By Kim Do-yeun
American and European artists have long dominated the pop music scene worldwide. To cite a few examples, the iconic tunes of the Beatles of Britain and ABBA of Sweden flooded the soundtracks of the 1970s through the ‘80s. From the ‘80s to the ‘90s, American star Michael Jackson took over as the “King of Pop.”
Today, the U.S. still holds the lion’s share of the global music market, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KCCA) and other sources, followed by Japan and European countries, including Britain, Germany and France.
But for some time now Korean pop music, dubbed K-pop, has been emerging as a category of its own, increasingly recognized by the international public.
This year, the SM Town Live concert in France wrote a new chapter in the history of K-pop, which had until then mainly enjoyed an online fan base in Europe.
Raising a total revenue of 2 billion won, the concert ran for two days in June at one of the most prominent concert halls in France, Le Zenith de Paris, which had filled up with some 7,000 fans on the first day.
The success in France was followed by the SM Live World Tour in New York last month, at Madison Square Garden, attracting a following from not only locals but also foreign media.
In July, the BBC referred to the K-pop movement as a national brand that is predicted to join the ranks of transnational firms Samsung, Hyundai and LG.
Samsung and LG have been major Korean forces in the global market, occupying increasingly larger seats in mobile phones and electronics sales since the 2000s. Samsung continuously dominates the mobile market in Europe and most recently in North America, where Bloomberg reported last month that it had outperformed Apple.
K-pop, which has until now ridden on the coat tails of these Korean companies, is now spreading its own roots abroad.
K-pop and other products of the so-called Korean Wave ― the spread of South Korean culture abroad ― are contributing significantly to Korean national exports. According to statistics from the KCCA, imports in the content industry had surpassed exports until 2007, but 2008 saw a turnaround.
Since 2005, exports in the industry had been growing at an average rate of 18.9 percent per year, reaching a total of $2.6 billion in 2009.
Exports mainly flow into Japan, China, Southeast Asia, then North America, in that order, with a steady increase from year to year.
Entertainment firms like SM and JYP, which are the main messengers of K-pop abroad, have raked in revenues through advertising and royalties from popular groups such as Girls’ Generation (also known as SNSD), Dong Bang Shin Ki (known as DBSK or TVXQ), Kara, and SHINee. These are now familiar names in the international music scene.
An economic influence of 4 trillion won per year is estimated to be attributed to the Korean Wave, through promotion of Korean brand names and products, as well as attracting tourism.
The growing interest in Korean culture is further being linked to the steady rise in the number of Korean language learners ― as one might learn English from singing along to the Beatles, K-pop might be compelling foreign fans to pick up the Korean language. Last year, a total of 6,900 people took Korean classes at 15 Korean culture centers abroad, and 150,000 people registered for the Test of Proficiency in Korean. The numbers are increasing every year.
The writer is a Korea Times intern