Weekly DongA : Korean Rock's Special Stepping Stone for Going Global - Seoulsonic

2013 서울소닉에 참가하는 구남과여라이딩스텔라, 노브레인, 로다운30(왼쪽부터).
한국 록 해외 진출, 특별한 징검다리 : 서울소닉

어느 사이 한류는 케이팝(K-pop)의 유의어가 됐다. 그리고 케이팝의 유의어는 아이돌이 됐다. 이 개념을 확장한 장본인은 말할 것도 없이 싸이다. 아이돌과 댄스뮤직은 한국 대중음악을 내수산업에서 수출산업으로 확산시켰다. 그게 전부일까. 아니다. 밴드와 싱어송라이터의 해외 진출도 꾸준히 증가하고 있다. 그 중심에 선 기획이 바로 서울소닉이다.

2011년 아이튠즈에 한국 음악을 공급하는 DFSB Kollective(대표 버니 조)가 여러 기획자와 손잡고 한국 밴드의 북미 투어를 조직한 것이 서울소닉의 시작이다. 첫해에는 갤럭시 익스프레스, 이디오테잎, 비둘기 우유가 미국과 캐나다를 한 달간 돌았다. 지난해에는 3호선 버터플라이, 크라잉넛, 옐로우 몬스터즈가 바통을 이어받았고 올해에는 노브레인, 구남과여라이딩스텔라, 로다운30이 서울소닉 주인공이 됐다.

3회째를 맞는 만큼 올해 프로그램은 대폭 확장됐다. 3월 5일 미국 샌프란시스코로 출발해 7일과 8일 이틀에 걸쳐 공연장 인터미션SF에서 첫 공연을 갖는다. 3월 12일에는 텍사스 주도 오스틴으로 이동해 세계에서 손꼽히는 음악 페스티벌이자 컨퍼런스인 사우스 바이 사우스 웨스트(SXSW)에 참가한다.

특히 주목할 만한 점은 미국 유력 음악저널 ‘스핀매거진’이 한국 밴드만을 위한 쇼케이스를 프로듀싱한다는 사실이다. 스핀매거진은 몇 년 전부터 한국 대중음악에 주목해 한국에서 열리는 음악 페스티벌을 취재하거나 음악 관계자들과 만남을 가져왔다. 스핀매거진이 SXSW에서 한국 밴드를 위한 쇼케이스를 마련한다는 사실은 미국 시장에서 한국 록의 가능성을 인정한다는 뜻으로 봐도 좋을 것이다.

서울소닉은 SXSW에 이어 캐나다 토론토로 이동한다. 캐나다의 가장 큰 음악 컨퍼런스인 캐나디안 뮤직위크에 참가하기 위해서다. 그 후에도 로드아일랜드 주에 있는 브라운대학, 뉴욕 인디음악 중심지인 브루클린 윌리엄스버그에 소재한 285 켄트애비뉴, 샌디에이고의 클럽 틴 켄 에일하우스, 배우 조니 뎁이 소유한 로스앤젤레스의 바이퍼룸에서도 공연할 예정이다.

서울소닉이 가진 의미는 단순히 한국 밴드에게 북미 투어 기회를 준다는 것에 그치지 않는다. 이들에게 명백한 동기를 부여한다는 함의가 더 크다. 갤럭시 익스프레스는 첫 번째 서울소닉에 고무받아 스스로 경비를 마련한 뒤 지난해 SXSW에 참가했을 뿐 아니라, 텍사스 일대를 돌며 한 달간 자체 투어를 벌였다. 올해 이들은 아예 판을 키웠다. SXSW가 열리는 텍사스뿐 아니라 샌프란시스코, 시카고, 일리노이, 덴버 등 미국 전역을 누비며 27회라는 초강행군 일정을 소화한다. 3호선 버터플라이 역시 지난해에 이어 올해도 샌프란시스코행 비행기를 탄다. 갤럭시 익스프레스나 3호선 버터플라이 모두 서울소닉 경험이 없었다면 북미 투어는 여전히 현실이 아닌 꿈에 머물렀을 것이다.

이 런 가능성을 제시해왔기 때문일까. 올해 SXSW는 주목할 만한 이벤트를 마련한다. 한국콘텐츠진흥원의 지원을 받아 여는 ‘코리아 나이트’라는 프로그램이다. 무대에 오르는 가수는 서울소닉 참가팀 외에도 국카스텐, F(x), 윈디시티, 이승열, 정차식, 더 긱스 등 총 13팀에 이른다.

