Discussion 3 by Crystal Jiang
- Asia327Student
- Oct 17, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 20, 2018
Q1: Do you think a solo/group artists' career is financially sustainable in this digital era (of streaming and social media)? Has technology improved or made the conditions more difficult for artists to sustain their careers? What compromises may artists be forced to make in order to be financially sustainable? Consider how few groups are as successful as BTS, Big Bang, or Twice and how many groups and solo artists "never become sophomores" (in the words of Macklemore).
With the help of transnational fans, K-pop continues to rise in popularity through social media (Jung 2018: 74). Yet, while social media continues to cultivate the K-pop industry, there is the underlying issue of whether or not artists are able to financially build a career based on their music alone.
Technology has clearly benefited the K-pop industry as social media spaces such as Youtube provide a space where “viewers reception are instant and often verbalized,” (Ibid.) garnering attention from new fans and developing a strong fan base. Youtube, requiring only internet access and a mobile device, is able to provide fans with a free platform for content viewing. There’s benefits for all parties involved in this cycle— Multinational Enterprises receive attention from viewers, fans can view free content with small interruptions from ads, and both Youtube and producers earn revenue (Oh and Park 2012: 375).
However, these easily accessible social media platforms also lead to greater expectations from fans. Oh and Park state that K-pop producers have to continuously upload “high quality entertainment content that features eye catching young artists and catchy music” (Ibid., 372). These uploads are a time consuming process and artists are forced to work even harder in order to satisfy the desires of fans. Subsequently, these social media platforms helps retain and grow the popularity of artists but it does result in a constantly demanding and exhausting career for many artists.
Furthermore, the music industry, once dominated by CD and DVD sales, have transitioned to sales from “internet music shops such as iTunes” (Ibid., 374). Consumers can easily browse the selections and download specific songs at a much lesser cost rather than purchase an entire album on CD. This technology advancement has left artists with one less area to earn revenues. Moreover, piracy causes this industry to further decline as there are few limitations and regulators (Ibid., 373). In the South Korean market specifically, the price of one song from an overseas market can purchase 13-20 songs. The reason behind this pricing is to dissuade piracy but this heavily impacts artists and producers because even with one million tracks consumer on music stores such as MelOn Service, the revenues earned will not be able to cover the cost of producing a music video (Turnball 2017: 132-133). Financially, Oh and Park’s K-pop Value Chain indicates that artists would unlikely be able to support themselves as artists receive the least income. Despite the royalties being paid out from different sources, artists only receive a small portion (Oh and Park 2012: 377).
Fortunately, this issue is currently being addressed and combatted as Digital Music News reports that the Government has issued a new regulation requiring higher artist royalties (Cihak 2018). This is one avenue of improving the current conditions of which k-pop artists are under. Another is through the transition from the business-to consumer (B2C) model to a business-to-business (B2B) model. Social media’s presence allows for K-pop producers to partner with other businesses such as MNEs or broadcasting companies. This transition can potentially generate more profits for producers and artists as the artists are earning revenue from advertising fees, modelling fees, and sponsorships (Oh and Park 2012: 372-380).
Although there are definitely financial obstacles for artists, the music industry's continued evolvement and changes are inevitable. Despite these obstacles, there has definitely been positive impacts including new ways for fans and artists to interact, creative content being produced and popularity growth for Korean artists in international markets.
Cihak, Lennon. "Korean Artists Just Got a Pay Raise from Music Streaming Services." Digital Music News, June 25, 2018. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/06/25/
korean-music-streaming-royalties/ (accessed 10/14/2018).
Jung, Eun-Young. “New Wave Formations: K-Pop Idols, Social Media, and the Remaking of the Korean Wave.” In Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media, edited by Sangjoon Lee and Abé Markus Nornes.73-89. Ann Abor: The University of Michigan Press, 2015.
Oh, Ingyu, and Gil-Sung Park. “From B2C to B2B: Selling Korean Pop Music in the Age of New Social Media". Korea Observer, Vol.43, No.3 (2012): 365-397.
Turnball, James. “Just Beautiful People Holding a Bottle: the Driving Forces Behind South Korea’s Love of Celebrity Endorsement.” Celebrity Studies 8, no. 1 (2017): 128-135.
I agree with crystal's position that social media has benefited k-pop. especially with regards to international exposure. I think before it would have to risky for record labels to put a lot of money into promoting a band in america, due to the language barrier, but now it is relatively cheap to promote a group's music internationally. I also liked the part of the article where you mentioned how artists have adapted to making money by switching from a business to consumer to a business to business model, I find this to be the most fascinating recent transformation of the music industry.
-Davison
Thank you for your great post, Crystal! I think too, that it is becoming more and more difficult for artists to find financial security with the rise of the internet. Especially with the rampant piracy, less people are buying or spending their money to listen to the music of the artists that they like. I do believe that as more people get involved with streaming services such as Spotify, we will begin to see the shift back towards artists making more money off their music, since these services pay the artists money for times their songs were streamed. I believe that another way that the agencies, production companies and the artists are attempting to combat this is to, while they find alternative…
Nicely done, Crystal. Might be better with a conclusion, though. Usually we try to avoid ending a paragraph or esp. a whole paper with someone else's words, instead if we cite something we should interpret it for our reader.
As Crystal discussed, I agree that the advancement in technology over the recent years has established a new digital age where music artists can share and spread their passion on multiple media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.; thereby allowing for more audiences to come into contact with various music and talents. Despite the extensive increase in exposure and publicity of K-pop content, however, it is true that even well-known K-pop groups are sometimes underpaid and the careers of average idols are financially unstable. This, of course, is due to the heavily regulated financial management of companies that control almost every aspect of their profits earned from social media. Although I think that the entertainment companies’ contracts with…
I liked your discussion, Crystal! It is clear that not all idols can have a financially stable career, especially right when they have just entered the music industry. That being said, I believe that the Korean pop music industry does give artists the opportunity to use their brand image to make an income in other areas. For example, becoming the face of a brand, starring in a commercial, or acting in a drama are just some of the many ways that K-pop artists have branched out. Based on the information learned from the lectures, there is quite a lot of value for idols to branch off and pursuit jobs aside from music. In fact, these separate endeavours has allowed many…