myjurnal: K-pop: how South Korea turned round its music scene

Mungkin Tuhan sengaja mahu kita berjumpa dgn orang yg salah sebelum menemui insan yg betul supaya apabila kita akhirnya menemui insan yg betul, kita akan tahu bagaimana utk bersyukur dgn pemberian dan hikmah disebalik pemberian tersebut. Apabila salah satu pintu kebahagiaan tertutup, yg lain akan terbuka tapi selalunya kita akan memandang pintu yg telah tertutup itu terlalu lama hinggakan kita tidak nampak pintu lain yg telah pun terbuka untuk kita. Teman yg paling baik ialah seseorang yang kita boleh duduk bersama di dalam buaian dan berbuai bersama tanpa berkata apa-apa pun dan kemudian berjalan pulang dgn perasaan bahawa itulah perbualan yang paling hebat yg pernah kita rasai. Memang benar yang kita tidak akan tahu apa yg kita punyai sehinggalah kita kehilangannya dan juga benar bahawa kita tidak akan tahu apa yg kita rindukan sehinggalah "Ianya" hadir. Ia cuma mengambil masa seminit untuk jatuh hati pada seseorang, satu jam utuk menyukai seseorang, satu hari untuk menyintai seseorang tetapi ia mengambil masa sepanjang hidup untuk melupakan seseorang. Jangan pandang kepada kecantikan kerana ianya akan lapuk ditelan usia, jangan kejar kemewahan kerana ianya akan susut ditelan masa. Apa yang kekal hanyalah kecantikan hati seseorang... . Carilah seseorang yang bisa membuatkan kamu tersenyum kerana ia cuma memerlukan sekuntum senyuman untuk mencerahkan hari yg suram. Akan tiba satu ketika didalam kehidupan apabila kamu teramat rindukan seseorang sehingga kamu ingin menggapainya dari mimpi dan memeluknya dengan sebenar. Mimpilah apa yang kamu inginkan, pergilah ke mana-mana yg kamu ingin tujui dan jadilah apa yg kamu inginkan kerana kamu hanya memiliki satu kehidupan dan satu peluang untuk melakukan semua perkara yang ingin kamu lakukan. Semoga kamu memiliki kebahagiaan yg cukup untuk membuatkan diri kamu menarik, percubaan yg cukup utk membuatkan kamu kuat, kesedihan yg cukup utk memastikan kamu adalah seorang insan dan harapan yg cukup utk membuatkan kamu bahagia... . Kebahagiaan seseorang manusia tidak semestinya dalam memiliki segala yg terbaik. Mereka hanya membuat yg terbaik dalam hampir apa saja yg datang didalam hidup mereka. Kebahagiaan terletak kepada mereka yg menangis, mereka yg terluka, mereka yang telah mencari dan mereka yg telah mencuba, hanya mereka yg boleh menghargai kepentingan manusia yg telah menyentuh hidup mereka. Cinta bermula dgn senyuman, mekar dgn ciuman dan berakhir dgn tangisan... .. Masa depan yg cerah sentiasa berteraskan kehidupan yg lalu yg telah dilupakan, kamu tidak boleh meneruskan kehidupan dengan sempurna sehingga kamu melupakan kegagalan dan kekecewaan masa silam " Cinta takkan datang kalau tidak dicari" Jangan simpan kata-kata cinta pada orang yang tersayang sehingga dia meninggal dunia lantaran akhirnya kamu terpaksa catatkan kata-kata cinta itu pada pusaranya. Sebaliknya ucapkan kata-kata cinta yang tersimpan dibenakmu itu sekarang selagi ada hayatnya. Perkara yang paling kejam dalam hidup adalah kamu membuatkan seseorang menyintai dirimu sepenuh hati dan sanggup menyerahkan segala-galanya demi sebuah cinta yang suci, sedangkan kamu hanya sekadar menuturkan kata-kata cinta di bibir sahaja... meskipun lidahnya melontarkan kata-kata kemaafan, namun hatinya tidak akan memaafkan kamu sampai bila-bila lantaran hatinya yang penuh dengan kelukaan yang amat memedihkan... Cintailah seseorang itu atas dasar siapa dia sekarang dan bukan siapa dia sebelumnya. Kisah silam tidak perlu diungkit lagi, kiranya kamu benar-benar mencintainya setulus hati. Kadangkala kamu tidak menghargai orang yang mencintai kamu sepenuh hati, sehingga kamu kehilangannya. Pada saat itu, tiada guna penyesalan karena perginya tanpa berkata lagi. Hal yang menyedihkan dalam hidup adalah ketika kamu bertemu seseorang yang sangat berarti bagimu, hanya untuk menemukan bahwa pada akhirnya menjadi tidak berarti dan kamu harus membiarkannya pergi. Hawa diciptakan dari rusuk Adam, bukan dari kepala untuk dijunjung, bukan dari kaki untuk dijadikan alas, melainkan dari sisinya untuk dijadikan teman hidup, dekat dihati untuk dicintai... Kadang-kadang ALLAH hilangkan sekejap matahari kemudian dia datangkan pula guruh dan kilat. Puas kita mencari di mana matahari, rupa-rupanya ALLAH nak hadiahkan kita pelangi yang indah ... Belajarlah bersyukur dengan jodoh anugerah tuhan.. usah mendambakan teman secantik balqis, andai dirimu tidak seindah sulaiman.. mengapa diharapkan teman setampan yusof, andai dirimu tidak setulus zulaikha... tak perlu mencari seistimewa khadijah, andai dirimu tidak sesempurna Rasulullah SAW... Jika kamu memancing ikan, setelah ikan itu terlekat di mata kail, hendaklah kamu mengambil ikan itu, janganlah sesekali kamu lepaskan ia semula ke dalam air begitu saja…. Karena ia akan sakit oleh karena bisanya ketajaman mata kailmu dan mungkin ia akan menderita selagi ia masih hidup... Begitulah juga setelah kamu memberi banyak pengharapan kepada seseorang, setelah ia mulai menyayangimu hendaklah kamu menjaga hatinya, janganlah sesekali kamu meninggalkannya begitu saja… Karena ia akan terluka oleh kenangan bersamamu, dan mungkin tidak dapat melupakan segalanya selagi dia mengingatimu... Janganlah kamu mengganggu hidup seseorang dengan mencuri hatinya andainya kamu tidak ikhlas menyintainya... kelak kamu akan berlaku kejam dengan meninggalkannya dan membiarkan hatinya terluka dan hidupnya menderita... Cinta akan menyakitkan ketika kamu berpisah dengan seseorang, lebih menyakitkan apabila kamu dilupakan oleh kekasihmu, tapi cinta akan lebih menyakitkan lagi apabila seseorang yang kamu sayangi tidak tahu apa yang sesungguhnya kamu rasakan. Wahai sahabatku yang menderita kerana cinta, usahlah ditangisi kekasihmu yang telah pergi, hayunlah langkahmu ke mana sahaja yang kamu ingini demi mengubati hatimu yang luka, moga-moga kamu akan bertemu seseorang yang dapat mengisi hatimu, kelak pasti terubat jua dan hidupmu kembali ceria...