‘코리아 나이트’가 갖는 의미는 이렇다. 미국 내에 독자적인 팬 기반을 갖추지 않는 한, 아무리 유명한 한국 가수가 미국에 가더라도 교포 상대의 공연 수준을 뛰어넘을 수 없다. 하지만 이처럼 많은 팀이 독자적인 이벤트를 벌여 한꺼번에 공연을 벌이면 이는 한국 출신 특정 뮤지션의 공연이 아니라, 한국 대중음악의 현 지형도를 보여주는 이슈가 될 수 있다. 케이팝이라는 기호 안에 아이돌, 밴드, 싱어송라이터 등 폭넓은 지층이 함께 자리 잡을 수 있게 되는 것이다.

일 본은 1990년대부터 이런 시도를 꾸준히 해왔다. 비록 빌보드를 비롯한 주류 시장에서 의미 있는 성과를 내진 못했지만, 미국 내에 일본 인디음악 팬층을 확보하는 데는 성공했다. 이번 한 달, 따로 또 같이 북미 대륙을 횡단할 우리 뮤지션이 한국 대중음악 외연을 넓힐 수 있을까. 그들과 동행하며 현지에서 관찰기를 전하겠다.

https://weekly.donga.com/culture
김작가 대중음악평론가 noisepop@daum.net

Featured Artists : Goonam / Lowdown 30 / No Brain
Seoulsonic North American Tour (Planning/Production) : DFSB Kollective
International Agent/PR/Distribution : DFSB Kollective

2013 CAAMfest : See the hottest musical acts from Asia @ SF MUSIC MATTERS ASIA!

VENUE CHANGE! SF MUSIC MATTERS ASIA TAKES OVER LEGENDARY BROADWAY STUDIOS IN CHINATOWN!

(03.01.2013 San Francisco CA) : As a special preview for CAAMFest (formerly the San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival), Asia’s premier music industry event, Music Matters, has teamed up with an alliance of Asia’s leading indie music promoters (China : Maybe Mars / Korea : DFSB Kollective / Taiwan : The Wall) and Singapore’s Viki.com to proudly present the launch of San Francisco Music Matters Asia (March 7th-8th, 2013).

A brand new extension of the highly successful Music Matters Live festival in Singapore (http://AllThatMatters.Asia/LIVE), the two-day San Francisco showcase will spotlight Asia’s top indie music artists. According to Music Matters Founder and CEO Jasper Donat, “Asia is smoking hot for talent at the moment and we’re delighted to have some biggest and best live bands from the region sharing the same stage for the first time ever in America.”

Set to be amped at the legendary Broadway Studios in Chinatown, the inaugural showcase headliners include the following critically acclaimed, SXSW music acts from China, Korea, and Taiwan:

< CHINA >

Carsick Cars (2009 China MIDI Awards : Album of the Year – Nominee)

The Gar (2012 China MIDI Awards : Song of the Year – Winner)

White+ (2012 China Douban Awards: Electronic Music Album of the Year – Winner)

< KOREA >

3rd Line Butterfly (2013 Korean Music Awards : Musician of the Year – Nominee)

Galaxy Express (2011 Korean Music Awards : Musician of the Year – Winner)

Goonam (2012 Korean Music Awards : Modern Rock Album of the Year – Nominee)

Lowdown 30 (2013 Korean Music Awards : Album of the Year – Nominee)

No Brain (2007 Korean Music Awards : Band of the Year)

< TAIWAN >

The Chairman (2011 Taiwan Golden Melody Awards : Band of the Year – Nominee)

Special guests include Sony Music singer-songwriter Kim Jinho (formerly of SG Wannabe) and local Asian-American indie legend, Peter Nguyen and his Bay Area band, The Gold Medalists.



https://caamedia.org
By CAAM

Concert/Showcase Executive Co-Producers : DFSB Kollective [Korea] / Maybe Mars [China] / The Wall [Taiwan] / CAAM [USA]
Korean Artist Booking Agent : DFSB Kollective
International Digital DIstribution [Korean Music Artists ex. Kim Jinho] : DFSB Kollective

The Japan Times : Creative-content agency helps Korean music abroad

Seoul persuaders: Korean garage rock band Galaxy Express (from left to right) Lee Ju Hyun, Kim Hee Kwon and Park Jong Hyun, helped convince the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) of the merits of helping promote Korean music overseas.

