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| Lee Soo-man, executive producer and founder of SM Entertainment / SM Entertainment |
SM girl band aespa sets an example as first metaverse project, he says
By Park Ji-won
Lee Soo-man, the founder and executive producer of Korean pop music or "K-pop" powerhouse, SM Entertainment, said the time is ripe for Korea to become the "first mover" in global culture, noting the country has what it takes to play that role.
His comments are backed by the fact that K-pop has become a global phenomenon thanks to its use of addictive melodies, slick choreography and eye-catching music videos and concerts. Korean artists have hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart at least eight times since 2009 and Korea's music industry has ballooned into a $5 billion juggernaut.
In a keynote speech to the 2nd World Cultural Industry Forum, hosted by the Korea Foundation, Thursday, Lee reminded the audience of the shift in Korea's role on the global culture scene.
"In the past, Korea had been the fast follower in the culture industry. But Korea should overcome the framework and become the first mover as the country has all high-end technologies from all over the world," he said. "We, SM Entertainment and the Korean people, are able to create what Koreans call 'killer content' as you can see from the award-winning Korean films and contents."
"Killer content" refers to original content possessing enormous potential to go viral.
Beyond K-pop, Lee went on to say that the future depends on whether a company can develop an original idea by cooperating with people in other countries.
"After making key original content, we should lead the convergence of technology and content by letting 'prosumers,' a portmanteau of the words producer and consumer, participate in and engage in the re-creation of original contents … In the future, content will be treated as assets as you can see in blockchain systems and NTF [non-fungible tokens]," he said.
Lee cited SM's new girl group, aespa, which consists of four members and four avatars living in a virtual world, as an example of the first metaverse (a portmanteau of meta and universe) girl group. He explained that it will be inevitable for K-pop singers to embrace a transition in technology.
"In every field of future technology, such as robotics software, big data and displays, it would become more important to collaborate between celebrities and technology, which is what I consider to be the new vision of K-pop and the Korean Wave. I think more and more industries should converge regardless of their differences without boundaries," he said.
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| A screen capture from a panel discussion during the 2nd World Cultural Industry Forum held offline and online, Thursday. Clockwise from top left, Jeff Vaughn, CEO of Capitol Music Group, Teddy Zee, a Hollywood film producer and director and media and tech consultant based in Los Angeles and Lee Soo-man, founder and executive producer of SM Entertainment, one of the largest entertainment companies in Korea. Courtesy of World Cultural Industry Forum |
US content creators, such as Jeff Vaughn, CEO of Capitol Music Group, who worked with SM Entertainment in promoting boy group SuperM in the U.S. market, and Teddy Zee, a Hollywood film producer and director and media and tech consultant based in Los Angeles, also participated in the forum.
When asked about the winning strategies used by K-pop groups to make inroads into the U.S. music market, Vaughn said it is important for the groups to reach out "directly" to American audiences who love to meet stars in person and come up with English-language songs.
"SM and Capitol worked hand-in-hand. Our job is to make sure that we're reaching out to the American audience where they're used to discovering music and engaging with the artists … For example, first and most importantly, the group (SuperM) came over to the U.S. and spent time in the market. Americans love authenticity. They love being able to touch, feel and see their artists directly. They did a private show at the Capitol Tower and multiple in-store appearances in L.A., which created a ton of excitement. There were lines around and block of fans who wanted to meet them. They also performed in key television shows like The Ellen Degeneres Show, which is very prestigious and reaches a lot of households," Jeff Vaughn said during the conference held via Zoom, Friday.
"It (the United States) is a huge market and a huge country. Speaking to them in their language, having bilingual English language hit songs that can work on U.S. radio and English language playlists. And then also getting into the creative community. Working with other key artists in the U.S. doing some high-profile collaboration is a form of reaching out and grabbing fans."
Zee pointed out the role of music in an era dominated by hate and division.
"One of the biggest aspects of why K-pop is so popular around the world is that I believe that it's even more timely today where there's so much negativity, hate, anger and criticism in the world," he said. "But all of K-pop is something different. And I think that it comes from many of the leaders in Korean culture and more specifically from Lee, when he talks about being kind, humble and loving. Those are the kinds of principles that embody much of K-pop and what the world really hungers for at this moment in time."
