Author | Pan Zhenyi Edited by | Fan Zhihui
On May 11, the single "Don't" reached number one on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart. The song from South Korean independent musician eAson's new album "Fragile" is his second collaboration with BTS member RM Kim Nam-joon after two years, and has been called "another confluence of art cells".
South Korean independent musicians working across borders with pop singer Aidou is nothing new. In 2016, the first solo of Girls' Generation Yoon Er invited the independent orchestra 10cm to help; in 2020, the blushing Si Chun cooperated with EXO member Bo Xian, making fans exclaim: "Bo Xian's wish to wait for three years has come true!" ”
According to 2020 data from Midia Research, independent record labels have an 83% joint market share in South Korea.
Image source Midia RESEARCH
Rolling Stone magazine once said, "K-POP is only half of the story of K-pop music, and the other half is composed by K-indie Music." ”
In the Korean music scene, there seems to be no clear line between indie and pop. In addition to the frequent cooperation between the two, Korean independent orchestras also often appear in the OST list of film and television dramas, and even in the case of organized list in the rice circle, they can compete with K-POP for the top three on the list.
The 1st and 4th places are the Bulletproof Youth League, and the 2nd and 3rd places are K-INDIE Orchestra Jannabi and Blushing Si Chun (Source Melon)
Korean indie music, which moved from livehouse to the world stage, has slowly torn off the label of "subculture", giving pop music another possibility.
As a result, in addition to K-POP, there is a K-indie that refers to Korean independent music. K-indie's rapid growth out of the circle seems to be changing the international impression of Korean music culture as defined by the Korean wave. As K-indie's songs continue to appear on music charts, we can't help but wonder if the development of Korean indie music can be a model for breaking the established impression of indie music and commercial mutual exclusion.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="21" A brief history of > development: from Hongdae Street to Korean "Grammy"</h1>
The development of The Korean music industry began after the democratic transition in 1987.
With the end of decades of military rule, the social atmosphere has become open and inclusive, the cultural and entertainment industry has begun to be active, civil society has gradually been established, spiritual and cultural needs have been re-emphasized, and some organized cultural groups have gradually emerged.
It was also at that time that cultural industry workers and followers, such as music lovers, journalists, academics, and record collectors, often openly discussed Korean and international rock music. Some veteran rock singers (such as Shin Jung-hyun, Han Dae-so, Son-Woo Music Team, etc.) have seized on this trend of the times and revived their music careers by making a comeback, they are the first generation of K-indie.
During this period, classic records by many of the top artists were re-released on CD, reviving the Korean rock music scene and attracting a whole new audience. At the same time, younger indie bands became interested in punk rock, forming a younger rock style that differed from the folk rock of established rockers.
In Hongdae,near Hongik University in South Korea, many small Live Clubs began to appear, which became the base of young musicians based on punk and rock music. Punk band Crying Nut and Korean rock representative Nell both came out of Hongdae at that time and became known.
In 1996, Hongdae, Korea's true first independent music album, Our Nation 1, was released by Two bands, Crying Nut and Yellow Kitchen, who wrote and released it independently.
Korea's first independent music album (Source Discogs)
However, the rock 'n' roll boom gradually cooled after the 1990s. At this time, people began to be attracted to the youth-oriented pop dance and idol band, and the trio Xu Taizhi and the children, who debuted on stage in 1992, kicked off the K-POP.
After 2000, when K-POP stood in the dominant position of the Korean music industry, its single style and value output slowly bored people, and it was at this time that independent music began to develop rapidly in the circle and went international. At the Fuji Rock Festival in 2000 and 2001, Veteran Bands From Korea's early indie music scene, Crying Nut and No Brain, were part of the cast.
The moment that made K-indie start to go out of the circle was in 2008. A simple retro rock single ,"Cheap Coffee", suddenly hit the top ten of South Korea's Gaon singles chart. The lyrics, "Drinking cheap coffee" and "even if a cockroach passes by from its head, it is only in every heavy morning", poking at the depressed side of young people's lives, contrary to the K-POP music based on dance music and positive energy at that time. The song, with its bitter poetry, swept the band Jang Ki-ho and his faces across the country, filling up performances across Korea, and in 2009 he won the trophy of Korean Gold Records with the album.
