389 The Globalization of K-pop: Korea’s Place in the Global Music Industry Ingyu Oh* K-Pop is a new buzz word in the global music industry. Korean pop singers such as TVQX, SNSD, Wonder Girls, and Psy currently attract unprecedented followers in Asia, Europe, and North America. The dominant explanation behind this unique cultural phenomenon rests on the concept of cultural hybridity or Pop Asianism (i.e., con- tinuation and expansion of Japanese, Chinese, and Indian subcul- tures in the global cultural market). I argue that the globalization of K-Pop involves a much more complicated process of globalizing- localizing-globalizing musical content that originates from Europe than what hybridity or Pop Asianism arguments suggest. Specifi- cally, the rise of K-Pop in the global music industry involves a new technique of locating new musical content in Europe or elsewhere, modifying it into Korean content, and then redistributing it on a global scale. Furthermore, K-Pop represents an effort to network global talent pools and social capital in the formerly disconnected music industry rather than an effort to emulate and slightly modify* Ingyu Oh is Professor of Hallyu Studies at the Research Institute of Korean Studies, Korea University, Korea. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. His recent publications include “From B2C to B2B: Selling Korean Pop Music in the Age of New Social Media” (2012) and “From Nationalistic Diaspora to Transnational Diaspora: The Evolution of Identity Crisis among the Korean Japanese” (2012).This work was supported by the National Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (NRF-2007-361-AL0013). I thank Jeong-ha Park and Dr. Hannah Jun for research and editorial assistance. E-mail: oingyu@korea.ac.kr.KOREA OBSERVER, Vol. 44, No. 3, Autumn 2013, pp. 389-409.© 2013 by THE INSTITUTE OF KOREAN STUDIES.390 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 391 Japanese pop culture. As such, within the global music industry, Against this backdrop, many scholars of popular culture and mass Korea occupies a structural hole that exists between Western and media have tried to theorize K-pop’s sudden and global popularity East Asian music industries. using various perspectives from cultural studies, mass media theories, and other social science disciplines. The dominant explanation of the Key Words: K-Pop, Music Industry, Globalization, Structural Hole global K-pop phenomenon is the “hybridity” view that advances a liberal argument about Chinese, Japanese, and Indian cultures as a grand Asian Culture (AC) that may countervail the dominant Western Culture (WC)as a whole (Chua, 2004, 2012; Iwabuchi, 2004, Forthcom- I. Introduction ing). These authors conclude that the rise of K-pop therefore is only natural, given the expanding forces of AC vis-à-vis WC. In this sense,A s the trendy magazine Monocle put it recently: “The KoreanWave movement is the biggest soft power success story of the region, K-pop is not a new cultural force in the global cultural system as long as it originates from Japan and/or China (i.e., hybrid), both of whichacquiring global — and still growing — adulation over the past have already hybridized their pop culture with the mix of WC sincedecade, with the fevered export of South Korea’s pop culture, from the 19th century (Iwabuchi, 2004, Forthcoming; Park, 2006; Hirata,music to drama to anime to computer games” (Monocle 49, Dec. 2011- 2008; Ryoo, 2009; Shim, 2011).Jan. 2012: 48). Particularly, the rise of K-pop or Korean popular music On the opposite side of this theoretical spectrum is a groundedin the global music scene came as a coup de main to many music fans, view of K-pop as Korea’s new export industry that “denuded andcommentators, and business people in Asia. The Anglo-American or destroyed whatever exists of received (South) Korean culture andEuropean domination of the global music industry has rarely faced tradition” (Lie, 2012: 361). K-pop has nothing that can be consideredchallenging competitors from Asia prior to the sudden K-pop epidemic. “Korean,” as it is a timely, commercial combination of: (1) the globalPsy’s “Gangnam Style,” for example, ranked number one in the world liberalization of music markets in Asia and the rest of the world; andin terms of YouTube click counts, reaching more than 1.7 billion hits (2) the rapid advancement of digital technologies like YouTube whichas of July 21, 2013. The second most hits recorded in YouTube history prefers to select and feature perfectly photogenic performers from allby Justin Bieber comes in at just 0.9 billion. over the world, including Korean girl and boy bands. According to Before Psy’s ascendance as a global pop star, other boy and girl Lie (2012), no other J-Pop groups and their producers could havebands from Korea have enthralled a massive number of young Asian imagined this new export opportunity partly due to the lack ofand European fans who rushed to quickly sold outlive concerts and/ economic need or the lack of technological advancement. Perhapsor YouTube for instant and free access to music videos. In countries even now, J-Pop singers or bands may not be able to imagine