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

K-pop: how South Korea turned round its music scene

11:51 PM |

Posted by king princess Snow |

Edit Post

Strict anti-piracy laws, pop production houses and clever marketing have helped this struggling market thrive once more

K-pop: TVXQ, though now a duo, were massive sellers for SM Entertainment

South Korean music has, traditionally, never been on the radar of major labels and publishers. Being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world (out of a population of 48.6 million, 39.4 million use the internet), the country's music industry suffered from rampant piracy for most of the past decade.

There was little revenue to be collected internally, and there wasn't much demand for Korean artists outside the territory. Though Universal Music Group opened an office in the country over a decade ago, the only local artists it would invest in were classical ones.

But about four years ago – when, perhaps not so coincidentally, South Korea introduced anti-piracy legislation – Pelle Lidell, European A&R executive of the company's publishing arm, turned his attention to pitching songs written by his roster of largely Scandinavian and British songwriters to Korean artists. Today UMG considers Korea to be one of the most important territories – and it's all because of K-pop.

The K-pop phenomenon emerged at the beginning of the last decade, with Korean music production houses taking the concept of pop factories to levels way beyond The X Factor. Companies such as SM Entertainment and Play Cube Entertainment tapped into the 360 degree model way before the major labels – being independent record labels, talent agencies and publishers with their own academies where they groom young teenagers to be pop stars.

SME even has its own merchandise store in Seoul. The SM Entertainment building, set in what Lidell calls "the coolest youth district" of the city, contains a coffee shop, luxury restaurant, a section where you can take pictures that look like you're sitting with the SME stars, and a store for SME artist memorabilia.

Though 55% of Korean music sales are digital, the company makes sure that physical CDs are attractive enough for the fans to splurge on them as well. It doesn't release records in ordinary CD cases; they're all in glossy luxury packaging. They're often released in up to five different packages – and the fans buy them all.

To call SME an independent is almost misleading, as the company has 250 employees and has sold more than 59m records in the last year alone. "What UK label sells that many records of local repertoire in a year?" asks Lidell. "They're the biggest in Korea. Today, many of the biggest US artists and songwriters, like will.i.am and Sean Garrett, shuttle back and forth to work with Korean acts."