Regardless of whether you are a bigger-name draw or a smaller, emerging band, planning — and more importantly financing — international gigs is no easy task. But since last year, things have gotten a bit easier for Korean acts touring abroad.

In March 2012, the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) began offering financial assistance to musicians for overseas festival appearances. A government-funded organization, KOCCA was formed in 2009 by combining the resources of several groups, including the Korea Broadcasting Institute, the Korean Culture and Content Agency, and the Korea Game Industry, into one association that focused on promoting the country’s cultural industries.

Korean musicians who have been accepted to play at music festivals in other countries can apply to have KOCCA cover their airfare and accommodation for the duration of the event. This sponsorship opportunity is open to artists of all styles and stature.

“We don’t differentiate between K-pop, indie rock and other styles of music. We just think of everything as Korean music,” says Kim Min Seuk, the manager of KOCCA’s music team.

“The Korean music market is very small. In places like Japan, there are more opportunities for musicians to make a career out of playing music in their own country. Korea is not like that. So it’s necessary for Korean musicians to try and find new markets overseas as well.”

According to Kim, both DFSB Kollective — a Seoul-based K-pop creative agency widely involved with exporting Korean digital music worldwide — and the Seoul garage rock band Galaxy Express helped convince KOCCA about the merits of helping acts play concerts abroad.

“Hyundai and Kia are at every major car show in the world. says Bernie Cho, DFSB president. “Samsung and LG are at every major electronics show in the world. Look at the success of Korean cinema. Thanks to government support, Korean films have constantly been screening, competing and even winning at the top international film festivals across the world.

“But what about Korean music? Whenever we attended international showcases, we kept asking and being asked the same question: ‘Why are there no Korean bands here?’ What works for Korean brands should also work for Korean bands.”

Following Cho’s idea, over the past 12 months KOCCA has provided funds for Korean acts to travel to the likes of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival (United States), Canadian Music Week, Music Matters (Singapore), Pop Montreal (Canada) and Midem (France). Performers wishing to receive money from KOCCA submit an application detailing their plans. A committee of local music industry experts, including critics, music-company staff and professors then decide which acts KOCCA will offer support to.

More musicians are hoping to take advantage of this opportunity from KOCCA. With a record number of Korean acts (11) participating in SXSW this coming March, KOCCA has agreed that it will provide travel money to as many as nine of them.

Galaxy Express received funds from KOCCA for their 2012 trip to SXSW, and it will get cash to attend the renowned event again in March. [Full disclosure: I assisted the band with planning their tour dates.]

“Korea has a lot of good bands, but most can’t afford to tour internationally,” says Galaxy Express guitarist Park Jong Hyun. “KOCCA helping bands is a good thing. Giving bands more chances to experience overseas events is going to raise their profiles and help them make better music. These things will improve our music scene.”

As the program moves forward, Kim says its success will be measured by examining what acts have learned from playing abroad, the relationships they have built in overseas markets and the amount of media exposure they receive during tours. From there, KOCCA’s budget for bands will be adjusted accordingly.

Cho is certain of the long-term benefits from KOCCA’s funding for Korean music, and he is hopeful the organization will find more ways to support local talent in the future.

“Whether they be indie, idol or icon acts, the fact the KOCCA is promoting a wide range of music acts from a wide range of music genres worldwide is great for the Korean music industry as a whole,” he says. “It’s a win, win, win across the board.”

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture
By Shawn Despres (Special to The Japan Times)

Korea JoongAng Daily : Korea’s overlooked indie bands hitting the road

Korean indie bands, from left, Crying Nut, Galaxy Express and 3rd Line Butterfly, perform during the Seoulsonic North American tour this year and last year. Provided by DFSB Kollective
Ask random Koreans on the streets of Seoul if they’ve heard of punk band Crying Nut and chances are they’ll be able to name at least a few songs from its long list of hits. But during their North American tour this spring, the country’s best-selling indie rock act performed as if they were nameless newcomers in front of millions of people who had no idea who they were.

The members, however, say they’d do it again in a heartbeat.