matchinglike China, where YouTube is banned, young fans relied on alternative Koreans’ success simply because of the lack of photogenic appeal thatsocial networking service (SNS) sites for free music videos from Korea. Koreans have demonstrated in their music videos and on concertGirls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, TVXQ, Big Bang, 2PM, 2NE1, and stages. In this sense, K-pop is not Japanese or Chinese, even though itRain are particularly popular among a diverse and long list of young is Asian. Rather, K-pop is global and more Western than ever.entertainers from Korea who currently dominate the Asian music Despite this enlightening explanation of K-pop’s global success,industry (see inter alia, Ho, 2012; Lee, 2012; Lie, 2012; Oh and Park, Lie’s analysis lacks insight into the anatomy of the whole production2012; Hübinette, 2012; Hirata, Forthcoming; Iwabuchi, Forthcoming). process of the export business (i.e., the K-pop industry). To provide an392 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 393example, Japanese cars have dominated the global car market due to many structural holes that can be occupied by linking Asian and Westernseveral externally crucial and timely factors. However, exogenous networks. However, either the tertiusiugens or the tertiusgaudens in thefactors are just as important as endogenous ones. If global factors are music industry must be able to identify audience preferences in eachsignificant for an export industry like automobiles, there is also a need music genre and geographical segment.to understand why automakers such as Toyota created the Just-in-Time System (JIS) and Kanban. As Lie (2012) succinctly puts it, if SMEntertainment is “the single most important” factor behind the global II. Theorizing the Global Music Industrysuccess of K-pop, a meaningful analysis demands an understandingof the inside organizational dynamics of an industry dominated by The plural usage of “music industries” reflects the diverse naturefirms like SM. of the industry in producing and delivering a variety of different SM Entertainment’s core business competence was bifurcated goods and services to music consumers. For example, the classicalwithin the organization into: (1) creativity management; and (2) export music industry, a representative case of “high culture” in Bourdieu’smanagement. In one of the extant studies, Oh and Park (2012) focused (1984) term, has a widely different throughput system from that of theon export management, characterized by SM’s business focus shifting K-pop industry, an exemplary case of “low culture.” While the classi-from B (business) to C (customers) to B (SM) to B (YouTube). This cal music industry has prestigious national and international schoolstransformation of SM’s international strategy necessitated competent that officially train musical geniuses, the K-pop industry has no suchinternational managers like Youngmin Kim, SM’s CEO, who was privilege except for private training camps often labeled as “slavepivotal in successfully introducing BoA and TVXQ in Japan. Hailing camps” by antagonistic journalists. Whereas opera is delivered infrom Japan himself, Kim spent his primary, middle, and high school luxurious nationally or imperially founded opera houses, K-pop con-years in Japan before coming to Korea University for undergraduate certs are performed in sports stadiums or open air stages constructedstudies. While Soo Man Lee, SM founder and Chairman, has managed overnight.just the creativity management side, Kim has had full freedom and The sociological understanding of the popular music industrypower to blandish his sword in export matters. The connection has often assumed the above class line and elaborated on the processbetween YouTube and SM, something that Japanese and Chinese of top-down control of “low culture” contents using institutions, orga-entertainment managers have not sought to utilize, was first mapped nizations, and technologies (Hirsch, 1971; Peterson and Di Maggio,out by Kim, who accidentally discovered the YouTube icon as it was 1975). According to these cultural classifications, K-pop belongs topermanently pre-installed on a Japanese iPhone first released in 2008. the “Third World” low culture category emanating from a country The story of creativity and export management from SM’s per- unheard of in usual mainstream cultural (both high and low) discoursesspective therefore adds richness and flesh to the theoretical skeleton in developed countries. Although Hirsch (1971) correctly predicted thepresented by Lie (2012). In this paper, I continue to present aspects of structural nexus between mass media technologies and new popularcreativity management with an emphasis on successful linkages with music genres, as evidenced in the case of radios after the massive suc-export management. I first discuss existing studies of the global music cess of TVs and the birth of rock and roll music. However, like otherindustry to draw an understanding of the whole business system from sociological studies of popular music, he couldn’t predict that theK-pop’s viewpoint. Through a case study on SM’s creativity manage- birth of