Band Zhang Jihe and faces (Source Twitter)
This band is not unique. Indie duo Broccoli, You Too? The album No More Encore, released at the same time, won the Korean Music Awards for Best Modern Rock Song for two consecutive years, in 2010 and 2011. The self-titled album of the indie band 9와 숫자들 (9 and digital) in late 2009 won the Korean Music Award for Best Modern Rock Album in 2011.
They speak out for the silent younger generation – songs that are introspective, reflective, bittersweet. They tell the other side of their heartache, which resonates with young people in a social atmosphere where social pressure is gradually increasing.
After independent music re-entered the public eye, people also reconvened on the streets of Hongdae. From R&B, hip hop, avant-garde rock to dream pop, hundreds of new indie bands come to the streets of Hongdae every year. From the 1990s onwards, subcultures sprouted here, and after 2000, it was considered Seoul's main independent music center and youth subcultural lifestyle community. Here, many music venues, underground clubs, record stores and rehearsal studios and clubs are open until the early hours of the morning, and Hongdae never sleeps.
For more than a decade, Korean independent musicians have walked out of the streets of Hongdae, and now, at the Korean Music Awards at the end of each year, there are independent orchestras. Hongdae-born independent band Huyukoh has won the Best Orchestra Performance Award at the MAMA Festival for two consecutive years, and in 2019, they began their first world tour; blushing Si Chun and JANNABI have both won the Golden Disc Awards and trophies known as the Korean Grammys.
Jannabi wins Best Orchestra Performance at the MAMA Music Festival (Source MAMA)
Over the years, the sound of Korean indie music has distinguished itself from mainstream K-pop by refusing to try to catch up with the latest international pop trends. And, based on the same logic, it denies the hegemony of both international pop and rock – the creative undertones of most pop music.
As a result, Korean independent music is unique and is not limited to a particular musical genre (from folk to experimental rock) or to a particular attitude. The expression of independent musicians comes from their own experience, and the different states of life can also give birth to different styles of works in each period.
Like the indie band hyukoh, from the initial world-weariness and nothingness of a teenager, to the development of the band's fame, their music began to tell the story of growth and love. The work is the experience of life, which is a sincerity conveyed by Korean independent music, and it is also the purity of not being trapped by the market.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="61" > Behind the Force: How did K-indie rewrite the mainstream market? </h1>
Of course, Korean independent music can develop rapidly in just a dozen years, in addition to the strong vitality of the music itself, the market and social environment are also its main boosters.
Since 1999, South Korea has formulated the development strategy of "cultural nation-building", the government has vigorously supported the development and output of cultural industries, and formulated policies and regulations such as the "Cultural Industry Development Promotion Plan" and the "Basic Law on the Promotion of Cultural Industries". It can be seen that sm, YG and JYP are all established after the introduction of the policy.
In addition, the South Korean government's Medium-term Plan for the Revitalization of the Music Industry, released in 2009, was funded by the government to inject 127.5 billion won (about US$100 million) to promote the globalization and industrialization of Korean pop music. At the same time, in order to expand the diversity of music, the Korean government plans to establish an independent musicians' music creation institute to vigorously support the creation of independent music.
It is worth mentioning that the Seoul Metropolitan Government has taken note of the voices of independent musicians and wants to expand their circles and boundaries. Since about 2012, government agencies, including the Korea Cultural Industry Promotion Agency (KOCCA), have continued to provide support, especially financial support, to independent musicians.
Korea Cultural Promotion Agency (Photo source KOCCA)
Taking KOCCA as an example, subsidies for the music industry include: to promote the advancement and circulation of the international strategic market, the operation subsidy of the music production institute program, the subsidy for the construction of the international music network, and the subsidy for the production and publicity of the basic content of the online platform application. If an independent musician needs to perform or create music in a foreign country, he or she can submit a subsidy application directly to KOCCA. After review, subsidies, including airfare, accommodation fees, and publicity fees, are allocated by the artists themselves on their own budgets.
