yeah, i'd say that's more or less accurate for most groups and musical acts outside of the independent scene. it's a very strictly controlled life with most groups (until they've established themselves for several years) living together in dorms, having no cell phones, not being allowed to date, having regular weight checks, and having concepts and styling dictated to them among other things.i heard that labels run everything meaning they pick and choose people then train them and then write their songs and make their music videos and give them certain images and colour their hair and release music on like a specific schedule and the fans are fans of labels rather than individual artists
can someone who is plugged in to the kpop scene confirm or deny this and if true what are ur thoughts on it
bretty interesting how in the west music labels/companies are disliked as is but even more so if they involve themselves in anyway with the creative aspect but in the east its supposedly the opposite
New title track from Mamamoo, plus an MV for one of their b-sides on their new mini album
Also, Hwasa bless
i heard that labels run everything meaning they pick and choose people then train them and then write their songs and make their music videos and give them certain images and colour their hair and release music on like a specific schedule and the fans are fans of labels rather than individual artists
can someone who is plugged in to the kpop scene confirm or deny this and if true what are ur thoughts on it
bretty interesting how in the west music labels/companies are disliked as is but even more so if they involve themselves in anyway with the creative aspect but in the east its supposedly the opposite
yeah, i'd say that's more or less accurate for most groups and musical acts outside of the independent scene. it's a very strictly controlled life with most groups (until they've established themselves for several years) living together in dorms, having no cell phones, not being allowed to date, having regular weight checks, and having concepts and styling dictated to them among other things.
fans are fans of agencies for sure, but i wouldn't say it prevents them from being fans of groups and individuals as well.
I don't have much of a problem with the agencies writing the songs, producing the music videos, and even having control over an artist's style and concept for a release (within reason of course), but the brutal schedules, unhealthy diets, and financial control over the artists are big problems. and there's obviously the issue of using the control they have over artists to exploit them sexually as well. i may be naive, but while i actually don't think this last issue is prevalent, to the extent that it happens at all (which it does) it's obviously a big problem.
all that being said, there's obviously a wide range of agencies and some are much better than others.
also, to be clear, this is referring to kpop, as i'm much more familiar with the kpop scene than the japanese music industry.
damn thanks informative responsesThis is true. In the early 90's Lee Soo Man, founder of SM Entertainment took aspects of the Idol system in Japan (auditioning, training, producing) and combined it with pop musical aspects he saw while living in the US (stage outfits, choreography, sound influences). He put it together in the group H.O.T in 1996 and they became extremely popular. Before doing this he had tried to introduce heavy metal into South Korea in the early 80s but there was too much censorship at the time. He also had a rap artist that was busted for marijuana in the early 90's and that caused him to want more control over what his artists did and he wanted to be prepared with many acts in case individuals within his company got in trouble. Another company, DSP Entertainment, decided to do the same thing and they made groups that also became extremely popular. Their boy band Sechs Kies was H.O.T's rival and their girl group Fin KL was SM's girl group SES's rival. The system was popular and it became South Korea's pop music system with more companies popping up and creating groups.
The labels handle everything and have the last word on everything, though they'll sometimes let their artists be involved in parts of the creative process. K-pop is a hugely collaborative effort by a lot of people. Companies set up group comebacks on a schedule and fans get unhappy if their favorite groups get less comebacks than they think they deserve. Some people favor certain companies but they can also just like particular groups or just individuals within a group. The system is set up so groups disband, contracts are normally 5-7 years, and new groups come in and people move on to the new groups. So if someone likes K-pop and their favorite group disbands they might end up moving on to a new group and sometimes it's from the same company, though companies tend to alternate music concepts for their groups if they have multiple groups.
AV Idols who were once J-Pop Idols just debuted in a K-Pop group.
This debut song is not bad to be completely honest.