YouTube and digital music would usher in a new popularment, I suggest that the recent rise of the global music industry offers music genre of K-pop. In the dominant sociological study, artists and394 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 395recording companies in the core countries only would invent, develop, The establishment of the global music industry has also destroyedproduce, and disseminate popular music. the thick line between “high” and “low” culture on the one hand, and The picture has changed dramatically since the birth of the global “developed” and “developing” country cultures on the other. As themusic industry. The rise of the new Caribbean music genre is one case of Psy illustrates, virtually anyone can post music content onexample, while the spread of J-pop all over Asia was another. Tradi- YouTube and enjoy instant fame overnight. Unlike what the Birming-tional and national music industries have relied on discs and magnetic ham School used to preach, people do not have to resist mainstreamtapes (SPs, LPs, tapes, CDs, MDs, LDs, DVDs, etc.), which were culture by deliberately enjoying subculture music (Hall and Jefferson,played on playing devices (e.g. audio components). These discs and 1993). Subculture music from all over the world is easily searchable andtapes carried price tags, although they were easily pirated all over the watchable through streaming technology on YouTube. It is thereforeworld for cheap dissemination. Unless countries enforced strict copy- not uncommon now to find K-pop and other popular music artistsright rules, singers and recording companies found it very difficult to form the developing countries who have previously pursued classicalgarner any substantial profit out of their music. Free music also existed music careers, because their chance of making fortune in the popularthrough the broadcasting model of music dissemination (Fox and music industry has tripled and quadrupled due to the internet.Wrenn, 2001). Music was aired on radios or television music channels The success of subculture music on YouTube, or the new globalwithout fees to the audiences, as long as they listened to or watched music industry, depends on the nature of the organizational ecologyprogram sponsors’ commercials. In many countries where piracy was created by a specific home country’s music industry. K-pop has anrampant, appearance on TV programs was one of the important industrial ecology that favors a very high level of individual and groupincome sources for artists who had no other option but to appear on participation in YouTube-based music production and disseminationnigh club shows or take a national concert tour with less secure income based on a new model of popular music venture capitalism. The threeguarantees than that of TV programs. major music venture capitalists (SM, YG, JYP) in Korea actively recruit The ascendance of the global music industry has destroyed this and train future K-pop talent on a continuing basis in order to createstructure. No longer are music audiences required to purchase music an organizational ecology characterized by a large supply of musicalreleased by recording companies (or labelers), as they have full access inputs (composers, lyricists, singers, session bands, etc.) and a smallto free music on the internet, especially YouTube. Concerts are still number of producers (SM, YG, JYP) and distributors (YouTube). In thisorganized by production managers (who either have or do not have syphoning type of industry, producers, for their capital investment inrecording facilities), although more and more regular fans prefer to young individuals and groups from their early ages, and distributors,watch them online for free. Today, the global music industry allows for their monopolistic position, take the largest cut in the form ofmusic producers and distributors to make their fortunes through profits, whereas the input elements (e.g. singers) gross relativelyposting free music on the Internet without going to radio stations or smaller share (Oh and Park, 2012).begging recording companies to produce and distribute records The question, then, is what makes these producers qua venture(Hilderbrand, 2007; Mangold and Faulds, 2009; Elberse, 2010; Oh and capitalists legitimate in the whole value chain, where YouTube is thePark, 2012). Whereas recording companies owned and managed only powerful distributor in the new free digital music industry? Thecopyrights of music they sold, music producers in the global music answer lies in the fact that these big three K-pop producers have notindustry recruit, train, and own artists in addition to the copyright of chosen to rely on a local pool of talents in Korea for creativity manage-the music sold online. ment, but have extended production networks (or musical/cultural396 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 397 Table 1. K-pop’s Globalization Drive Figure 1. K-pop Value Chain Producers Composers Choreographers MNEs Name/ Name/ Name/ Distributor K-pop Singers K-pop Singers K-pop Singers Busbee/ Girls Generation Alex James/ Girls Generation KalleEngstrom/ Girls Generation Oslo Recordings/ Super Junior