Music Banter - Korean music

About Korean Music:

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South Korea, unlike most countries with an active entertainment scene, is still in its infancy. Although the division of North and South Korea happened in 1948, it wasn’t until the 90s that South experienced cultural liberation ushered in by the entrance of Western Influence.

It is, by all accounts, following the trajectory of the entertainment industry of countries like the U.S. and other European countries. The U.S. also started with the dominance of management companies and labels. These companies and labels also looked for singers that looked good. They were given clothes to wear, people to put make them up, trained to behave a certain way and songs to sing.

It is all glamor. Singers had to be larger than life and objects that were to be desired.

Much like the idols in Korea. For those who don’t know, “idol” is the generic term they used to refer to singers that were trained by management companies.
The Power of Management Companies in South Korea

Although some of these idols co-write and co-produce their own songs, they were trained to write and produce songs that are “pop” or meant to be liked by the general public. They are trained to subconsciously follow a formula, one that produces hits after hits after hits. When I say trained, I didn’t mean formal music education. These idols are required to go through specialized training that shapes them to become an idol. They go through singing lessons, songwriting lessons, fashion lessons, image building lessons and other kinds of lessons deemed necessary by these management company to hone them into becoming matinee idols.

click here to read the rest of the article:South Korean Music: On the Claw of Revolution