Is Kpop's American Marketing Really Beneficial?

Kpop has been and always will be niche. Marketing will help expand that niche but i doubt Kpop will ever be mainstream. First is racism, nobody wants to see Asian singers/performers for some reason, the only true superstars arent really coded Asian (nobody knows that Bruno and Olivia are half Filipino, everyone thinks theyre latin if anything). Secondly, the language barrier, only 1M speak Korean in the US in comparison to 50M Spanish speakers which is why Spanish songs have a much easier time charting here. Thirdly, the genre, Kpop is boyband music, which has never gotten respect, it's always been relegated to the realm of adolescent teen girls fangirling over hot young guys, nobody considers Backstreet Boys, Nsync, 1D as true artists just manufactured industry drones.

This is ok though. Kpop doesnt need to be like hip hop or RnB. There is plenty of money to be made along the edges of the US mainstream, even just 2-3 percent of the US music market would be a ginormous boon to most Kpop groups.

Not everyone has to become a dedicated fan of something to prove that thing has impacted them. It's okay some people only know 1 or 2 BTS songs (same for any artist). It's all part of expanding a sphere of influence. Repeat exposure and recognition are the building blocks of all pop marketing.

Quote from Yohanee

but that uniqueness that it has is what attracts most american kpop fans. it was the craziness of red velvet and orange caramel, and the cuteness of twice and gfriend that got me as into kpop as i am today, and i think many others can say the same.

Interesting take..

But I think that is because we see it on different perspective.

From what I've seen so far from the kpop artists themselves, it's usually because they want to make things outside of their usual things which is kpop sound. It's a more of artistic journey. Expressing things with a new sound, an exploration. They usually will say that they had some fun when making it.

But the global market expansion itself is usually initiated by the company/agency, since well.. it's a business after all. There are staffs and many things to be paid. For a company that had investors, they need to show a progress, a premise so that the given trust won't be broken.

And it's not just for the monetary growth, having a globally well known artist will make the company name to be more trustable, giving a trust for a new star potential to join your company and ensuring the future of the company if the current big artist leave or retire.

different strokes for different folks...

you gotta remember we are in a kpop echo chamber...why?

because

1. we like kpop

2. we like kpop enough to create an account on a kpop forum

3. we generally have greater knowledge about kpop than the casual /average kpop fan (maybe???)

we are not the target of such western/ american promotions/marketing...the groups do such marketing in order to attract completely new fans who have either never heard of kpop or the group and wouldn't know the different between BTS and NCT!!! ie. completely new to kpop...

Only for touring

I believe so. Look at BTS.

Not all songs should be mostly English. But groups should have some mostly English songs, as not only the US but many other countries and people in the world understand English too.

Quote from Yohanee

i graduated from high school last year and almost everyone knew bts, but only for butter. a lot of people knew of blackpink, but didn't really know their songs.

Conversely, I wonder if they would know of any Kpop group if Butter wasn't a western pop song sung in English and Blackpink wasn't already the most westernized Kpop gg of the 3rd gen.

Quote from Yohanee

people may listen to cupid because it went viral, but would the americans who enjoyed that song on tiktok really come back for more if fifty fifty released some super kpopy song in korean?

No, but they might if the style of pop is more accessible and sung in English.

Another way to look at it is this - as American kpop fans we are already bicultural to an extent. For example, as a fan of the cute concept, you understand aegyo, whereas a lot of the uninitiated would get weirded out by it or think it's too much.

The question is - if a company wants to reach more of the uninitiated, does it stand a better chance if it tailored it's package to be more readily accessible? Or should it continue to do the same thing it's been doing even after most of the of the low hanging fruit (converted kpop fans) has been picked and expect a different result?

When in Rome, would one have a better shot doing as the Romans do (and sneaking in superior systems, artistic direction and choreography for example)? Or would they find it easier to attempt mass cultural conversion?

Agree with OP.

About making it easer... I'm sure all of us here didn't mind in the past to look to translations of the songs. So it's not an excuse.

Quote from mysterikmagick

Not everyone has to become a dedicated fan of something to prove that thing has impacted them. It's okay some people only know 1 or 2 BTS songs (same for any artist). It's all part of expanding a sphere of influence. Repeat exposure and recognition are the building blocks of all pop marketing.

The thing with that is that so many people in the US have heard multiple BTS songs. Take him for example

He's heard of Mic Drop, Butter and Dynamite but was not aware it was by BTS until J.Cole collab with J-Hope.

I'm with you in most of your arguments but the american market can't be ignored, the amount of money in there can't be ignored no matter what, even a nugu group selling only 50% of a tour in theaters means more income for them than 5 years catering to korea, and as crazy as it sounds it's easier and more profitable to gain a little success in the US than in japan so kpop companies have no other option. The thing is kpop companies should find a balance between marketing the american and asian market, but most companies like jyp are too stupid for that.

It is beneficial, as long as a Strange Creature is not involved.

The fan base of K-pop is targeted are females; teens, young kids and young adults. Expanding it's sphere of influence is a good thing.

Quote from BlackpinkHouse

Kpop has been and always will be niche. Marketing will help expand that niche but i doubt Kpop will ever be mainstream. First is racism, nobody wants to see Asian singers/performers for some reason, the only true superstars arent really coded Asian (nobody knows that Bruno and Olivia are half Filipino, everyone thinks theyre latin if anything). Secondly, the language barrier, only 1M speak Korean in the US in comparison to 50M Spanish speakers which is why Spanish songs have a much easier time charting here. Thirdly, the genre, Kpop is boyband music, which has never gotten respect, it's always been relegated to the realm of adolescent teen girls fangirling over hot young guys, nobody considers Backstreet Boys, Nsync, 1D as true artists just manufactured industry drones.

This is ok though. Kpop doesnt need to be like hip hop or RnB. There is plenty of money to be made along the edges of the US mainstream, even just 2-3 percent of the US music market would be a ginormous boon to most Kpop groups.

Yes it's a niche but I still think it is a significant niche. We see various Kpop bands invited in different american shows. Kpop draws a large loyal fanbase even if the majority of people don't know about K-pop bands.

Kpop basically depends on female fans for survival: Teens, kids, young adults.