Nick Bass/ Teddy Riley/ Jeff Hoeppner/ Super Junior, Girls Generation f(x)SM Entertainment SHINee Polow da Don/ Thomas Troelsen/ Misha Gabriel/ Girls Generation f(x) BoA, SHINee WellemLaseroms/ f(x) Youtube NaoKanata/ BoA RyojiSonoda/ BoA, TVXQ Thomas Troelsen/ SHINee Chinese, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and other talents) occupy the Will.i.am/ Daishi Dance/ 2NE1 BigBang lowest value bracket on the value chain, whereas MNEs, producers, andYG Entertainment Rodney “Darkchild” Nagao Dai/ distributors (YouTube) take the largest cut in the global music indus- Jerkins/SE7EN SE7EN try. As exemplified from this value chain, Korean music producers Nick Cannon/ Claude Kelly/ Jonte/ have adopted a new globalization strategy that can be referred to as aJYP Entertainment WonderGirls WonderGirls WonderGirls “G-L-G’” strategy, to which this paper now turns.capital) to global cultural centers in Hollywood and Europe (especiallySweden and the U.K.). As Table 1 shows, the K-pop music industry III. G-L-G’: K-pop’s Globalization Strategyrepresents a global business project encompassing local componentsto regional and global inputs and outputs. Globalization in the music industry can mean several things. Furthermore, Figure 1 shows that these global music suppliers First and foremost, it can refer to a situation where center music canoccupy the middle point between multinational enterprises (MNEs), dominate the peripheral music markets (music imperialism) (Black,which provide funds to K-pop production by buying advertising time, 1994; During, 1997; Fine, 1997; McChesney, 2001). Second, it can meanand Korean producers who buy some of the K-pop music originally cosmopolitanism, where a diverse type of center, peripheral, andcoming from Sweden (melody), England (melody, lyrics, percussions), semi-peripheral music is sold in the market with sizable groups ofand the U.S. (beats, lyrics). Performers (mostly Koreans with some fans and “buffs” for each subculture market (Cho-Han et al., 2003;398 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 399Iwabuchi, 2004, Forthcoming; Baek, 2005; Hirata, 2005; Chang, 2006). sion of labor in music manufacturing and distribution.This is close to an ideal-typical multicultural music market. Third, it Like in other global divisions of labor in manufacturing and dis-can allude to a possibility that there is a new global division of labor tribution, Korean corporations purchase or outsource raw materialsin music production and dissemination. In the past, for example, Japan that will be processed in their own factories in Korea. Finished goodsexported vinyl LPs that contained American popular music back to the will then be exported to center markets in the world system, usuallyU.S. for their high quality and cheap prices. In another case, European with help from center buyers or distributors. In the 1960s and 1970s,singers and artists went to New York and Hollywood to record and Korean corporations sold textiles, wigs, and footwear in massiverelease their albums due to the sheer size of the pop music market quantities to the U.S. and Europe. In the 1980s and 1990s, these corpo-in the U.S. In a new global division of music production, the music rations began producing cars, ships, steel plates, and electronic goodsproducts sold in each subculture market are produced by a new sys- to be consumed by center customers. In the 2000s and 2010s, thesetem of global division of labor that involves European, Asian, and same firms are now exporting IT-related communication hardwareAmerican music talents, venture capital firms, and distributors (Oh and devices, such as smart phones and smart pads, while newly-and Park, 2012). established entertainment companies are exporting popular cultural K-pop belongs to the third type of globalization. By definition, content called Hallyu products all over the world.K-pop entails the export of music “made in Korea” to global con- Despite stark differences in manufacturing and distributionsumers, because the domestic music market is drastically hampered processes, these industries share a similar structure in the global divi-by its trifling size and rampant, albeit diminishing, piracy. However, sion of labor. Korean firms in the semi-periphery of the world systembefore the current K-pop export boom, the Western network of music have to import or outsource raw materials, advanced technologies,producers and distributors did not spot or recruit Korean musical and financial resources from the periphery or the center. Even rawtalents into their production and distribution systems, although a materials are often controlled by, and therefore have to be purchasedcouple of anecdotal stories exist.1 Korean popular music was simply from, the center capitalists. Like the famous Korean electronics andnot Western at all, as the traditional trot or kayo songs with pentatonic automobile industries, K-pop companies must outsource original musicscales had dominated East Asian popular music (Lie, 2012). The export scores to Western (notably Swedish, American, and British) composers.of Korean music on a global scale has begun since the 21st century, In a similar