In addition, KOCCA partnered with the Korea Education and Broadcasting Corporation (EBS) to organize an independent musician selection event, Korean Rookie, giving newcomers resources such as performances and film shooting during the selection period to help them improve their international visibility.
Also since 2012, the officially hosted music festival MU: CON is held in Seoul every year. In addition to providing a stage for independent musicians, some independent musicians have been given the opportunity to collaborate with international producers through the presence of international music festivals. [10] The band Asia Chairshot entered the U.S. music market through music festivals with guitarists from Grammy winner Smashing Pumpkin, and another indie band, Glen Check, entered the U.S. music market with a former producer of the legendary Irish band U2.
Source MU: CON
The South Korean government realized that the Korean culture and life scenes presented in the voices of independent musicians were very different from K-POP. K-POP should not be the only symbol of Korean culture, the content of which is always a fusion of diversity and complexity.[11]
The attention to the cultural industry has also injected confidence and vitality into the creation of korean cultural industry practitioners, and the most important creative driving force is naturally South Korea's perfect music copyright system. Since 1987, the National Copyright Administration of the Republic of Korea has formulated a copyright policy, and to now, the copyright-related judicial departments in Korea have subdivided three departments: the Copyright Policy Division, the Copyright Protection Division, and the Copyright Industry Division, and at the same time, the Copyright Judicial Police has been set up to divide labor clearly and meticulously at the judicial and law enforcement levels.
In addition, There are two authoritative public institutions for copyright protection in Korea, the Korean Copyright Commission (KCC) and the Korean Music Copyright Association (KOMCA). The KCC's functions cover copyright policy and legislation, copyright education and publicity activities, copyright registration agency, and the maintenance of overseas copyright in Korean works. KOMCA is the copyright registry of original musical works, musicians can enter the song-related information after KOMCA registration, after loading the system, through the song name or personal name search can view the copyright ownership of the song. After registration, any individual or organization that uses the song is required to pay for it, and KOMCA also collects copyright fees as a regulatory organization and then issues royalties to musicians.
Korea Music Copyright Association (Image source KOMCA)
Under the protection of the copyright system, large copyright owners such as GD Kwon Ji-yong and JYP company boss Park Chun-young are able to earn more than a billion won (about 5 million yuan) per year. Independent musicians are no exception, and the song "Cherry Blossom Ending" created by Zhang Fanjun, the lead singer of busker busker, has become a representative song of spring, and it can re-enter the top three of the Melon chart every March and April. With this song, Zhang Fanjun earned 4.6 billion won (about 26.69 million yuan) in copyright fees in 8 years.
In addition to copyright protection, independent musicians also have an increasingly large stage.
Under the strategy of "building a nation through culture", the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Korea established the Cultural Promotion Agency (music industry), the Broadcasting and Video Promotion Agency (TV dramas and variety shows), and the Film Promotion Committee. These institutions have promoted the rapid development of Korea's entertainment industry, not only K-POP, Korean variety shows, film and television drama works have received the attention of people of all ages, and have become icons with Korean characteristics.
The emergence of these institutions has also strengthened the exchange between music, TELEVISION programs and movies, forming a complete and interconnected cultural and entertainment industry chain. Popular variety shows can promote film and television dramas, and the bgm of film and television drama variety shows can bring music out of the circle. Under such a chain, the cultural industry has formed a virtuous circle of mutual development. For example, the independent band hyukoh became a hit after appearing on south Korea's veteran variety show "Infinite Challenge", and has also become a successful case of popular variety shows taking independent musicians out of the circle.
Hyukoh on Infinite Challenge (Image source Infinite Challenge)
Under the emphasis on the cultural industry, almost all of Korea's authoritative music and film and television drama awards ceremonies are hosted by official institutions. The Golden Disc Award, equivalent to South Korea's "Grammy", is the most authoritative music awards ceremony in South Korea, hosted by the Korea Recording Association, and the selection will take comprehensive sound sources, record sales, popularity votes and other data as an important basis, with a certain degree of objectivity.
Every year, because of album sales and ranking data, K-pop music almost dominates the entire chart, but since 2014, the top ten awards in the Gold Disc Source Department (based on the number of auditions and downloads/charges of songs) can appear 1-2 names of independent musicians, and blushing Si Chun and Jannabi have won the trophy of this award, which is a certification of the commercial ability of independent musicians.
