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Source + Photos: Herald Economy News via Naver
by VITALSIGNon May 5, 2011

Korea houses a considerable number of live music programs, including one each from MBC, SBS, KBS, cable channel Mnet, and more recently, MTV. In this Hallyu age, however, the program that’s been receiving the most attention is KBS’s “Music Bank.”

Why is that?

“Music Bank” currently airs in 54 different broadcast networks around the world, and come July, the number will increase to 76. Japan, South East Asia, Europe, and even South America has access to KBS World.

One idol singer manager commented, “When we perform on ‘Music Bank’, we begin to receive performance requests from countries that we’ve never even been to, let alone would have the opportunity to visit. There’s no better age than now to feel the power of K-pop, and ‘Music Bank’ acts as that medium in effectively promoting artists internationally.”

The show’s ‘K-Chart’ ranking is also one of much interest amongst music producers and distributors, since it incorporates digital, viewer preference, album sales, and number of broadcasts into one chart. To producers, the chart is an indicator for foreign fans to see which K-pop star is taking the lead for the week.


Teens in Malaysia were recently reported to gather at a friend’s place that has the satellite platform ‘ASTRO’ installed to watch “Music Bank” live.

While “1 Night 2 Days” boasts the highest viewer ratings in all of KBS’s programs, the show actually takes a back seat internationally. Shows that feature idols like “Music Bank”, “Invincible Youth“, and “100 Points out of 100” garner much higher viewer ratings amongst the international viewers.

KBS World airs their programs one to two weeks after the initial air date in order to include English subtitles, but because “Music Bank” is live, the show gets broadcast raw. Even so, the show still achieves the highest viewer ratings. As of recent, producers have taken to translating song titles as a nod of acknowledgement to their international viewers.

“Music Bank” won’t be stopping just there, though. They’re set on bringing K-pop to Europe and the rest of the world, and are said to be actively working on a variety of promotions to help spread the Hallyu wave. Starting with Japan on July 13th, “Music Bank” will be bringing K-pop stars straight into different locations like Hong Kong, and even Europe next year, to begin broadcasting live from there.