The Korean Wave

The Korean Wave

My Topic

• The Korean Wave, also known as the Hallyu Wave

• K-pop is increasing in popularity

Research 

Question and Thesis

• With its overall incline in popularity, Korean pop music will not be sustainable in other countries.

Will Korean pop music be sustainable in other countries?

Methods

• News articles about k-pop in other countries

• Billboard, MTV, CNN, Wallstreet Journal, Korea Times

• K-pop in Japan

• Previous attempts of Korean artists debuting in the United States

Japan and the Hallyu Wave

• BoA and TVXQ

• Learned culture and language

• Respected in industry

• Topped Oricon charts, performed on Kouhaku Uta Gassen

• TVXQ – 1st Korean group to perform at Tokyo Dome

Japan and the Hallyu Wave

• Girls’ Generation – topped the Hot 100 chart

• 100,000 in singles/download sales

• Internet survey – KARA was ahead of popular Japanese celebrities

Robert Michael Poole

CEO of Something Drastic International Music Promotion and Tokyo Editor of CNN Go

• General sound of J-pop “has been all about cuteness, presenting boys with the ideal submissive girl…”

• J-pop stuck in the late ‘90’s, reusing the same sound

Media overexaggerated K-pop’s popularity

• Oricon charts carry the most prestige

• Billboard article highlighted accomplishments on Hot 100, not Oricon

• Girls’ Generation couldn’t beat Japanese group KAT-TUN

• Media outlets fail to mention the amount of units sold

• Hallyu concert with KARA was postponed – poor ticket sales, despite their popularity

AKB48

• Japan isn’t tired of the cute concept

• Google and Shiseido signed to be associated with them

• Asahi’s line of canned coffee – sales were boosted nearly 7%

• Sold a million copies of 3 consecutive singles on the first day of its release

Decline of K-pop in Japan

• Newer Korean groups believe they can easily enter the market without learning culture and language

• Re-use hits songs and sing, rely on success of Hallyu and previous groups

• Quantity over quality

PSY and

Gangnam Style

 Music video – over 886 million views on YouTube

 Guiness World Records – most liked video

 Consistently been #2 on Billboard, #1 on charts in many countries

 #39 of askmen.com’s Most Influential Men of 2012

 Appeared on many shows: CNN, Today Show, Ellen, SNL, X-Factor, etc.

 MTV EMA’s – Best Video

Previous Attempts of American Debut

• 2008 - With intense popularity in Korea & Japan, BoA attempted to debut in America

• Rain – acted in movies, but not known for his music

• 2009 – Wonder Girls only charted at #76

• 2012 – Girls’ Generation debuted with “The Boys”

K-pop in America

• No K-pop group has ever made it big in the US

• Promotional methods are ineffective

• “Boybands” were a fad in the 90’s and have long since died out

• New generation of K-pop are very common, repetitive

• Gangnam Style is popular, but PSY’s success is solely because of Gangnam Style