Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I love K pop
Speaker 1: because they are, by far, I would say, the coolest
Speaker 1: version of our generation.
Speaker 2: Bloomberg reporter so he Can has been covering Korean pop
Speaker 2: or K pop for nearly a decade as a journalist,
Speaker 2: but she's been a fan for much longer than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Literally, I grew up with K pop, so he vividly
Speaker 2: remembers her first K pop obsession.
Speaker 1: So it was nineteen ninety seven when a trio girl
Speaker 1: band called Ses come out of Nowhere. I first discovered
Speaker 1: them from TV and three pretty young teenage girl grooves
Speaker 1: were singing and dancing on a song called I'm Your Girl.
Speaker 1: The song was mixed them a little bit of a
Speaker 1: pop and RMB produced by SM Entertainment, and it completely
Speaker 1: blew my mind. So I bought cast tapes up there,
Speaker 1: albums and gathered some of my friends practice their dance
Speaker 1: routines and performed at school events, and that became my
Speaker 1: annual thing.
Speaker 2: Recently, so He started noticing something unusual in the K
Speaker 2: pop songs getting released. A lot of their lyrics were
Speaker 2: in English, not Korean. So she did what any Bloomberg
Speaker 2: journalists would do. She and her colleagues started collecting data.
Speaker 2: In this instance, they conducted a very fun sounding survey.
Speaker 2: They analyzed every single K pop song released since nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety five that included hits like BTS's Butter.
Speaker 1: Small Drag, but like Criminal and.
Speaker 2: Black Pinks Killed This Love and I found out something
Speaker 2: pretty surprising.
Speaker 1: So almost half the K pop songs released this year
Speaker 1: had the majority and lyrics, and this is the first
Speaker 1: time in K pop's history like having a lot of
Speaker 1: English the lyrics and English songs.
Speaker 2: So he says that this push into English hasn't been
Speaker 2: an accident.
Speaker 1: And having more English lyrics is becoming a new norm
Speaker 1: for Korean idol groups because their songs are actively drawing
Speaker 1: more audiences not only in the US, but in some
Speaker 1: regions in Southeast Asia where a lot of K pop
Speaker 1: content like dance challenges become viral on TikTok and YouTube,
Speaker 1: and most of them are using English as a main tool.
Speaker 2: But if you take out the Korean, you're left with
Speaker 2: a glaring question, what's K pop without the k Today
Speaker 2: on the show, after years of meteoric growth, k pop
Speaker 2: is at a crossroads. Can the genre grow its international
Speaker 2: audience without losing the key components that made it a
Speaker 2: global phenomenon in the first place. I'm Sarah Holder and
Speaker 2: this is the big take from Bloomberg News so today,
Speaker 2: So what does the K pop industry look like? Who
Speaker 2: are the key main players that we need to know
Speaker 2: before we understand this world?
Speaker 1: So there are so called four big companies SM, High, YG,
Speaker 1: and JYP. SM is known as the pioneer of k pop,
Speaker 1: which was established three decades ago. High, the agency behind BTS,
Speaker 1: is the youngest one, but the biggest in terms of
Speaker 1: the market value. And why just the management company behind
Speaker 1: Black Pink and JYP is the agency behind Twice and
Speaker 1: Straight Kids.
Speaker 3: And what's the size of the K pop industry?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: How much money does it make?
Speaker 1: The size of the K pop industry is estimated to
Speaker 1: be about like ten billion dollars according to Korea Creative
Speaker 1: Content Agency, and the amount of the kpop export was
Speaker 1: about one billion dollars last year.
Speaker 2: Exporting K pop has been a pretty good business. Bloomberg
Speaker 2: reporters spoke to fans in Los Angeles outside of a
Speaker 2: concert for the K pop Fan Rise, who said they
Speaker 2: spent thousands of dollars a year on merchandise, concert tickets,
Speaker 2: and special events where they could meet members of their
Speaker 2: favorite groups.
Speaker 1: Probably a six thousand budget maybe if not more, depending
Speaker 1: on how many concerts Ike goes here.
Speaker 2: I mean just think about this trip, like the ticket
Speaker 2: light and everything, maybe like.
Speaker 3: Five hundred maybe each just for like today, for me,
Speaker 3: I would say maybe about two three thousands.
Speaker 1: And this is not something like unusual for K pop
Speaker 1: fans that we'll see a lot of like a K
Speaker 1: pop fans who are based in la or lets in America,
Speaker 1: we're like friends or who want to travel more to
Speaker 1: follow their biggest artists.