He adds: "I've never had a single release [in Korea] that has sold less than 400,000. Mirotic, a single by the group TVXQ sold around 2m in Korea and Japan (the group call themselves Tohoshinki in Japan). SME boy band Super Junior is Korean, but they've also put together a Super Junior in China. So sometimes when I get a cut with a song I'll make three different adaptations: Korean, Japanese and Chinese."

There's also a lot of sync income in Korea. The song Top Billing Love – written by Karen Poole, Bloodshy and Avant, responsible for hits for artists like Kylie and Britney – almost made it onto a Britney Spears album in 2002. SME did a deal with mobile phone manufacturer LG and its biggest girl groups, Girls' Generation and FX, did a version each of the song, calling it Chocolate Love, since LG were launching a new brown phone.

Girls' Generation's version went straight to number one. A few weeks later they released the FX version , which also went to number one. Then they released a joint version for LG, which also went to the top of the charts.

It took a bit longer for the recording side of UMG to get involved with K-pop. "It's only in the past two years that we've seen proper growth in revenue from Korea," says Sandy Monteiro, the president of UMG International in South East Asia. "Investing in this kind of artist development is not cheap. Though local classical artists are more niche, they're a safer bet and require a tiny investment compared to K-pop acts. There are so many companies working with what we call 'the Idol format', so you've got a fight on your hands. But on 1 January last year we took the plunge."

That's when UMG decided to invest in Play Cube Entertainment, resulting in the label's K-pop sales jumping from 9% of total Korean sales to 29% in 2010. But K-pop isn't just a success in its country of birth. It's also big in countries such as the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, China and Japan. While Play Cube's biggest act, boy band Beast, reached six-times-platinum sales in Korea alone, it also sold gold in most other south-east Asian markets. Its biggest girl group, 4Minute, isn't far behind.

"Beast are as big in South East Asia as Backstreet Boys were in the west, 15 years ago," says Monteiro. Idol sales represent about 40% of all music sales in Korea, but they make up the bulk of all sales of Korean music in the rest of south-east Asia. That's why UMG is now also licensing Korean repertoire that is not signed to the label, including some of SME's acts, to countries outside Korea. "[The K-pop production houses] tend to be quite mercenary. But they've realised the value of partnering with a stable set-up like ours."

Monteiro doubts K-pop will ever become as big in countries like the US and UK, as music fans in those markets would just be too critical about the lyrics and the acts' accents when singing in English. That, however, doesn't seem to be a major problem considering that while UK revenue from record sales shrunk by more than 11% in 2010, Korean overall sales were up 11.7%. This is why, at a recent industry event in Abu Dhabi, UMG's head of digital, Rob Wells, indicated that K-pop was high on the label's list of priorities, and Monteiro says UMG is planning to double its investment in Korea.

The fact that South Korea has very strict anti-piracy laws – including a three-strike rule for illegal downloaders – has helped turn around the fortunes of the country's music industry. But UMG's Korean managing director, Beom-Joon Yang, believes that there's more to it. "We think the combined popularity of Korean megastar icons like Rain, Korean television soap dramas, top-quality music production in Korea, and a genuine love for Korean culture overall around Asia, have attributed to making K-pop part of mainstream pop culture."

my song

나도 모르게 내가 웃고 있네요 nado moreuge naega utgo inneyo 가슴이 자꾸 그댈 데려오는데 gaseumi jakku geudael deryeooneunde 웃으며 그댈 내안에 담아야 하는지 useumyeo geudael naeane damaya haneunji 모른척 숨겨야 하는지.. moreuncheok sumgyeoya haneunji.. 괜찮은 그대 남자 되고 싶어요 gwaenchanheun geudae namja doego sipeoyo 그대 나에게 기댈 수 있도록 geudae naege gidael su itdorok 편히 마주할 수 없다는걸 잘알지만 pyeonhi majuhal su eopdaneungeol jaraljiman 내가슴이 하는 일인걸요.. naegaseumi haneun iringeollyo.. 두근두근 내 뛰는 가슴은 dugeundugeun nae ttwineun gaseumeun 감추려고 뒤돌아서봐도 gamchuryeogo dwidoraseobwado 사랑은 어쩔 수 없네요 sarangeun eojjeol su eomneyo 마음대로 마음이 움직이지 않죠.. maeumdaero maeumi umjigiji anchyo.. 아무리 참으려해도 또 그리워져요 amuri chameuryeohaedo tto geuriwojyeoyo 나 그대를 사랑할래요..

myjurnal

K-pop: how South Korea turned round its music scene

Follow my jurnal

my love

my song

my personal

STATS

My Blog

myjurnal

download site

my fav link

Blog Archive

you in my page

Facebook Badge

Feedjit

My follower blog