vein, the finished K-pop CDs, DVDs, music videos, andmainly due to: (1) Korea’s economic ascendance to semi-periphery in MP3 music files must be distributed by center companies (e.g. iTunes,the world system; (2) massive immigration of Koreans into center YouTube, vevo, SONY Music, Universal, EMI, avex, etc.).countries (Japan, the U.S., Western Europe, etc.); (3) active participa- Participation in the global division of music production and distri-tion in global cultural industries by the Korean and overseas Korean bution (see Table 1) does not necessarily guarantee the global successpopulation; and (4) most importantly, participation in the global divi- of K-pop. From the outset, participation itself is extremely difficult to begin with, given the domination of European, North American, 1. In 1963 Louis Armstrong performed with an unknown Korean girl singer, Bok- Central and South American, and Japanese music producers and Hee Yoon, at Walker Hill Hotel, Seoul, in 1963, and later she was featured in the distributors. Equally challenging is sustaining popularity in the global Ed Sullivan Show (Yoon, 1997). Also, Kim Sisters, three daughters of a legendary music market. This is why the entire process of Global (G) → Local (L) Korean female singer Nan-Yeong Yi, went to Las Vegas with their American manager, Tom Ball, and eventually appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show several → Global’ (G’) is untenable if the “L” component of the global division times (Hankooki.com, July 10, 2008). of labor is not creative or unique (i.e., product differentiation) enough400 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 401to attract producers and distributors, not to mention global fan mimic Jackson’s music/dance and become world stars, too?groups. This paper is not concerned with musical archetypes for popular K-pop’s differentiation strategy to make the “L” process attractive music in general and K-pop in particular. Instead, this paper centersto a global audience is roughly threefold: (1) numbers; (2) physique; on a K-pop producer’s point of view by focusing on their efforts atand (3) voice-dance coordination. Every artistic expression has arche- differentiating K-pop from other musical genres. Producers are con-types found in either its own traditional art form or foreign legends cerned with singers becoming global stars and eventually generating(Barthes, 1972; Jung and Hull, 1980). While the debate about the Korean high cash returns on initial investments in those would-be stars over aarchetype of K-pop seems futile, three candidates stand out, namely, five- to ten-year period (i.e., K-pop venture capitalism). At first glance,Japanese or Chinese archetypes (i.e., Chinese culture, J-Pop), Korean K-pop’s product differentiation lies in the number of singers staged athorse dancers (i.e., Psy’s Gangnam Style mirroring an ancient Korean one time. Unlike Chinese popular singers, J-Pop bands, or Michaelhorse dance), and Western origin (i.e., K-pop came from Michael Jackson, K-pop’s success initially came from the very large number ofJackson). Pop Asianism under the theoretical guidance of cultural singers and dancers singing and dancing simultaneously on stage.hybridity has proposed circular arguments that K-pop came from TVXQ, Girls’ Generation, Big Bang, Super Junior, 2PM, Shinee, Beast,Chinese and/or Japanese popular culture that has had significant and others constitute archetypal success cases for the K-pop globaliza-impact on the global pop culture (Iwabuchi, 2004, Forthcoming; Jung, tion drive through an attractive “L.” The localization process therefore2011; Shim, 2011). The argument is circular because it cannot explain includes a special (or Korean) staging formation for boy and girl bandswhy Taiwanese popular music is not globally popular as much as previously unheard of in other countries. Peculiar only in K-pop,K-pop is. Nor can it predict when and how Taiwanese popular music K-pop music features singer-dancers on stage who maintain changingwill be globally popular just like K-pop. The circular argument does dancing formations that quickly change with strict or perfect synchro-not explain the reason why K-pop is successful because it wrongfully nization. From the beginning to the end of a song, singer-dancers takeassumes that K-pop is similar to Chinese or Japanese pop music. turn in occupying the spotlighted center stage one by one, as if there Korean cultural pundits have also advanced similar functionalist were no lead vocal for the band. Everyone in the band maintains thearguments that Psy’s mega hit, “Gangnam Style,” came from the tradi- same vocal and dancing talent in a synchronized movement, as in thetional horse dance found on the murals from the ancient Shilla dynasty Irish river dance, although the river dancers don’t sing at all.or that Americans enjoy Psy’s song because they are “cowboys” who The “number” factor alone, however, is not sufficient. Japan’s topapparently love horses (Kwon, 2012a, 2012b; Ye, 2012; Kim, 2012; girl bands, AKB48, SKE48, and HKT48, feature 48 singers and dancersPark, 2012). Furthermore, some Americans have argued that K-pop, at the same