Chartmetric : The 'How Music Charts' Podcast < Secrets of K-Pop and the Korean Music Industry With Bernie Cho [Pt 1/2] >

DFSB Kollective President Bernie Cho has 20+ years in the Asian entertainment industry. In this two-part episode of How Music Charts, Bernie pulls the curtain back on K-Pop and the Korean music industry.

Bernie Cho is a music executive with more than 21 years of culture creation in the Asian music, television, and pop culture industries. As President of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based independent artist and label services agency that specializes in providing digital media, marketing, and distribution solutions to 600+ Korean Pop music artists, DFSB collaborates with artists and their management to devise customized strategies that directly connect them to their local and global fans. Since 2009, the agency has successfully produced numerous K-Pop concerts and showcases around the world, in addition to securing No. 1 chart debuts for various K-Pop albums in North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

As one of the first and foremost K-Pop music exporters, DFSB Kollective and its artists have been featured speakers and/or performers at top international music industry events including CMJ, CMW, SXSW, Coachella, The Great Escape, Glastonbury, Summer Sonic, Music Matters, MusicBiz, and MIDEM. Bernie himself has been involved with the startup of six TV channels, two concert series, and one film festival.

A true executive all-rounder, Bernie served as the Head of MTV Korea’s Digital Media Production team and worked for nearly two decades in the Korean music and TV industries as a Creative Planner, Program Producer, and Show Host. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in Government/Asian Studies, attended the UCLA Executive Entertainment & Media Program, and graduated from the Foundation Film Program at Vancouver Film School.

Though Bernie has no relation to Chartmetric’s CEO Sung Cho, Bernie is an Advisor for several US and Korean music tech startups, including Chartmetric.

On the "full-stack business model" the Korean music agencies have and how similar it is to the computer technology sector:

"For those of you who are tech heads ... the most desired person that you want to hire in a tech company is the full stack developer ... and what that means is somebody who knows all the different parts of the development chain from concept to completion ... and they're a one-stop-shop ... and the full stack business model ... carries over into the K-Pop business culture because these Korean music companies ... they're a music label, they're a talent management company, and they're essentially a talent agency as well. So these are three different disciplines in the Western music markets."

Cho goes into the industry style's origin story, which is also endemic in other regions like Latin America:

"Many of the major labels ... really up until recently, were more concerned and interested in having Western acts succeed in Asia. The idea of Asian acts succeeding in the West was not really on their agenda, on their radar, or on their roadmap ... and so for a lot of Korean and Asian executives, there were [also] no [international] talent agencies to look to and lean on ... and so these Korean music management companies evolved into becoming the record label and becoming the talent agency."

For many Westerners, sizing the K-Pop industry is a hard thing to wrap one's head around, but Cho elaborates:

"People want to know how big the K-Pop industry is — it's huge.... If we look at the top Korean music companies — SM Entertainment, Big Hit Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and YG Entertainment — each of these companies make more money annually than the top urban music label in the US, the top Latin music label in the US, and the top country music label in the US.... These top four Korean music companies generate more revenue than the music markets of all the countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (with the exception of Japan and China), so the fact that individual companies generate more money than individual music markets speaks volumes."

In evidence of Chartmetric's concept of global "trigger cities" helping artists go viral outside of the traditional Western gate-keeping cities via streaming apps:

"You guys coined the phrase “trigger cities”.... We see this in our monthly royalty accounting reports and we get this confirmed by digital agencies who work with TikTok influencers. Cities that most people would not even think of as being sort of the ground zeroes and the hotbeds of what will make a song go viral not just locally or regionally but more importantly globally. And those cities include those in the Philippines, Indonesia, and of all places Mexico City.... When you look at analytics ... the reality is ... 90 percent of the YouTube views for K-Pop music videos are from outside of Korea.... We get royalty checks from Africa, the Middle East, Russia."