“It was so much fun - like a busy Friday night in Hongdae [an area in Seoul known for its underground rock scene] times 100. The streets were brimming with energy,” says Lee Sang-myun, Crying Nut’s guitarist, on playing at South by Southwest, the largest indie music festival in the United States.

The influential five-member band, along with 3rd Line Butterfly, another first-generation indie act here, and rock band Yellow Monsters, toured the U.S. and Canada in March to early April. They performed at some of the biggest music events on the continent, including at the official showcases at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, and Canadian Music Week (CMW) in Toronto, as well as famous clubs like the Viper Room in Los Angeles and Cafe du Nord in San Francisco.

The bands went not as individual acts but as a group, called Seoulsonic, a project started by Seoul-based music agency DFSB Kollective to introduce Korean indie music to the West.

“If you talk about Hyundai Motor, it is going to be at every major motor show in the world. If you talk about Korean film, they are going to Cannes, Berlin or Toronto. But when it comes to music, Korean music was never represented at any of the music festivals or conferences in the world,” said Bernie Cho, president and strategic planning director of DFSB Kollective.

“And that, to me, was shocking. That’s why we decided that if we are going to promote Korean music, we need to do what other countries are doing.”

Investing money that DFSB Kollective earned through its core business - selling Korean records overseas through iTunes - Seoulsonic started last year by bringing local indie acts Idiotape, Galaxy Express and Vidulgi Ooyoo to the North American stage, concentrating on their official showcases at SXSW and CMW. The company plans to continue the success of previous tours and do another Seoulsonic North American tour next spring, with a new lineup including Goonamguayeo Riding Stella and Lowdown 30, among others.


GROUPS LOOK ABROAD

While K-pop idol bands have been basking in the limelight overseas as the second wave of the Korean Wave spreads rapidly, their indie counterparts have been struggling with a flawed music distribution system and subsequent financial difficulties. It was less than two years ago that news of the death of indie musician Lee Jin-won (who went by the stage name Moonlight Nymph) and his financial strife alerted the nation to the structural problems of Korea’s music industry.

According to Cho, Hallyu was fueled by artists not because they want to go overseas, but because “they needed to go overseas.”

“Korea is a very fast-forward market and outsiders were looking into Korea and saying that it may be the future of the digital music industry,” says Cho.

“But although the perception was very rosy, the reality was very thorny because inside Korea, even though it was the fourth largest digital market for music in the world by 2007, everyone was making money except the artists.”

Industry critics have long pointed out the need to restructure the profit distribution system of the local music industry, which is acutely skewed toward major content providers while the creators of the content, the artists, get little in comparison.

Many Korean indie acts have started to look toward foreign markets, specifically Japan and the United States, to release records and get noticed. One of the most popular indie acts locally, Chang Kiha and the Faces, for instance, has released both of their full-length albums in Korea and Japan. Local acts also have begun to venture to major music festivals overseas. This summer, Korean indie band Jaurim will be a headliner at Summer Sonic Festival, one of the most important rock festivals in Japan, alongside Fuji Rock Festival, and a handful of other Korean bands, including Chang Kiha and the Faces and the KOXX, will perform there.

Jung Woo-min, a local indie musician with two full-length albums under her belt, released her first album in Korea while launching her second album in Japan, through Italy-based record label IRMA records, which has offices in Italy and Japan. Along with artists from Italy, Japan, the United States and Sweden, the record label also signed with three Korean artists, including Jung.

“The Korean indie scene can’t compare to the Japanese indie rock scene in either scale or variety,” says Jung.

“Although the industry in Korea has come a long way and there is now a wide array of musicians doing different genres, there is a sense that the scene as a whole hasn’t yet stabilized and is a bit too vulnerable for artists to fully commit to it.”

ROCKING NORTH AMERICATop: Seoulsonic musicians at an impromptu street performance during the tour this year. Middle: A concert sign for Seoulsonic bands at the Viper Room in West Hollywood, California, in March. Above: Korean indie musicians during the 2011 tour enjoy some down time. Provided by DFSB Kollective

Although the tours weren’t without a few missteps, the bands that participated say the experience gave them a fuller, global perspective of the music industry that they otherwise would never have known.

“We went on the Seoulsonic tour with a kind of romanticized vision of performing in the U.S. in front of millions of people like we had seen in movies,” says Dguru, a member of electronic rock band Idiotape.

