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Most people's perspective of music is just a method that one could use to relax and listen to as their personal entertainment. One has never thought that music could be used as a form of soft power to exert more awareness on a country's culture. Soft power is the ability to use persuasion or negotiations to achieve a goal, rather than using force or money to get what one wants. Entertainment does not usually categorize under a branch of political motives or advertisement for one’s country. My view of Korean pop music changed after learning that the country’s music industry was originally used to exert soft power influence across the globe. Now I think of Korean pop music as a tool for the government and not as a unique band or individual performing and starting from scratch.
Most people first heard of Korean pop music in 2012, when a Youtube video called “Gangnam Style” by Psy reached 2 billion views. Since then groups such as Girls Generation, 2NE1, Super Junior, CNBlue, SPICa, and other artists have been receiving more and more attention and were even performing across the globe. Just last month, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena hosted the “M Countdown,” a show consisted of top South Korean artists and groups. These artists are revealed to be part of South Korea’s method in international marketing. Last year, South Korea received $5 billion from its pop-culture exports, such as merchandises, concert tickets, and others. The success of Korean pop music has gained popular attention to the country’s culture, a type of soft power.
The government has been driven towards improving this aspect of soft culture in 1997. Despite the fact that South Korea was creating manufacturing major manufacturing industries, such as Kia and Samsung, the country slowed in the economy during the Asian financial crisis 17 years ago. South Korean president, Kim Dae-Jung, decided that entertainment was the key factor in success. The president created a program that emphasized on the country’s music industries called the Korea Creative Contents Agency (KCCA). The president also asked for the Korea Eximbank to collaborate with the KCCA program. Today, there are several talent searching agencies that train potential singers to sing, dance, and act.
The extent of how much support the government has been investing towards the reinforcement of cultural influence to the point that boot camps have been created to attract tourists and local residents. Not only does this promote the country’s culture, but also allows the nation to attract talented people to come to South Korea for potential jobs. This combines the nation with musical talent and its educated knowledge in science and technology, due to the big industries in manufacturing products and the talent driven investments from the government. The motives behind South Korea’s pop music has been profoundly different of what I thought as just a bunch of musicians slowly rising to power from talent agencies to the country’s entertainment industry as an international marketing method to promote a country’s cultural soft power.
Most people first heard of Korean pop music in 2012, when a Youtube video called “Gangnam Style” by Psy reached 2 billion views. Since then groups such as Girls Generation, 2NE1, Super Junior, CNBlue, SPICa, and other artists have been receiving more and more attention and were even performing across the globe. Just last month, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena hosted the “M Countdown,” a show consisted of top South Korean artists and groups. These artists are revealed to be part of South Korea’s method in international marketing. Last year, South Korea received $5 billion from its pop-culture exports, such as merchandises, concert tickets, and others. The success of Korean pop music has gained popular attention to the country’s culture, a type of soft power.
The government has been driven towards improving this aspect of soft culture in 1997. Despite the fact that South Korea was creating manufacturing major manufacturing industries, such as Kia and Samsung, the country slowed in the economy during the Asian financial crisis 17 years ago. South Korean president, Kim Dae-Jung, decided that entertainment was the key factor in success. The president created a program that emphasized on the country’s music industries called the Korea Creative Contents Agency (KCCA). The president also asked for the Korea Eximbank to collaborate with the KCCA program. Today, there are several talent searching agencies that train potential singers to sing, dance, and act.
The extent of how much support the government has been investing towards the reinforcement of cultural influence to the point that boot camps have been created to attract tourists and local residents. Not only does this promote the country’s culture, but also allows the nation to attract talented people to come to South Korea for potential jobs. This combines the nation with musical talent and its educated knowledge in science and technology, due to the big industries in manufacturing products and the talent driven investments from the government. The motives behind South Korea’s pop music has been profoundly different of what I thought as just a bunch of musicians slowly rising to power from talent agencies to the country’s entertainment industry as an international marketing method to promote a country’s cultural soft power.