OhGlobalizationofK Pop ABSTRACT

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: [email protected].
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 Korean
Wave 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 which
acquiring global — and still growing — adulation over the past have already hybridized their pop culture with the mix of WC since
decade, 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 grounded
in 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 and
commentators, and business people in Asia. The Anglo-American or destroyed whatever exists of received (South) Korean culture and
European domination of the global music industry has rarely faced tradition” (Lie, 2012: 361). K-pop has nothing that can be considered
challenging competitors from Asia prior to the sudden K-pop epidemic. “Korean,” as it is a timely, commercial combination of: (1) the global
Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” for example, ranked number one in the world liberalization of music markets in Asia and the rest of the world; and
in terms of YouTube click counts, reaching more than 1.7 billion hits (2) the rapid advancement of digital technologies like YouTube which
as of July 21, 2013. The second most hits recorded in YouTube history prefers to select and feature perfectly photogenic performers from all
by 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 have
bands from Korea have enthralled a massive number of young Asian imagined this new export opportunity partly due to the lack of
and European fans who rushed to quickly sold outlive concerts and/ economic need or the lack of technological advancement. Perhaps
or YouTube for instant and free access to music videos. In countries even now, J-Pop singers or bands may not be able to imagine matching
like China, where YouTube is banned, young fans relied on alternative Koreans’ success simply because of the lack of photogenic appeal that
social networking service (SNS) sites for free music videos from Korea. Koreans have demonstrated in their music videos and on concert
Girls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, TVXQ, Big Bang, 2PM, 2NE1, and stages. In this sense, K-pop is not Japanese or Chinese, even though it
Rain 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 production
2012; Hübinette, 2012; Hirata, Forthcoming; Iwabuchi, Forthcoming). process of the export business (i.e., the K-pop industry). To provide an

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389

The Globalization of K-pop:

K-Pop is a new buzz word in the global music industry. Korean

* Ingyu Oh is Professor of Hallyu Studies at the Research Institute of Korean Studies,

KOREA OBSERVER, Vol. 44, No. 3, Autumn 2013, pp. 389-409.

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