Speaker 3: What do fans say about why they love K pop
Speaker 3: so much?
Speaker 1: Well, I will say K pop is total package of
Speaker 1: modern arts. It's not just about songs, their fashion, computer
Speaker 1: graphic designs in their music videos and futuristic style and
Speaker 1: the sounds which all comes together. But what makes fans
Speaker 1: feel more connected to their stars than K pop groups.
Speaker 1: I think it's song's message and the K pop star's
Speaker 1: attitude toward fans. K pop artists are trained how to
Speaker 1: use social media and how not to disappoint fans who
Speaker 1: believe in them, but.
Speaker 2: The global fan base for groups like Rise Bts and
Speaker 2: Black Pink are in some ways the exception.
Speaker 1: So he K pop's largest consumer country is still South Korea,
Speaker 1: and the fifty million population is shrinking and aging faster
Speaker 1: than any places in the world. So the core consumer
Speaker 1: group teens to early twenties will be downsizing for the
Speaker 1: next decade. And an aging South repopulation isn't the only
Speaker 1: recent challenge for the industry. South Korea's decision to allow
Speaker 1: a US missile defense system to be installed in the
Speaker 1: country has led to tensions with the Chinese government and
Speaker 1: that's impacting Chinese fans that prompted some sort of like
Speaker 1: boycotts and ban other K pop bands in China. There
Speaker 1: was no official statement from China that they are going
Speaker 1: to ban K pop industry. Like suddenly, K pop groups
Speaker 1: and K pop companies couldn't arrange any events and concerts
Speaker 1: in mainland China.
Speaker 2: All of this might have been part of the reason
Speaker 2: why sales of physical K pop albums to China have
Speaker 2: plummeted this year.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of like hypothetical thesis around that,
Speaker 1: but there is no like a certain or clear answer
Speaker 1: for that. But first of all, like a Chinese consumers,
Speaker 1: they would still want to buy K pop pop albums
Speaker 1: for sure, butts there has been a rumor that Chinese
Speaker 1: wholesalers has stopped buying or stopped ordering work sales because
Speaker 1: of some sort of like measures that Chinese government has made, and.
Speaker 2: That's why today, despite the passionate fans and the billions
Speaker 2: in revenue, K pop has arrived at this crossroads.
Speaker 1: Obviously, in order to make a lot of money, K
Speaker 1: pop needs to transform their business model to make a
Speaker 1: sustainable growth for the next decade and reach out to
Speaker 1: a wider fan base. So it's K pop's mission to
Speaker 1: reach out to a bigger global market for a survival plan.
Speaker 2: To do that, some of the industry's biggest players are
Speaker 2: arguing for a radical transformation.
Speaker 1: So High founder Pamschi Hawk is declaring it's time to
Speaker 1: take the K out of K pop.
Speaker 2: Coming up after the break, how K pop is reinventing
Speaker 2: itself and why this is causing something of an identity
Speaker 2: crisis for the industry. One way for K pop groups
Speaker 2: to appeal to a more global audience is to release
Speaker 2: songs with more English lyrics, which is something Bloomberg reporter
Speaker 2: so He Kim and her colleagues have confirmed is already happening.
Speaker 2: Another strategy is for existing big name K pop groups
Speaker 2: to team up with some familiar names in the international
Speaker 2: pop community.
Speaker 1: For example, BTS. John Kook's latest album was produced by
Speaker 1: Scooter Brown and executives and producers in La and Lisa
Speaker 1: from Black Pink. She worked with Sony Entertainment's RCA. She
Speaker 1: released a new song called the rock Star gelsis a
Speaker 1: non adash of rockstarm make your favorite single. She invited
Speaker 1: a lot of like a Thai talent and creators and
Speaker 1: musicians to get involved in her So it's a multinational
Speaker 1: collaboration that can be just call it as a Korean
Speaker 1: pop But.
Speaker 2: K pop companies are also launching new groups from scratch
Speaker 2: using their tried and true formula for recruiting, molding, and
Speaker 2: debuting talent.
Speaker 1: The core process hasn't changed, but there are more auditions worldwide,
Speaker 1: language lessons during training period, and tons of digital marketing
Speaker 1: to promote the groups globally.
Speaker 2: From the get go, getting these groups concert ready is
Speaker 2: time consuming and expensive.
Speaker 1: It typically costs about like three to five million to
Speaker 1: create an idol group, but there are some cases that
Speaker 1: the costs exceed ten million dollars these days.
