Transcript of an Interview with Mr. Kim Hyung-suk, Composer-producer of the Godfather of K-pop and BTS, at the Sheldonian Theatre, Hosted by Faculty of Music, Oxford University. Part 3

Posted by Joseph Hwang Joseph Hwang 7/24/2024

Transcript of an Interview with Mr. Kim Hyung-suk, Composer-producer of the Godfather of K-pop and BTS, at the Sheldonian Theatre, Hosted by Faculty of Music, Oxford University. Part 3

Joseph Hwang

* On July 4, 2024, Mr. Kim Hyung-suk, the godfather of K-pop and one of Korea's leading composers and producers, gave a lecture and interview at an event hosted by the Faculty of Music at Oxford University. Here, I will post a series of interviews based on the Korean summary of Mr. Kim's interview, with some of my commentary.

** I am especially grateful to Ms. Jieun Kiaer, a professor at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, for arranging and hosting this lecture and interview.

Question #3.

South Korea is the 10th largest economy in the world. However, at the time of the Korean War in 1950, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its rapid economic development is known as the “Miracle of the Han River”. K-pop has also experienced the same rapid growth. Therefore, it is said that Korea's economic growth and K-pop's development are similar. Please share your thoughts on this. And what are the similarities and differences between South Korea's economic growth and K-pop's success?

Answer #3.

The economic growth of South Korea and the success of K-pop can be compared to the “Miracle of the Han River” in terms of rapid and remarkable growth.

◈ The similarities include;

- Government support and planning

The government's planned industrial policies drove the rapid growth of South Korea's economy in the 1980s. Similarly, K-pop has spread globally in recent years thanks to the South Korean government's policies to foster cultural industries.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has taken a more strategic approach to globalizing K-pop through various projects and support programs. For example, it organizes annual festivals in collaboration with local governments. It attracts performances to make it easier for global fans to enjoy K-pop culture in Korea and abroad, and it also conducts many global-oriented promotions online.

- Efforts and a mindset for innovation by its citizens

South Korea has put great effort into education, technology development, and infrastructure investment to develop its economy.

The K-pop industry has likewise systematized and established a system of companies that were not fully established, resulting in innovations in various aspects such as training systems, music video production, and stage direction.

◈ Also, to see the difference;

- Time required

South Korea's economic development occurred rapidly over decades starting in the 1970s. However, K-pop's global success has been achieved in a relatively short term since the 2000s through the spread of the Internet and social media.

Especially since the 2020s, K-pop has grown even more explosively, which can be interpreted as an incredibly short time compared to South Korea's economic development.

- Method of market entry

While Korea's economic development has been mainly offline through manufacturing-based exports, K-pop, as a culture, has used social media and online platforms to enter the global market. I believe that K-pop is characterized by actively utilizing the communication and community of fans worldwide without the spatiotemporal constraints through online platforms.

I think there are parallels between Korea's economic growth and the development of K-pop in that both have achieved global success through strength and passion within the context of Korea's history. I have a view that shows the world that Korea can grow and challenge itself in any field.

* Joseph's comment:

I agree with composer Kim Hyung-suk. However, I would like to add something more.

- What the government should do and what the private sector should do

The role of the government, especially in cultural projects, often concludes with financial support, but there are areas where government financial support is needed. But fundamentally, there are some things that only the state can do before making money. There will also be clear areas and roles for private companies to play. After all, business is about taking risks, and the reward for taking risks is returning profits, so it doesn't make sense for the state to support the private sector and take a share of the profits. Then I think it's an important concept to divide the role of the state and private sector.

- The importance of YouTube's role

I think that YouTube is the most important reason for the global success of K-pop today. It is not only difficult for a cultural product from an emerging country like Korea to enter the international popular music market, which is dominated by the United States and other major powers, but there are a lot of obstacles to overcome. In particular, the language barrier is the first constraint that must be overcome to enter the existing global popular music market.

Music is an experiential good. If consumers don't experience music, they won't consume it. Absolutely to create a market, music as a commodity must be experienced by new consumers. However, these days, music is not only experienced as audio. These days, music is consumed as music videos because almost all music consumption media are equipped with screens. For K-pop to become a global hit, the music had to be experienced by Western audiences who were unfamiliar with K-pop, and YouTube played a crucial role as a medium. As a video playback platform, YouTube is unrivaled. If K-pop music videos were to be experienced by a global audience from the fringes, it needed a medium to match, and YouTube's role in this is historic.

- Korea's high-speed internet network, digital communication infrastructure

As mentioned earlier, YouTube's role in the global dissemination of K-pop was crucial, and as we know, video digital files have a large capacity. A high-speed internet network is advantageous to transfer high-capacity video files to others. South Korea invested heavily in building a nationwide high-speed internet network during the Kim Dae-jung administration. This has been credited with helping YouTube take off in South Korea. This kind of infrastructure investment is something that private companies can't do, and it makes sense for governments to do. Governments build roads, but it's up to private companies to make them blossom.

- Strengthen copyright

One of the things the Korean government has done to revitalize Korean popular music is to revise the copyright law and improve the copyright management system. Unless the rights of creators and producers are protected, the skewed income distribution system is reinforced. This unfair system discourages creation and production and leads to poor productivity. When illegality is rampant, the market is dysfunctional and there is no incentive to create or produce hard work. Without the protection of creators and producers of musical goods, the music industry cannot develop. Korea's accession to the Free Trade Agreement has put the country under intense trade pressure on its intellectual property market, and it has had to overhaul its legal system to open up the sector to foreign competition. The government's investment in this infrastructure is the foundation for the liberal and productive development of the industry of civilians.

* References and quotations:

https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/k-pop-from-the-godfather-of-k-pop-and-bts

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2024/07/398_378556.html

* Series Posts

Part 1.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim.html

Part 2.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim_0392194405.html

Part 3.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim_01853689220.html

Part 4.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/07/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-kim_0403319480.html