“But after a month of touring, we were quite humbled and realized that it takes much more than a few successful gigs at festivals to make a real impact in North America.

“To [Americans], bands like ours are just an unknown Asian group of guys that are not from Japan or China.”

Lee Sang-myun of Crying Nut says that there isn’t an indie act in Korea that doesn’t have ambitions to go abroad.

“In the past, we’ve even made English demos of our songs so that it would be easier for us to play at festivals abroad,” he says.

“We’ve performed at festivals in Japan and the U.S., but the more we go to these venues, the more we realize that it is really difficult to break through outside of Korea, whether it’s the language barrier or just getting across our music and our identity to people.”

Crying Nut members say this anonymity in North America fueled them to give 100 percent in every performance, something they admit is sometimes hard to do in Korea after 14 years of being active in the scene.

“We performed at this 100-year-old building for our official showcase at SXSW. We really gave our all and during the performance, because the audience was jumping so much, the top floor cracked and the building almost collapsed,” said Lee.

Regardless, the bands both agree that the music and performance level of Korean bands are up to those from the U.S., if not higher.

“It was shocking for me this time in the U.S., to see how the Korean bands playing at SXSW and CMW were so advanced. The bands were really strong live and compared to them, the American and Canadian bands were lagging behind in my opinion,” says Dguru.

“Watching all these bands in North America, I thought if Korean bands can do so well under the financially poor, weak structure of the Korean indie scene, who knows what we can do when the scene is as stable as the American indie scene is now?” says DR, drummer for Idiotape.

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news
By Cho Jae-eun [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]

2012 SXSW Seoulsonic Showcase (Planning/Production/Promotion) : DFSB Kollective
International Agent/Distribution : DFSB Kollective

Korea JoongAng Daily : Meet indie’s leading exporter, marketer and believer

Interview with Bernie Cho, president and strategic planning director of DFSB Kollective and Seoulsonic
Q. What motivated you to start Seoulsonic and launch these North American tours for Korean indie musicians?

A. I worked at MTV Korea for close to 10 years, and while I was there I saw a lot of industry outsiders looking into Korea’s music scene and its digital music industry in particular. I knew that a lot of Korean artists wanted to go overseas, but they didn’t know how. And so I decided to dedicate the company to finding the most direct route possible. Rather than wait around for government assistance or corporate sponsorship, our company decided to bite the bullet and commit to sending some of the best and brightest Korean live acts to these conferences and festivals. These tours are not meant to be cash machines. We see it as an investment and more and more, it’s starting to pay off in different ways.

What is your take on the whole K-pop and Hallyu phenomenon? Do you think it is overblown or manufactured by Korean entertainment companies?

K-pop is at an interesting tipping point where I hope it becomes known for its diversity and dynamism, more than a stereotype. There is always this fear that K-pop can be stereotyped to this teen idol dance music. I think when you talk about the Korean Wave, there is so much more room. If anything, the success of different artists provides more opportunities for other artists. Knowing that this is the trend at the moment, it only makes business sense, not just on a creative level, to bring these indie acts abroad.

On the Seoulsonic tours, how well do you think these Korean indie groups did overall?

There is a high premium on live music at these events and Korea has one of the best live laboratories in the world, Hongdae. These indie bands, week in and week out, playing in front of five, 50, 500 people, those hard hours and hard work really pay off when they take their sound abroad.

Why do you think there is such sudden interest globally in K-pop and Korean culture in general?

At the moment, made in Korea has this aura. So whether it’s consumer electronics to cuisine, there’s this kind of hip, hype factor that spills over to films, TV dramas and music. And a lot of marketing and promotional expertise that Koreans have acquired over the years in exporting their consumer goods, a lot of that knowhow is also now being applied to pop culture goods.

Why North America? Why not take these bands to countries in Asia or in Europe?

North America is the biggest music market in the world. I benchmarked what the Japanese, Australian, Spanish and Taiwanese were doing with their bands when they go to these North American festivals. These countries were investing in their music. Instead of doing one off performances at a venue, what I noticed was that with government assistance, not only one band, but a handful of bands from these different countries would play a national showcase at these festivals. And then in between them, in their downtime, they would play at different cities in the U.S. I got a lot of inspiration from that because it makes it worthwhile for these bands to not only play different venues and cities but experience the whole diversity of what is America.

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com
By Cho Jae-eun [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]