2011-02-24

Truly global markets: K-Pop edition

This is a great video discussing the rise of Korean pop music. Jump to the 10 minute mark, the part on Korea goes for more than 15 minutes. Some highlights: almost everyone speaks English at the Korean music companies (a complete reversal from the 1990s); music is a means not an end, songs sell for as little as $0.05; there's no Korean radio scene, music jumps straight to a global audience via the Internet; English K-pop websites generate more traffic than Korean websites.

Korea doesn't have good demographics, but consider the youth bulge in Asia versus the flat populations in the West. Also, the shift in economic power from West to East. The segment also discusses the rise of the Korean movie industry, which has been putting out Hollywood quality movies for a decade. That's in terms of technical sophistication, they have also created some unique movies that put Hollywood to shame.

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