Speaker 2: So he got to meet one of Korea's most promising
Speaker 2: next generation K pop groups last month at SM Entertainment's
Speaker 2: headquarters in Seoul. The band is called Rise. They're the
Speaker 2: ones those fans in la were lining up to see.
Speaker 1: Is the latest idol group created by a SAM Entertainment.
Speaker 1: Their music was based on the house music produced by
Speaker 1: creatives based in US and Europe, and they also got
Speaker 1: trained by Western hip hop choreographers for new songs, so
Speaker 1: that resonates more with general audiences. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: they kept the core value of K pops such as
Speaker 1: empowering messages, emotional sounds, and phantom communications, so they look
Speaker 1: very fresh but something very familiar to K pop fans.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Hibe, the label behind BTS, is trying something even
Speaker 2: more experimental with an all girl K pop group called
Speaker 2: kats Eye. They released their first single called Debut on
Speaker 2: YouTube and on the group's website a little over three
Speaker 2: weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I don't need know on two trin I'll set oh
Speaker 1: just how to make a scene, just me mass.
Speaker 3: As you can hear.
Speaker 2: Their lyrics are in English, but that's not the only
Speaker 2: thing that's different about the group.
Speaker 1: So among the members, there's just only one Korean member
Speaker 1: and their main stage is not Soul or South Korea.
Speaker 1: Their main stage is now US and Hollywood.
Speaker 2: In La Katsi's debut video has already been viewed over
Speaker 2: three point seven million times. Even with those numbers, so
Speaker 2: he says that doesn't necessarily mean the group is going
Speaker 2: to take the world by storm.
Speaker 1: It's early to say whether they will be successful, but
Speaker 1: definitely it's a very new thing for the K pop
Speaker 1: industry because it's a total collaboration with the US record
Speaker 1: label to create a idol.
Speaker 2: Group but with only one Korean member, mostly English lyrics,
Speaker 2: and an American home base. I asked, so he what
Speaker 2: makes Kat's Eye k pop at all? It's the question
Speaker 2: that's at the heart of this new.
Speaker 3: Era for K pop.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a billion pellar question. Denying we're abandoning k
Speaker 1: or Koreans could be risky if the new groups failed
Speaker 1: to appeal to both of K pop fans and general
Speaker 1: music audiences. But if any new projects find a magical
Speaker 1: way to keep the value of K pop and make
Speaker 1: a global appeal, I'm pretty sure they will revirite the
Speaker 1: pop history.
Speaker 3: For the fans.
Speaker 2: Bloomberg spoke to outside of that Rise concert in La
Speaker 2: the embrace of English lyrics and K pop got a mixed.
Speaker 3: Review vibe It's giving me. It is kind of head
Speaker 3: or miss.
Speaker 1: I do somewhat like all the create K pop English songs.
Speaker 1: I just don't heard it for anyone, just because that's
Speaker 1: where they rooted, that's where the culture is, that's where
Speaker 1: they should be.
Speaker 3: I like to be honest, sing the words out.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter like what language is, as long
Speaker 1: as it has like a message to the meaning.
Speaker 2: I like, I don't know.
Speaker 3: The music really think they're easier for me.
Speaker 2: So he says it's too early to tell if K
Speaker 2: pop's new strategy will lead to the next BTS, but
Speaker 2: the industry is setting its sites even higher.
Speaker 1: Attempting like Coachella is not enough for them at all,
Speaker 1: So they want to go stadiums for like the size
Speaker 1: of Beyonce and Taylor Shift and Coldplay. Their dream now
Speaker 1: is to perform at the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Hot Time show A black pink BTS super Bowl show
Speaker 2: could be dynamite. That's it for this episode of The
Speaker 2: Big Take from Bloomberg News.
Speaker 3: I'm Sarah Holder.
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Thomas Lou and Alex Uguia,
Speaker 2: who also mixed this episode. It was edited by Stacy
Speaker 2: Vnnick Smith. It was fact checked by Naomi and Thomas Lou.
Speaker 2: There was additional reporting by Jin Wu and Jeremy Lynn.
Speaker 2: Our senior producers are Naomi Shaven and Kim Gettelson. Our
Speaker 2: senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Nicole beamsterbor is our executive producer.
Speaker 2: Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. If you liked
Speaker 2: this episode, make sure to subscribe and review The Big
Speaker 2: Take wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps people find
Speaker 2: the show. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be
Speaker 2: back on Monday.