Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Music streaming service Melon under fire for categorizing BTS as J-pop
By Park Ji-won
Music streaming service Melon logo
By Park Ji-won
Melon, the nation's leading music streaming service run by Kakao, has come under fire for categorizing K-pop sensation BTS as J-pop. The firm changed the category and listed BTS as simply a pop group, but fans have continued to criticize the platform for the misstep.
The streaming service has been labeling musicians using various genres such as rap/hip-hop, R&B, pop, and J-pop. However, it has been describing BTS and other K-pop groups as J-pop for years, based on the fact that those groups released songs in the Japanese market, the platform's official said. In addition to BTS, BLACKPINK, TWICE and Seventeen have also been categorized as J-pop groups as they released songs in Japan.
When a report was broadcast on SBS, a Korean TV and radio network, revealing the incorrect categorization first went viral, the platform said it would be difficult to fix the category and asked users to continue to use the streaming service.
However, criticism of Melon continued. A netizen said on Twitter that “BTS is a K-pop group, not a J-pop group and it misrepresents the music of the artist.” Another said “If a K-pop musician releases a song in Europe, the song suddenly becomes Europop music?”
In the end, Melon decided to change its policy and removed the term 'J-pop' from the list of musical genres describing the music of BTS and that of other K-pop artists.
However, some also pointed out that the categorization was not applied consistently as Kim Yon-ja, a Korean trot singer who actively releases albums and performs in Japan, and 2NE1, a former K-pop girl group that also released songs in Japan, were not categorized as J-pop artists.