In addition, the Korean Music Awards, which are judged by well-known music critics, producers, and music industry professionals, pay more attention to musicality. Among the winners of the 17th Album of the Year, 10 winners are independent musicians, and 90% of the winners are independent musicians for best rock albums and rock songs. This is also a high affirmation of the quality of the musical works of independent musicians by the Korean music industry.
Both official and public institutions are opening the way for the development of cultural industries, and the support and attention to the creative economy in the cultural policy of the Korean government has also spawned a social atmosphere of social tolerance and relaxation.
In 1995, a LIVE CLUB called "DRUG" in Hongdae, South Korea, held a LIVE performance called "Kurt Cobain's Memorial Concert", which attracted many fans of decadent rock and some young people who were dissatisfied with mainstream music. Through this event, DRUG and several other LIVE CLUB became indie bands and their fan strongholds, hosting small music festivals, night bands of different musical genres, and even starting DIY record distribution. They were noticed by the mainstream media and described as "subcultural rebellions", but they did not cause major moral panic, and officials acquiesced in the export of value in their music as part of multiple musical expressions.
Image source Unsplash
For more than a decade, independent music has still grown freely in an inclusive social atmosphere, without excessive censorship or shackles on opinions. Therefore, in the musical expression of independent musicians, the influence of market preferences is minimized, although the lack of rich external capital like K-POP, but musicians have complete control over their own music.
The open and inclusive market can accept rich music genres and provide a stage, which invisibly broadens the audience dimension of music monetization. Under the double blessing of copyright protection and market exposure, independent musicians can earn enough money to support themselves is not a luxury, fish and bear paws, dreams and bread are the direction of the music industry.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="115" > Revelation: Obstacles, Springboards, and Hopes</h1>
In China, copyright has always been a topic of constant discussion among music industry practitioners.
In the early days of the Internet era, piracy was rampant, which also gave the public the wrong perception that "of course, listening to songs online should be free". Until 2015, the National Copyright Administration issued the "Notice on Ordering Online Music Service Providers to Stop Unauthorized Dissemination of Musical Works", and major platforms removed pirated songs, and finally realized the legalization of online music. In addition to the enforcement of the policy, people's copyright awareness is still in the adaptation stage.
Although there are loopholes, the good news is that policies are still constantly being updated to adapt to the trends of the Internet era. The new Copyright Law, which will come into effect on June 1 this year, has improved the relevant provisions on copyright protection in cyberspace, significantly increased the upper limit of statutory damages for infringement, and clarified the principle of punitive damages[14]. According to Tencent Music Entertainment's 2021 Q1 financial report, its online music payment users reached 60.9 million, and the music payment rate reached 9.9%, an increase of 3.4% over the same period last year. However, compared with the nearly 50% payment rate of foreign streaming media such as Spotify, the domestic music payment is still at a low level.[15]
Image source Tencent Music Entertainment Group
Previously, Music Pioneer also explored the current domestic copyright dilemma, when the streaming media platform to acquire copyright as a chip to win the opponent, there will be a large record company premium to sell the copyright, while independent musicians or small independent labels can only get copyright income that is inconsistent with the level of the song.[16] Under the rapid development of short video platforms, the boundaries of music copyright have also become blurred, the threshold for rights protection is high, and the appeal of musicians is only sighing in front of reality, and they cannot get the dividends of industry development.
Of course, the domestic independent music scene is not standing still, with the rise of circle culture and youth culture, independent music has gradually entered the public vision in recent years. Independent musicians who often appear at music festivals, appear on the variety stage, and can sell tens of millions of results when the album is released, have embarked on the road to the economic freedom of music. Under the trend of independent music becoming more and more influential on youth culture, related variety shows have emerged in an endless stream, such as "Summer of the Band", "Tomorrow's Children Band Season", "China New Rap", "This is the Original" and other variety shows that independent musicians have more stages and exports.
