, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
INFINITE's vocalist plays the devil on his solo anniversary album
K-pop

AB6IX's Park Woo-jin turns new page with 2nd solo EP

Park Woo-jin, a member of boy group AB6IX who first rose to stardom through Wanna One — the project boy band born out of Mnet's "Produce 101 Season 2" — returned with his second solo EP, "SOLSTICE," Tuesday. Park first rose to fame after placing sixth on the survival show, which led to his debut with Wanna One in August 2017. Following the group's disbandment, he debuted as the main rapper and dancer of AB6IX in May 2019. Alongside his group promotions, he has built a strong presence as a solo artist since making his solo debut with the mini-album "oWn" in February 2023. Now a seasoned veteran of the K-pop scene, Park makes his return about a year and five months after his single "Cool & Hot," released in April last year. The EP is also his first release since joining Para Music in June. AB6IX has been on hiatus since its seventh-anniversary concert in May, when the group's contract with Brand New Music expired. Hours before the album's release, Park met with reporters at a performance hall in Jung District, central Seoul, on Tuesday, sharing the story behind the album and what he has

Oct 13, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
AB6IX's Park Woo-jin turns new page with 2nd solo EP
previous page
12345
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.