Having said that, Cho's experience reveals how E-sports and gaming constitutes a business that dwarfs even K-Pop:

"As big as K-Pop is, E-sports ... is even bigger. Of all the Korean pop culture exports, video games is actually number one.... It's basically 7.5 times bigger than music, TV, and movie exports combined. E-sports and video games are hands down the number one export of Korea.... I worked at MTV ages ago, and it was embarrassing that these Pro E-sports League channels were crushing MTV in the ratings."

Bernie Cho alludes to the digital influence of Seoul-based 1Million Dance Studio, here with choreography to Fitz and the Tantrums' 2016 "Handclap" (48M YouTube views as of September 2020).

Besides the obvious influence of short-form video platforms like TikTok and Triller, Cho also cites YouTube dance studio channels like Seoul's 1Million Dance Studio as major influencers that K-Pop fans flock to for the best choreography:

"1million dance studio is known to be the go-to choreographers for a lot of K-Pop artists.... [They are the] Platinum standard when it comes to K-Pop dance moves that a lot of kids are always looking to copy.... Those videos go viral.... they rack up not just millions ... hundreds of millions of views.... They've got more juice than DJs and VJs and TV producers in terms of breaking songs."

Stay tuned for Part 2!



In part 2 of our conversation with Bernie Cho, we tackle glocalization, transmedia marketing, a post-TikTok world, and yes, Donald Trump’s Triller account.

In Part 1 of our conversation with DFSB Kollective President and Korean music industry expert Bernie Cho, we learned about K-Pop's full-stack business model and the hot city matrix. In part 2, we tackle glocalization, transmedia marketing, a post-TikTok world, and yes, Donald Trump’s Triller account.

Sound like a lot of jargon? Let's brush up.

• Full-stack business model: Unlike the á la carte style of the Western music industry, the Korean music industry operates more like a full-stack developer at a tech company. In other words, the Korean music company is more likely to be a one-stop shop: record label, artist management, and talent agency.
• Hot city matrix: Much like our own concept of trigger cities, the hot city matrix includes cities that aren't necessarily industry hotspots like New York City, Los Angeles, and London. As we've seen, markets in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and even Russia can account for some of the most dynamic music consumption trends worldwide.
• Glocalization: The internet has undoubtedly connected people on a global scale that was previously unimaginable. Perhaps counterintuitively, rather than resulting in sweeping uniformity, it's brought out the particularities of cultures and communities worldwide. If you're familiar with marketing, think microtargeting.
• Transmedia marketing: Bringing narrative arcs to music marketing and A&R. In other words, thinking about the long-term development of an artist's brand as you would about the protagonist in your favorite Netflix series.
• A post-TikTok world: Donald Trump made Sunday, Sept. 20, the last day for TikTok app downloads in the United States. But TikTok isn't the only short-form video app in the game....
• Donald Trump's Triller account: Enough said.

Now that we have a grasp on some big picture concepts from Part 1 and Part 2, let's drill down to some of the more granular points that Bernie makes in Part 2.

The 4 Key Elements of Glocalization in Korean Music

1) Bilingual Metadata: Having Korean and English titles side-by-side makes Korean music simple to find, simple to access, and simple to discover.

2) Multicultural and Multilingual: Some of the most popular K-Pop groups incorporate English lyrics and non-Korean members, making K-Pop less and less exclusively Korean and more and more global.

3) Social Media: Korean artists used homegrown solutions and went big on international platforms, and Koreans were very early adopters of these international platforms, and that has increased the viability and success of K-Pop going global.

4) Collaborations: Both creative and also commercial. High-profile music collaborations between international superstars and top Korean artists have helped grow K-Pop globally, but so have commercial relationships between major labels and independent Korean music companies.


How Transmedia Marketing Helps Fans Develop Artists

Transmedia marketing helps K-Pop fans connect with an artist on a whole other level, making them active participants in the narrative arc of an artist's story and brand. According to Bernie, fans almost vicariously collaborate with labels in terms of A&R and the development of artists, because they feel like they have some stake in the success of those artists from the early stages to stadium stages.