time, making them constantly visible on the Oricon chart.epitomized by male musicians dancing and singing simultaneously in However, they have not had any global success much akin to that ofgroups, came from Michael Jackson’s own singing and choreographic K-pop girl bands, such as Girls’ Generation, which features only ninestyles (Kim, 2010). All these arguments are also circular because their members. K-pop’s “physique” factor therefore must be taken intologic is based on the absurdity of: (1) Koreans are born horse dancers consideration in its differentiation strategy. In other words, Girls’and (2) if anyone emulates cowboy dance or Michael Jackson, he/she Generation and Wonder Girls are at least 10 inches taller than AKB48will be a global idol. If Koreans are born horse dancers, why didn’t or HKT48 members, let alone the fact that the Korean singers show offAmerican cowboys create the horse dance, too? If Michael Jackson much sexier and sophisticated looks and bodies than their Japanesewas the key to K-pop’s global stardom, why didn’t Taiwanese singers counterparts. Japan’s top male idol group, Arashi, which features five402 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 403members, also pale in comparison with the physique of their male Table 2. K-pop’s G-L-G’ ProcessK-pop counterparts. TVXQ, originally featuring five members, and Global Local Global’Shinee, also featuring five members, are at least 10 inches taller than Competing non-European, European, American, Competing localArashi members. As a result, K-pop music videos and concerts are Input Process non-American, Japanese composers composersmuch more visually appealing than those of other Asian (especially, non-Japanese composersJapanese or Chinese) counterparts. The emphasis on the physique Education & Competing European, Competing Chinese, Latin Trainingside of performers simultaneously implies that K-pop idol groups Manufacturing American, Japanese American, Middle Eastern, Choreograph Process entertainment co.’s & African, Southeast Asianhave different sources of global attraction from those of African or choreographers Musical variation entertainment co.’s RefiningAfrican-American music artists. Targeting Asian and Western female Distribution Competing regional Competing local Japanese, European,fans mostly, K-pop emphasizes thin, tall, and feminine looks with Process distributors distributors American distributorsadolescent or sometimes very cute facial expressions, regardless ofwhether they’re male or female singers. On the contrary, Caribbeanand African American singers highlight their colonial-style male This is why some critics call the learning process very abusive of theattractions with body looks that are not manicured, cosmeticized, or trainees, although K-pop managers defend their programs by arguingthoroughly shaved. that the K-pop cram school is no different from college prep schools, Even though Western Caucasian and other ethnic boy and girl exam cram schools, golf school, and other similar institutions. K-popbands may want to choose to rely on the physique factor for their managers emphasize the fact that they pay for all the K-pop educationimmediate rise to stardom, they often fall short of fans’ expectation in and training, unlike other cram schools in Korea.2 After the entireterms of dance-singing coordination in large groups. This is the third period of training, K-pop idols possess very different skills of singing,feature predominant in globally popular K-pop idols. The “L” process dancing, speaking foreign languages, and acting from their competingwithin the K-pop industry involves a high level of specific in-house singers from China or Japan. They also look much sexier and trimmedinvestments provided by entertainment companies themselves that than their competitors from other countries.act like venture capital firms. The learning process of mastering how With finished products in the form of global concert tours, CDs,to sing and dance is crucial in the Korean “L” process of the entire DVDs, and music videos downloaded or streamlined on the internet,global division of labor, as similar learning processes in the training of K-pop companies go abroad to market finished goods through globalKorean archery and golf players are also pivotal. Particularly, the distributors. Since CDs and DVDs must be protected by copyright, alllength of learning period is noticeably long often ranging from five to K-pop companies rely on Japanese distributors for Japanese and otherten years. The three major K-pop managing firms, or K-pop venture Asian markets. For concert tours, K-pop companies rely on local con-capitalist firms, select potential idols through internal auditions and/ cert organizers who are also label sellers in the specific market. How-or their K-pop cram schools. Trainees go through vocal, dancing, ever, income from these finished goods is not big compared to royaltylanguage, and theatrical acting lessons for at least five hours a day in income from YouTube and other social media sites (SMS). YouTube isthe evening after school. They have to carry out regular physical fit- a revolutionary SMS that has provided unexpected