The Economics of K-Pop

Audio editing by Eric Schneider
Motion graphics by Vincent de Langen
Everything else by Evan

This includes a paid sponsorship which had no part in the writing, editing, or production of the rest of the video.

[foolchess]

The economics of K-pop
**Starts talking about Japan**

[mrtorch]

Did I just hear vending machines sell puppies?

[casualsteps]

While I agree Kpop is more organized and strategic in commercializing music, let's not kid ourselves into thinking other pop music is made in garages by people who just do it for fun.

[periidote]

"a cd they will probably never play" glancing back at my five kpop albums i have never played but instead looked at the photobooks and cards i got from them "im being called out"

[Links]

I never thought you'd talk about kpop

[djcj]

“Something respectably authentic about how transparency manufactured it all is” - love that!

[beno]

The video left out an important fact that agencies have talent scouts that search for talented individuals from all around Asia to nurture from a young age. Just like how football teams scouts for talented players.

[samlee]

3:46 I don’t understand how after all these years, people still call it “Gaeng-nam style”. Psy only freaking repeats it in the song 74920186 times

[TV--]

I'm not really interested in K-pop, but the fact that YOU have something to say about it, now I'm curious

[MoPheenix]

Spotify: I will take over the world of music

K-Pop: Hold my shiny pink CD

[tkcpqto]

Explaining K-pop
*Using Sakura background*

[shaym.]

Pretty disingenuous to talk about kpop idols complaining about low wages and constant spotlight and then use footage of Seungri being mobbed by the press for being involved in a prostitution/drug ring.

[Notmyday]

The irony of the number one hit Guatnam style is that by design is anti kpop. So seeing all this manafactured carefuly state crafted being completely over blown by song that de-pants the whole genre is hilarious.

[jaebarclay]

I'm glad you've covered the economics of Kpop, but the well-cycled notion that it's a "government sponsored" project is absolutely false. Like farm subsidies or tax breaks for auto industry, the Korean government simply made loans available at a lower rate, gave tax breaks, and gave financial assistance that is less than 8% to 10% of a typical agency's annual budget. The Korean entertainment industry is brutally competitive among themselves, like any industry in a capitalist system would be. It gets a small boost from government programs, sure, but by no means it's "government sponsored" or it's some sort of a national effort like the New Deal in US history.

[BritishVietnameseGuy]

The Economics of K-POP

Video starts: Visiting Japan....

[ltorres]

7:56 Here is the China section for those wondering why did PolyMatter do a non-China related video

[guessmyname]

So basically K-pop artists train like knights but like a model and singer's versions

[KimNguyen-zzhb]

Video about K-Pop:



*Still manages to involve China*

[josueestrada]

It's also worth noticing that some people like me experience and enjoy KPop almost like you would a sport. We follow trainees since before they debut, root for your groups for music show wins, and some even trash talk other "teams." Each member has a "position" or role they play in the group, and some groups drop or take on new members with time. New groups are compared to former legends. Its very different to the rest of the music market.

[oc]

Countries shouldn't underestimate soft power. South Korea has become one of the most important cultural centres in the world. Music, fashion, make up, cinema, tv series, skincare products, manwha, electronics, cars, korean food, etc. It's actually very impressive and interesting who the changed their country in a very short time. Also want to add that the idea of idols being this "mindless" pseudo artists with no real talent, artistry or personal input in their music is not entirety true. It is a VERY commercial genre (like mainstream music in general) and there's a training system, but that doesn't mean that the idols themselves are just there or that they don't have any type or creativity nor direct connection with their music. It really depends on the company, artist and/or group. Day6, (G)-Idle or BTS (to name three examples), write and produce most of their music. They talk about mental health, philosophy, youth, dreams, etc. And the famous group of BTS, came actually from a very small company at that time, debuting in 2013. They have always been very creative and hard working and they didn't have it easy. Their albums cover a big range of genres and topics. With a series of their albumes they made millions of people read 'Jung's Map of the Soul' a classic about psychology and philosophy. Idols in general are very talented artists who work hard in their craft. They sing, dance, rap, produce, write music and some of them even play instruments. You can like pop or not, you can like mainstream music in general or not but seeing kpop as JUST a making money machine is not it. It is a making money machine, and also it can be very creative and inspiring because most of the time more than one thing can be true at once. Life is not just black and white. I've been into korean music for 10 years (Not just pop but indie and hip hop as well) and I've seen everything, from AMAZING artists with talent and increible concepts and music to very dull and repetitive stuff. I love this type of videos, very entertaining and informative BUT as happens with generalizations we may put everything and everyone on the same bag and people may think that all kpop is the same comercial and unartistic thing when is not. Kpop is vary diverse and it's fascinating to dive in the genre and discover it from inside. It's so rich. When I discovered kpop in 2010 I thought that it had no soul and also that Idols where untalented pretty faces but I gave it a change and I'm glad I did it because I discovered a vibrant industry with a lot of nice and talented artists. The industry has some really negative aspects that I'm very aware of and also like everything in this life, it has very cool and amazing aspects. Every industry has a bad side and a good side, the kpop industry is no different. We consume thing from industries all the time and every one of them have their own flaws (That doesn't mean that we should be ok with everything an industry does just because we like what the produce). And because everything has a bad side and every industry is flawed, why do people think the kpop insdustry is worse that the american one for instance? Why are american big artists very creative and inspirational but koreans are ''mass produced" fake artists? That's a pretty weird conclusion if you ask me. And this whole ass comment is just to say that kpop is more than what it may appear at first glance. This could go much depper and talk about what's art and what's not, capitalism, the music industry in general, western vs. eastern mindset, hypocrisy by western media, etc. But I will stop here. Feel free to reply if you think we can have a nice debate or conversation. Have a nice day y'all.