K-pop - genre, industry or SPORT?

There have been discussions in AKP on whether K-pop is a musical genre or is it a location based industry like Hollywood.

But I think K-pop can also be thought in terms of a sport.

Are there other musical cultures with such fandoms, who go to crazy extents in comparing their idol-groups, crunch data, fight over what would be trivial stuff in the real world?

But you can find all that in sports - American football/basketball/Baseball, Euro Soccer or Indian cricket.

Based on the fandoms, Kpop might more fit the sports model, than music-entertainment model.

And there are other similarities as well. Many idols are trained in one agency or even move multiple agencies, then can be recruited and debut in totally different agency. Korea has now feeder schools to prep people into agencies.

Some like SM have it inhouse -JV clubs etc.

So what else can be introduced?

How about annual bidding of idols, where any agency can bid of any idol and include them for the upcoming season?

Agencies love not to depend on the individual idols, but rather have the fans hooked on to the 'group' image. The graduation model - to rotate out idols, that they keep trying since when Super Junior, After School, NCT never took off - because fans became fixated with the members.

So why not the annual action model?

What if Lisa is in Twice 2023, Jihyo in Blackpink 2023, Sakura in Ive 2024 etc.,?

Just wondering..

Thoughts

Quote from bo-thebear

SCHOOL SUBJECT

Go to "Dream High"..

I wonder why they don't reboot that series?

Even if the top tier idols-agencies may not play along, at least the second tier would be interested..

WhyKnock would you say it is warfare?

Anyway what do you think about idol drafts and auctions in K-pop, including of soloists?

Quote from WhyKnock

KPop is a genre of art, like French Impressionist Painting or Italian Renaissance Art

Like French impressionism which included non-French like Vincent van Gogh, KPop included some non-Koreans such as Minatozaki Sana and Chou Tzuyu, but it is still KPop.

Did you read the original post at all?

I don't think French impressionists had masses of people micro-analyzing the sales and fighting over statistics of their every picture OR eccentrics like you claiming that F-impressionism was wasted on the French.

Quote from Poetry

Industry. I say this because idols are not just involved in music: Idols can go into acting, variety, cf modeling.

That is possible in sports too.. Sports stars can go into business, politics, acting and of course they are highly in demand for CFs.

But no 'industry' has the fan culture as K-pop does, whereas many sports have that.

Ves

Or maybe Kpop is "Hospitality"

Idols are like hostess, stewards, receptionists etc., always presenting perfect in appearance, always polite, smiling, warm and welcoming.

Providing Fan Service.

They are idols and not artists, because of this focus on fan service being more than on the art.

Quote from echo-sage

ımo kpop is ındustry because more than art itself money and company mindset more dominated factor in kpop. but ı also think kpop as a subculture like maybe manga, anime etc. like for ex. there is a variety of kpop fans and those fans have their own inside jokes, aims around certain groups, etc. or fandoms wear, and consume certain fashion items...

It is truly a hybrid.

Location associated industry like Hollywood.. corporate culture etc.,

Idols are more like hospitality business - hostess/stewards etc,. perfectly made up, always pleasant and providing 'fanservice'

Fandoms behave like it is a sport, chasing data and records, fighting fanatically etc.,

Quote from echo-sage

yes, ı also think there is more than just one factor. even if it is the weakest factor, K-pop can also be considered an art form.

Yes, but it is weird that art seems to be the weakest factor.. difficult to reconcile.

Quote from WhyKnock

I personally think KPop is kind of a sport.

Other than Lee Jieun and a few others few people do actually listen to the music. It is more like a multimedia sport.

And now KPop figures make as much as major sports stars as well.

From fandom perspective, it indeed is like a sport.

But idols, I am thinking are more like hospitality workers, providing fan-service.

Art-Music, is the least significant aspect of it.

I think an agency can easily debut an idol group, who won't sing at all, but merely present themselves appealingly, moving to recorded music and providing fan service.

And can find success.