opportunities toness trainings as well as take skin and other beauty therapies. Theentire program resembles that of a total institution, as trainees are 2. Based on the interviews with the CEO Youngmin Kim and the A&R Mangersometimes banned from using cell phones during training (Ho, 2012). Chris Lee at SM Entertainment on Nov. 13, 2012 and Dec. 20, 2012, respectively.404 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 405K-pop producers, while J-pop Asia and vevo are latecomer competitors allowed for less biased investments and inputs in the Asian musicto YouTube in the global music industry. industry than before from Western music producers and distributors. All these factors, however, do not suggest that either Asian or Korean (or both) cultural content enjoys the same or similar status in IV. K-pop’s Place in the Global Music Industry the global popular culture market. The K-pop phenomenon simply reinforces the world system view where the global economy, including K-pop’s global ascendance is not a result of its cultural hybridity the cultural market, is more based on the global division of labor thanthat Korea imported from China or Japan. Korean culture, be that ever and that K-pop represents a new cultural content that providesConfucian or hybrid, has never been popular in Asia, let alone the unexpected windfall to Western and Japanese music producers andworld. Back in the 1990s, Japanese or Chinese viewers did not tune in distributors by outsourcing manufacturing of the popular music toto watch Korean TV dramas or films, listen to Korean music or attend Korea. Unless Korea obtains technologies, capital, and social capitalKorean singers’ concerts in Seoul, eat out in a Korean restaurant or in the global music industry, it will continue to maintain its semi-cook Korean food at home, or drink Korean rice wine or soju (i.e., peripheral role of export manufacturing, similar to how Hyundai andcheap local alcohol brewed and distilled from sweet potatoes). Samsung rest their corporate survival on the continuous export of The global success of K-pop in the 21st century represents a finished cars and electronic gadgets to the center markets.unique historical and geographical meaning in the present world sys-tem. First and foremost, Korean singers have obtained a distinctivephysique, either through a long process of evolution or mutation (or V. Conclusionsimply through cosmetic surgeries), which was unimaginable amongKoreans up until the 20th century. Second, the political democratization K-pop in the 2010s has rekindled global scholarly attention onof Korea has lifted censorship or bans on both Korean and Western Hallyu, which at one point has been considered a declining populartypes of popular music, including the free importation of Japanese cultural industry. Korean pop singers such as TVQX, SNSD, Wonderpopular culture in Korea. Korean popular cultural content has there- Girls, and Psy are popular among a large number of consumers infore been far more diverse and creative compared to its history under Asia, Europe, and North America. The dominant explanation behinddictatorship, and is now easily exported to the Japanese market that this unique cultural phenomenon has rested on the concept of culturalhas opened up its market to Korean content at the same time Korea hybridity or Pop Asianism (i.e., continuation and expansion of Japanese,did for Japanese cultural content. Third, technological advancement Chinese, and Indian subcultures in the global cultural market). In thisin the 21st century has allowed for a primitive form of cosmopoli- paper, however, I argued that the globalization of K-pop involves atanism at least in the virtual world, where fans from all over the much more complicated process of globalizing-localizing-globalizingworld can enjoy global content from various different countries, musical content that originated from Europe compared to what theincluding Korea. Without this new digital technology (or real time hybridity or Pop Asianism arguments suggest. Korea’s place in thestreaming and the new social media), the rise of K-pop as it is recog- global music industry represents a new technique of locating alreadynized today would not have been possible. Fourth, the advancement of common and popular musical content in Europe or elsewhere, modi-the global capitalist economy that has successfully opened up Chinese, fying it into Korean content, and then redistributing it to the globalIndian, Latin American, and the vast Southeast Asian markets, has music market. K-pop is an effort to network global talent pools and406 Ingyu Oh The Globalization of K-pop 407social capital in the formerly disconnected music industry, rather than Channels,” Journal of Marketing, Vol. 74, No. 3 (2010).an effort to emulate and slightly modify Japanese pop culture. As Fine, Gary Alan, “Scandal, Social Conditions, and the Creation of Publicsuch, in the global music industry, Korea occupies a structural hole Attention: Fatty Arbuckle and the Problem of ‘Hollywood’,”between Western and East Asian music industries. Social Problems, Vol. 44, No. 3 (1997). 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