Discussion 3: Implications & Motivations of Increased Foreign Production-side K-pop Participation

Korean music, and specifically K-pop has been seen to follow the patterns of Westernization ever since the post-colonial period around the 1940s. This could be the results of the introduction of Jazz music around the late 1930s and the entrance of AFKN broadcasting during the post Korean War period. Due to the tense relationship between Korea and Japan after the colonization ended, the nation’s interest in Western culture and the acceptance of Western styles, ideologies and cultural norms increased (Son 2006). Moreover, Koreans thought of Western cultures as the superior and correct ideology after the Japanese colonial period (Maliangkay 2007). Korean music also slowly adapted to Western styles as Korean performers for the Mipalgun troops were forced to learn and adapt to Westernized music styles in order to meet the demands of their American audiences (Son 2006). Korean songs such as trot began to adopt American popular musical elements and portrayed America as a dreamland through the lyrics (Son 2006). Therefore, it is evident that historically speaking, Korean music has always leaned towards Western styles, which could explain the basis behind the employment of foreign producers which take part in modern K-pop.

I believe that one of the major factors of the increased number of foreign producers in K-pop as of present day, is due to need to satisfy international audiences in this extremely media dependent era. Since national cultures shape an individual’s taste and aesthetic judgement of entertainment (Baek 2015), by hiring foreign production teams, Korean companies can create images that are closer to cultures of the targeted audiences. As a result, audiences will find the products similar to their own cultures, making them more inclined to consume the product base on their own preferences. Referring to the “cultural proximity hypothesis” which suggest that audiences tend to enjoy media that more similar to their own culture (Baek 2015), it is essential for Korean entertainment companies to increase the amount of foreign idols, videographers, songwriters in their production processes. This is because once the audiences begin to perceive the products as familiar, the feeling of enjoyment would arise, which would then lead to an increase in the consumption of K-pop. Also, as technology advances, the consumption of entertainment, hence, K-pop is becoming more dependent on media platforms, such as Youtube. In fact, the millennial population (which Kim refers to as Teletubbies) make up most of the targeted audience of K-pop (Kim 2018: 37), and they are known to consume media heavily over the use of the internet. As articles point out, around 80% of the viewers of K-pop music videos originate from places outside of Korea (Kim 2018: 43). This proves the necessity for Korean entertainments to increase the employment of foreign production teams, in order for K-pop to compete competitively in the international multimedia market and expand it’s consumption on a global scale.

Bibliography

Baek, Young Min. Relationship Between Cultural Distance and Cross-Cultural Music Video

Consumption on YouTube. Social Science Computer Review 33, no. 6 (2015): 730-48.

doi:10.1177/0894439314562184.

Kim, Suk-Young. K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance. Stanford, California:

Stanford University Press, 2018.

Maliangkay Roald. Their Masters' Voice: Korean Traditional Music SPs (Standard Play

Records) under Japanese. The World of Music, Vol. 49, No. 3 (2007): 53-74

Son, Min-Jung. "Regulating and Negotiating in Turotu, a Korean Popular Song Style." Asian

Music37, no. 1 (2006): 51-74. doi:10.1353/amu.2006.0010.

By Tiffany

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