Kpop ignores the Chinese market

Boy group DKB will hold concerts in 6 US cities, starting from New York on June 10. The group’s debut date is February 3, 2020. After 800 days as singers, they had their first tour in America. Another rookie group, GHOST9 ended their US tour in January. The group accomplished this plan just 500 days after their debut.

The Asian market, including China, was once a fertile land for Kpop. However, experts say that the game of Kpop has completely changed. Europe and America is now the most important target of this music market. In particular, in the article of JoongAng Ilboexperts pointed out that Southeast Asia with Kpop is currently considered a poor market with no potential.

US market opened by BTS

Many groups debuted amid other pandemics of Korean pop is growing at a rapid rate, especially in the US. In addition to DKB and GHOST9, 7 groups including CIX, The Boyz, (G)I-DLE, Brave Girls and Golden Child are doing their first US tour this year. Brave Girls – a group famous for their song Rollin – had their first US tour in July.

Follow JoongAng Ilbomore and more cases are targeting the US and Europe, rather than Asian countries like Japan, China and Southeast Asia.

Experts analyze the period of the performance market being frozen due to Covid-19 as an opportunity for Kpop to expand to the world, especially in the West. Fandoms poured into K-pop, thanks to which the number of fans of this music market increased rapidly.

The success of BTS helps Kpop become more and more popular in the US.

Ticket prices for the K-pop concert held in Frankfurt, Germany on May 14-15 are from 68 euros (about 90,000 won) to 328 euros (about 440,000 won). All were sold out on the first day of opening the system. The tickets are even traded on the Internet for 700 euros (about 940,000 won).

Lee Hyun Ji – a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities – talked to JoongAng Ilbo: “A few years ago, K-pop was consumed as a subgenre, unorthodox music. But the amount of K-pop goods in the world and in the West has increased recently,” said Lee Hyun Ji.

The proportion of Korean music exports to countries outside Asia has also increased significantly. According to Korea Customs, the US overseas album sales market share more than tripled from 5.3% in 2017 to 17.2% in 2021. During the same period, the average growth rate Annual US exports reach 125%.

BTS opened the door for Kpop to enter the US. Previously, producer Park Jin Young (JYP), Wonder Girls, singer Lim Jeong Hee… knocked on the US market but failed every time.

In the end, thanks to BTS, K-pop achieved remarkable results, such as being nominated for a Grammy and filling the audience with a big stage. However, BTS is the only K-pop idol that can hold stadium-level concerts (over 50,000 to 70,000 seats) in the US.

Not yet reaching the level of BTS, but the scale of performances in the US by other Kpop idols with more than 5 years of experience is gradually expanding. Two or three years ago, TWICE’s US tour was only about 10,000 spectators per night. But this year the number has increased to more than 20,000 per concert.

Stray Kids and Seventeen performed in a hall that can accommodate thousands of people. But now, they meet fans at more upscale venues with capacities ranging from 10,000 to 20,000.

BTS, BlackPink many times entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Billboard becomes more important than domestic music charts

As the US market becomes more important, companies entertainment The idea of ​​releasing an album on a Friday began. The purpose of this was to enter the Billboard charts. BTS, BlackPink, TWICE, NCT 127, Seventeen, Stray Kids, TXT… usually release their albums on Fridays.

The number of Korean artists entering the Billboard Hot 100 has increased from 5 times in 2019 to 17 times in 2020. The number of songs entering the Billboard 200 has increased from 8 times in 2019 to 14 times in 2020. Only in the first half of the year, there were 3 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and 4 songs on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, respectively.

Industry insiders say the Halluy wave started with K-pop’s entry into China. Until now, thanks to their accessibility and cultural homogeneity, Asian countries have been considered as the bridgehead and the most favorable route for Kpop to enter the US. However, currently, Kpop no longer has idol groups targeting the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.

TWICE has successfully held a world tour.

According to Pricewater Cooper House (PwC) – a global consulting firm – the size of the performed music market in the US is the largest in the world with 10.88 billion USD. This is 3.7 times that of Japan ($2.97 billion) in second place and 42 times that of China ($258 million) in 19th place.

An official in the entertainment industry said, “Ten years ago, when JYP entered the US market and came back, K-pop entering Western countries was considered an impossible dream. But now the market is too much. Therefore, no one goes to Southeast Asia – where there is no money – and China where there are too many complicated regulations. The game has changed 180 degrees,” he said.

According to Zing