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| Japanese act Ballistik Boyz from Exile Tribe allegedly imitated K-pop megastar BTS. Capture from Twitter |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Japanese band Ballistik (derived from "ballistic") Boyz from Exile Tribe became the talk of the town in Korea last year after conquering Japan's Oricon weekly album chart with its debut EP "Ballistik Boyz."
While some celebrated the rookies' musical feat, many criticized the rise, insisting the group imitated K-pop titan Bangtan (meaning "bulletproof" in Korean) Boys ― better known as BTS ― for its success.
The two allegedly share plenty of common ground, from name, number of members to sonic style. Both have seven members ― three rappers and four vocalists ― and are hip hop-based. Many even point out that Ballistik Boyz's wardrobe choice, hairstyles and general image resemble those of BTS.
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| K-pop juggernaut BTS. Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment |
Since K-pop's global ascent in the mid-2000s, legions of singers, mostly from Asia, have allegedly copied various features of the genre. Chinese groups AOS and OK Bang and Thai band Candy Mafia are a few examples.
But in the beginning, K-pop also imitated and blended music from America, Japan and other countries to develop its own distinguishable features such as a mixture of diverse genres and emphasis on choreography and music videos.
Since imitation is a frequent ― although not always desirable ― phenomenon in pop culture history, K-pop labels have rarely taken stringent action against the alleged copycats.
But there is another big reason for overlooking them, industry insiders say.
"Knockoff groups help promote K-pop artists"
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| Lee Gyu-tag, a professor of arts and science at George Mason University Korea. Courtesy of Lee Gyu-tag |
"Korean music labels tend to believe that the emergence of copycats proves preeminence of the original K-pop singers," Lee Gyu-tag, a professor of arts and science at George Mason University Korea, said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
"Knockoff groups usually cannot beat out or replace K-pop artists in terms of music and other features. But their attempt to emulate shows that K-pop is their 'reference,' leading people to think the genre is something of quality and original."
K-pop agencies have turned a blind eye to copyright or portrait right infringement for a similar reason, according to Lee.
"They think their musical content could reach more people if they overlook the violation on platforms such as YouTube and Twitter," he said.
"For instance, Hani of K-pop girl band EXID rose to belated stardom after a fan's video featuring her compelling performance of 'UP & DOWN' ― the group's flagship number released in 2014 ― went viral on YouTube. Strictly speaking, the fan violated the star's portrait right by sharing the video online without permission, but thanks to the agency that did not pose a problem, Hani came out of nowhere."
The Korean government did not force, but requested agencies to refrain from being fussy too.
"The government believed free dissemination would bring about a great ripple effect in promoting Korean content," Lee said. "Its prediction has turned out to be correct as of now, with K-pop content dominating popular online platforms and drawing more followers every day."
He added the agencies could also have given a negative impression to K-pop fans if they had taken too strong action.
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| Kang Jin-seok, an entertainment lawyer at law firm Yulwon. Courtesy of Kang Jin-seok |
Legal procedures to punish emulation also are intricate, according to Kang Jin-seok, an entertainment lawyer at law firm Yulwon, based in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
"Every country has different laws concerning trademark and copyright, so it is challenging for the Korean labels to lodge a complaint against the imitators unless they are well acquainted with foreign laws," Kang told The Korea Times. "Proving the copycat's guilt is demanding too, because the companies would have to corroborate that the consumers are overtly 'confused and mistaken' by the emulation."
He said this is not an easy task, even in Korea.
So what is the future for K-pop bands and their imitators?
Professor Lee said the copycats hailing from Asia are "unlikely to outperform" K-pop bands.
"Since 20 years ago, some have claimed K-pop will falter in the future following the expansion of music markets in competitive Asian countries including China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia," he said.
"But to take a lead role, these countries need to meet both political and economic conditions. China has money, but the government censors the market and hinders the production of inventive music. Japanese artists have more freedom but do not strive to blaze a trail to the global market as they can make a living solely with domestic demands. Southeast Asian countries are not yet prosperous enough to actively boost their own music industry."
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