The korean music industry weak?

Touring in Korea is weak even for top K-pop acts. And there isn't much information in English about their domestic acts, so it's hard to know how big they are.

Quote from luckyStarLight

what I mean is in West and even japanese music industry you see artists of all ages (young idols/boyband , old boyband, soloist) and they have fans , I'm especially talking about older artist in West we see over 40s artist that perform and tour and same apply to some japanese solo artist/bg/band. However, we don't see this in kpop , first we rarely see a successful old korean solo artist and most idols are either only active in the entreatment industry or sometimes release a solo but don't do concerts in korea and we don't see them a lot in end of the year show or as special guest in music show.

Plus I noticed the fan age, in japan & west bg, gg and solo have older/young fans unlike korean with kpop. The way west and japan treat music is completely different than korea, also there are different popular artist with different music genres in the west (pop, R&B, rock, hiphop) and in japan there are a lot of genres too.

you just have to understand that Kpop is just a fraction of the korean music industry

Quote from luckyStarLight

I know trot is huge in korea I follow few account on twitter and junus , but we don't see a lot from other music genres unlike in west or japan (you can even hear different music genres in different anime , even from solo artist)

There's also K-ballads, K-rnb, K-hiphop and K-rock doing well here and there.

This honestly annoyed me a lot for years. Korea has other music genres then idol music but that’s the one what pushed more towards the west. It was so much hassle to try and find something more then just K-pop.

I used to watch KBS a lot when they uploaded full programs on YouTube and I had more exposure to other music in the programs that they show on tv. There also used to be a Vlive channel what used to go to music clubs in Seoul, all different genre and record the people performing there. Lot of indie and hip hop artist you can’t easily find but they were really good.

Anyway my point was meant to be, the music industry is not weak it’s just that we foreigners don’t see much more then idol music.

@Hopkins luckystarlight is back.

The people that keep saying that honestly only see what they want to anyways lol You try to introduce them to bands, indie soloists, trot singers (they’re older so…), and non idol khip hop rappers they’re not even interested in them. And who tf with logic thinks that the Korean music industry is 90% idols? What type of nonsense is that? It’s part of the Korean entertainment’s fault anyways because all they market to be exported are idols because I guess it sells and is “more exciting” hence the younger demographics of who’s consuming it outside of Korea.

Just watch Music Core on MBC. It seems like they have a ballad singer or trottist performing at least once a week even though it's a kpop show.

Quote from luckyStarLight

but seeing my fave getting old and slowly stop releasing songs(some might say fans left when the group is not active) is sad , we don't see a lot of old korean singers with young and old korean fans (young who just recently became interested in the singer, maybe psy ,IU and big bang are an exception) but then I guess it's depend.

I know what you mean now and I do see your point. There is some who do has carrier after they K-pop group disbands but there is not many I know about. Like Bada or G.O.D. Kim Taewoo. Some of them simply changes into acting, working in a radio (some of the 1st gen idols I remember I seen in programs) or becomes…non singers. Lol Civilian I think it’s called.

In my opinion Idol music as it is set up differently from normal pop music. The groups sell their image too not only their music, the illusion of being close like friends or more. From the artist point of view it’s understandable if they have enough of being part of that kind of work.

From fans point of view? I’m not Korean so I can’t speak for them but as somebody who has been listening K-pop for 15 something year lot of my friend stopped listening K-pop since then. They got married, they taste changed or they simply can’t be bothered making more effort then just putting on a CD or putting on Spotify.

Quote from luckyStarLight

I know trot is huge in korea I follow few account on twitter and junus , but we don't see a lot from other music genres unlike in west or japan (you can even hear different music genres in different anime , even from solo artist)

Do you listen to drama OST.? Most of them aren't sung by idols so....

Quote from luckyStarLight

Now let's look at japan FNS artist list https://www.fujitv.co.jp/FNS/

Different ages artist/idols and music genre , not only that but even in Music Station you can see idols group of all ages (maybe not always but sometimes they appear as special guest for anniversary..etc) so I just wonder why we don't see that in korean end of the year show or music show

1. you seem to have selected memory. I always hear some senior solo singers at Korean year end music festival (gayo). And, if you watched every single episode of a variety show for family, you would see some singers you had never known of.

2. You're oblivious about K-music industry. They seem to be different channels for different types of music.

Quote from GoGoYoungeun

The people that keep saying that honestly only see what they want to anyways lol You try to introduce them to bands, indie soloists, trot singers (they’re older so…), and non idol khip hop rappers they’re not even interested in them. And who tf with logic thinks that the Korean music industry is 90% idols? What type of nonsense is that? It’s part of the Korean entertainment’s fault anyways because all they market to be exported are idols because I guess it sells and is “more exciting” hence the younger demographics of who’s consuming it outside of Korea.

Like, no idol group but BTS top digital charts in last year. How the hell that happen if the Korean does not listen to non-idol?

Actually, K govt has long supported different types of music but, K-pop happens to be the only one hitting inter audiences. I heard "Tiger's Coming" multiple times. I believe it was the attempt to push this song to foreign audiences but obviously failed.

Before COVID hit hard, each year, it was the festival for a certain type of music (rock, world music, indie pop etc.) and those in music industry from around the world were invited to the festival. Rock music was anything but widely popular but, they were few rock music festivals in Korea each year.

I get that korea has a rather unbalanced presenting portfolio when talking about diversity in its music industry but its what korea does best -- and they do lean into that. Like other people said here -- its also really hard to know how much kpop actually accounts for in the domestic korean portfolio

Do you mean diversity in korean people's music taste? When I see melon chart, I only see GG songs, soloist, BTS, and drama ost. While in oricon and BB Japan chart or Japan music show/festival, they're more diverse from band, soloist, indie, idol, rock, kpop, anime ost, etc. Is that what you mean?

I actually get your point.

Before getting into kpop, I was a big jrock fan, sometimes i would listen to jpop. The bands or soloists I liked, debuted in the 1990s/2000s and were mostly in there 30s/40s sometimes even 50s, yet still active and relevant.

Quote from luckyStarLight

If you check music in different countries you will see artists that people labeled "legend" or "popular" some of these artists still release music and tour ..etc and some are not active yet they still gain fans

some even international fans

Nope. In almost every countries in the world, senior singers/bands barely gain any new fan. Not like you can easily find an Ayumi Hamasaki loving Japanese teenager or a youth in The Eagle's concert.

Before the pandemic, many popular Korean artists in their 40's still made much money thus, they must have many activities we didn't know about. Those in 50's are senile and cannot be so active. Most talented singers cannot sing so well anymore in this age.

You have heard many K-drama ost by non-idol yet, you asked this question. Your cognition is rather selective.