Having not attended any conferences before in my life, I totally didn't know what to expect when I accepted the invitation to experience something on such a professional scale. And to be very honest, no regrets in taking a day off just to attend this. The Keynote Address, the Brand Case Study and the Panel Discussions were all really insightful and provided a different outlook from my usual small and narrow perspective. No doubt this conference is a real eye-opener for me.
For me, the highlight of Music Matters - Day 2 undoubtedly had to be the Panel Discussion on "K-Pop: The Hip Hype Reality Behind the Korean Wave". I'm sure many have thought about how long this Hallyu Wave would last and to whether it would be a bubble and burst before we know it. The panellists included Tiger JK (Korean Hip-Hop Artist), Chan Kim (CEO, Fluxus Music + Chairman, Record Label Industry Association), Rob Schwartz (Tokyo Bureau Chief, Billboard) and Razmig Hovaghimian (CEO & Co-Founder, Viki.com).
Different issues such as current trends in the Korean music industry, K-Pop breaking out across and beyond Asia and the K-Pop export model were discussed. There was no right or wrong answers and even amongst the panellists, there were differentiated views and perspectives. But this is what made the discussion heated, yet interesting.
The most memorable part of this Panel Discussion was with regards to how traditional media was frustrating and how social media helped significantly. The impact of social media is not to be underestimated - be it a simple tweet or an update of your Facebook status. This I totally agree. We are living in a digital and connected age whereby almost every other human being is being equipped with a smart phone. Why not tap on our existing resources and make full use of it? We can't solely rely on traditional media as social media is undoubtedly faster in obtaining real-time information and updates.
And so, what's the K-Pop appeal and why does it create such a big buzz and eventually this Hallyu Wave? It does not only appeal to Asians but also to the North Americans and Europeans. Just look at the recent SMTown Concert held in LA, the MBC K-Pop Google Concert in San Francisco and the crowd it attracts. It's really interesting to find out what exactly attract these people to K-Pop since language is not a barrier at all. So is it the hybrid element whereby they have a mix of everything - from a vary of genre to the ultimate boyband formulae to the good looking eye-candies? I guess the government played a critical part in this Hallyu Wave too be it through the Yeosu Expo or the widely known Visit Korea Year 2010-2012.
I can just go on and on about this topic because of the differing opinions from every individual and the many areas one can approach this topic with. All in all, this Panel Discussion was really insightful and made me ponder further about the evolvement of this K-Pop phenomena.
Much thanks to the team behind Digital & Music Matters 2012 for this thousand bucks awesome experience. Totally looking forward to Digital & Music Matters 2013 now. ^^
_germx
The K-Pop Bubble.
20121001.1713hLabels: events, Looking Back, Music Matters, Random Thoughts, Tiger JK