Of course, these variety shows about independent music are still in the form of competitions at the bottom, and under the voting format, it is inevitable to cater to the audience in order to get more exposure and attention, and the explosive points and topics are ranked in front of the music. After all, watching variety shows from the perspective of many audiences is to have fun, and there is probably a distance from the hunting for the content of the variety show to the attention to the individual and music. The most remembered thing in "Summer Season 2 of the Band" is the "resurrection from the dead" meme of the five people.
Image source Weibo
Variety shows have become a springboard for independent musicians to take the stage, but compared with South Korea, the domestic entertainment industry chain is not perfect enough, and there are not enough national variety shows with their own traffic to provide a stage for these independent musicians, more variety shows that can only compete or draft, so that independent musicians can be examined by the market.
The emergence of band variety shows is an opportunity, but independent musicians are still caught in the dilemma of balancing the musicality of independent music with market preferences. Music Pioneers once wrote in the article "Has Le Xia Hurt Chinese Independent Music?" It is mentioned that in the high-speed development and rapid change of the market, the "band" has become a consumer symbol, absorbed by the mainstream, lost the original resistance, suffered castration, for the sake of market compromise, independent musicians have always explored in opportunities and crises.
Crossing the mountain of "no one cares" and resisting the rapid rush of attention in the digital age, but the opportunity is still there. Tired of listening to the fixed paradigm of popular music, people are willing to find new resonances, discover new drum beats and rhythms, and broaden the public's acceptance of music genres, which is probably a door opened by band variety shows. The universal youth hostel that has been sharpening a sword for ten years, the digital album sales exceeded 300,000 in one day, and the Douban score was as high as 9.3, perhaps in the impetuous and fast industrial atmosphere, the stamp of true and pure musicality.
Universal Youth Hostel electronic album sales (Image source NetEase Cloud Music)
Looking back at the history of K-indie's development, it seems that they are dissatisfied with the profit-seeking and single style of Korean pop music in globalization; they are artistic reactions to the social crisis caused by uncontrolled neo-liberalization globalization, and they inject another side of reality into the single culture and value output of popular music.
If we remove the boulders of practical obstacles such as funding and copyright, we can really put the musical independence and expression of independent music before the production process is independent, and perhaps at that time, independent music can become the second side of the mainstream, not the back.
Resources:
[1] Bernie Cho. the 11th vienna music business research days 2020 in retrospective.
[2] Shin, Hyunjoon. "The success of hopelessness: the evolution of Korean indie music." Perfect Beat 12.2 (2011): 147.
[3] Nowre. We are ushering in the heyday of Korean independent music
[4] Kim, Soochul. "‘Now it's indie’: The creative turn of the cultural policy in the Korean indie music scene." International Communication Gazette 81.2 (2019): 193-208.
[5] Epstein, Stephen. "Us and them: Korean indie rock in a K-pop world." The Asia-Pacific Journal 13.48 (2015): 1-19.
[6] overseas.mofa.go.kr. Beyond K-Pop: The Republic of Korea’s Thriving Indie Scene.
Wei Ting, Li Xinyang. "Industry Characteristics of Korean Pop Music," Chongqing Social Sciences 7 (2015).
Huang Xinrong. Taking the Korea Cultural Content Promotion Institute as an example, we will examine the future operation of the Cultural Policy Institute
[9] From K-Pop to K-Indie's International Marketing Strategy: An Interview with Crystal Soo-Jeong Yang, Project Manager, KOCCA's Music Industry Division
[10] MK news. Why is U2 producer attracted to Jambinai？http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php？year=2014&no=878393.
[11] overseas.mofa.go.kr. Beyond K-Pop: The Republic of Korea’s Thriving Indie Scene
[12] Korea Copyright Commission. Introduction of the Korean Copyright system.
Hua Yun Shangde. South Korea has become the fifth largest cultural power, analyzing the development of Korean cultural industries
[14] Xinhua News Agency. The Revision of the Copyright Law will take effect on June 1 next year
Tencent Music Entertainment Group. Tencent Music's first eye-catching answer sheet in 2021 was announced: steady innovation, non-stop steps, and a new picture of the "sound" of all things
[16] Musical Precursors. In the Internet age, where are the opportunities for record companies?
Typography | Anlin
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