Source: Forbes Korea
by chloejnon February 25, 2011
The results of Forbes Korea’s 8th anniversary “Korea’s Power Celebrity 40” are in, and SNSD has been selected as Korea’s top power celebrity. Figure skater Kim Yuna, who had placed number 1 for the past two years, has now dropped down to number 3. On the other hand, soccer star Park Jisung beat out Kim Yuna for 2nd place, as he took the title of Korea’s representative sports star.
This year’s number one, SNSD, has ranked in the top three for a variety of categories, such as number of articles, TV commercials, and internet searches. According to the Hanteo charts, SNSD sold over 270,000 albums, which is over 20,000 more than 2nd place, which went to Super Junior.
The songs in their album also had about 11,730,000 online downloads, and they ranked 3rd place in the number of articles written, and had filmed a total of 25 advertisements.
It has been analyzed that SNSD has had over 100 billion won in sales through their music, commercials, and TV appearances. With their activities in the Japanese market, they even further exceed this. Since their Japanese debut through ‘Genie‘ in September, all of their released songs have made it to the Oricon charts. According to SanK Sports, SNSD made about 120 million won in profits from their Japanese album sales.
Thanks to SNSD’s success, SM Entertainment’s stock has risen in value, as evidenced by the price of a share going up from 5,000 won to 20,000 won in one year. Also, Lee Soo Man’s appraised holdings jumped from 250 billion won last year to 880 billion won this year.
超越三星的南韓品牌是少女時代和Super Junior
美國彭博財經電視台報道說“南韓最有力的品牌是寶兒、少女時代和Super Junior”，引起了人們的關注。2月20日，彭博電視台播出的時事綜合解說節目《Monocle》中，以《為什麽K-POP能成為南韓國產業最有潛力的武器》為題，談到了南韓國的大眾音樂。在26分锺的節目中，主持人泰勒·布律萊（Tyler Brûlé）說“三星、現代、LG是南韓國最大的出口品牌，但現在對於更多的人來說，他們熟知的南韓國最有力的品牌是寶兒、少女時代、Epik High、Super Junior等K-POP歌手”，表示出了極大的關心。接著，《Monocle》分析稱，K-POP的發展是和數 字媒體的發展緊密相連的。“隨著數字時代的到來，西方音樂產業正經受著困難，但K-POP反而通過YouTube等途徑被外國粉絲們廣泛接觸，傳播到了全世界。”在主持人評論的過程中，節目中播出了國外粉絲們通過YouTube觀看Big Bang、Wonder Girls、少女時代等組合的MV的画面。
DFSB Kollective的趙秀光代表在接受采訪時說：“有關K-POP的前三大網站是英文網站，而不是南韓文網站。與南韓國國內的粉絲相比，K-POP在全球各地的外國粉絲更多”，“K-POP是以大眾為基礎的”。MTV亞洲區的副經理班·理查德森也解釋說：“南韓國是娛樂出口國，K-POP內容得到了大眾們的高度支持，可以同美國製作人出品的東西一較高下。”《Monocle》分析認為：“如果說日本的文化封閉主義把J-POP限製於日本範圍，那麽K-POP則通過YouTube渠道等，利用積極的開放性，成為了主要的出口品牌。”
What's the successful process that helps create Korean idols?
by ramham424on February 23, 2011
“Korean idol groups are exceptional in every way. You can easily tell that they have received a lot of training.” – Akimoto Yasushi, producer of popular Japanese idol group, AKB48
“Our headquarters already benchmarked the Korean training system. We are studying it intensely.” – Surachai Sensely, biggest music production company in Thailand
Korean idol groups, the driving force behind the new ‘Hallyu Wave’, are essentially the result of Spartan-like training. Music producers in Southeast Asia have already been observing the birth of Korean idol groups closely from the beginning, but what kind of training do these idol groups really receive?
Kyung Hyang heard the behind-the-scenes story directly from the four membered girl group JQT, who debuted two years ago, recently releasing their mini album, “Peekaboo“.
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Their day starts before 10 AM, after the members have cleaned up and eaten breakfast in their dorm located in Seoul, Shinsadong. A Korean-American teacher visits their dorm every morning to teach English for two hours. A topic is created every day and discussed in English, as well as having daily tests and homework assignments. After eating lunch, at 1 PM, the members go to their training room near their dorm. After stretching lightly to warm up their bodies, the members then practice on their own for two hours. Dances and songs are practiced, in addition to preparing for various assignments.
It’s 3 PM now, and JQT elaborated on their practice sessions, saying, “Two teachers that are in charge of vocal and rap training teach us in turns for two hours. The songs vary from American pop songs to current popular songs. In the beginning, we started with vocalization techniques. Every Friday, we are trained by an acting coach who teaches us how to express our emotions and acting in general. We sometimes invite comedians and are trained in individual skills and talents.”
The members have not only planned to do music, but kept dramas and variety shows in their minds as well.
After enjoying a short break while eating dinner, JQT members start their two hour choreography class at 8 PM. They usually learn simple dances and choreography, while also learning professional genres such as hip-hop, jazz, and latin. The tired members finally head back to their dorm after practicing until after midnight.
“We keep a scorecard for every class. Based on our performance, we get either A, B, or C. Our attitudes toward classes are recorded and revealed to us individually. It’s harsh but it stirs up our interests for the class“.
Weekends are considered a luxury for the idol group. Even on Sundays, they have the same training schedule, except for language class. After attending church early in the morning, they go watch movies with their manager once or twice a month, and that is considered their best break.
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JQT debuted in 2009 after surviving two years of Spartan-like training. Even after debuting, they still keep the same schedule except when they’re promoting their album, and it seems as if they are continuing their strict training for four years. Before, they had one hour workout sessions to improve their lung capacity and health, but after slacking off and hiding out in cafes, the workout sessions were removed. The members laughed, “Our choreography sessions got tougher as a result“.
How must the members feel, training hard during the time of their lives they should be having the most fun? Although the public views their training as being too harsh and just awful, they are taking it in positively.
“We recently performed in Cambodia, and even their top idols couldn’t touch our excellent skills. It’s like a nationally ranked team competing against a high school team.”
JQT member Gajin said, “It’s an extremely hard process, but I can see my skills improving gradually. It’s why K-pop artists are differentiated from other country’s artists”. Another member, Jieun, added, “We get more structured training than others who pay schools to train and teach them things.”
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Although Asia is paying attention to the Korean training system, the Korean public is actually looking at in deep concern. To this negative view, JQT commented, “It’s like any other training system athletes go through, such as swimmer Park Tae Hwan and skater Kim Yu Na.” Other than JQT’s agency, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and many other entertainment companies operate under this type of strict training program.
Trainees in SM Entertainment are trained in dancing, singing, acting, and foreign languages. There’s even a ‘China Camp’ that sends trainees to China to learn Chinese intensively for a month, and Super Junior’s Si Won and SNSD’s Hyoyeon reportedly participated in the camp. JYP Entertainment tests its trainees every month, and 2AM’s Jo Kwon & miss A’s Min trained for seven and eight years, respectively.
Because trainees and singers are investing their youth, the success and failure, and happiness and disappointment, that come with the industry varies greatly.
It seems as though what you see on the outside does not always reflect what happens on the inside.
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