What these fans do is above and beyond anything I've seen in Western markets. It's not just clicking a like and posting a comment.... It almost feels like [the artists] have put themselves in a Truman Show type situation.... The artists are communicating often directly with their fans, and so the fans feel a close connection that you don't see often necessarily with Western acts. The other thing is what these fan clubs do to promote and market the success of their favorite acts. In some ways they've kind of almost benched music labels' marketing and promotion departments, because they do all of the heavy lifting.... These fan clubs will actually pay for huge billboards ... to celebrate a milestone or celebrate a birthday.... Some of them have literally bought out entire city skylines to do massive birthday celebrations for their favorite artists.

K-Pop Activism and the TikTok Ban

Donald Trump's TikTok ban is arguably more about K-Pop stans leveraging the short-form video app to disrupt his Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally in June 2020 than it is about legitimate privacy concerns.

As Bernie elucidates, there are complicated historical reasons for Korean artists abstaining from activism, but the #blacklivesmatter movement brought to bear the influence of K-Pop fandom on social media.

Given the fact that now K-Pop has become global, it's not surprising that those who happen to like K-Pop happen to often be multicultural, people of color, who happen to be open-minded to other cultures.... It feels if anything relevant and real to K-Pop fans.... I think for a lot of artists, the Black Lives Matter movement and fighting racism, I don't think — and I hope others don't think — is a political issue. It's a human rights issue. You can't argue with that. Politics, always arguments. With human rights, it's pretty straight forward.

https://hmc.chartmetric.com/k-pop-korean-music-industry-bernie-cho-part-1/
By Jason Joven

https://hmc.chartmetric.com/k-pop-korean-music-industry-bernie-cho-part-2/
By Rutger Ansley Rosenborg

MusicTech Start-Up Advisor : Bernie Cho [DFSB Kollective/SparkLabs]
Podcast Featured Commentator : Bernie Cho [DFSB Kollective]

Ubisoft : Just Dance 2020

ABOUT JUST DANCE 2020

Gather your friends and family and Just Dance like nobody’s watching with Just Dance® 2020! The #1 Music Video Game Franchise of All Time*, with over 67 million units sold**, is back this fall. The newest, freshest Just Dance celebrates 10 years of bringing people together with 40 new hot tracks, more stunning universes and exclusive surprises for the players to discover!

Join a community of more than 120 million players around the world and get ready to set the dancefloor on fire. Whether there’s something to celebrate or for no reason at all, Just Dance is there for every occasion!

FEATURES

Just Dance 2020 comes with 40 new songs from the top of the trends for the whole family to enjoy! From chart-topping hits to family favorites, from viral internet phenomenons to the latest emerging artists, there is something for everyone to have fun in Just Dance.

Just Dance 2020 celebrates a decade of bringing people together with exciting new content! Team up with friends for more fun in our Co-op mode, returning to the Just Dance franchise for Just Dance 2020.

Co-op mode brings players together to combine scores and rule the dancefloor! Exercise while having fun with the Sweat Mode!

Track your calories burned, time spent dancing, and keep yourself motivated with our dedicated sweat playlists.

Enjoy a wide range of creative universes, created using new production techniques, never before seen in Just Dance.

Little ones can join in on the fun with the acclaimed Kids Mode! The dedicated mode allows the youngest players to enjoy in full with 8 new kid-friendly curated songs, coming along with a fun dance experience tailored to kids' needs.

With Just Dance Unlimited, the dance-on-demand subscription streaming service, you have access to 500+ songs and more! Every copy of the game comes with a month’s access!

Experience Just Dance in a brand new way on Google Stadia.
No console? No worries! Jump right into the Just Dance experience directly from your Chrome browser.

Be the star of your own show! Just Dance 2020 is more personalized than ever with an enhanced recommendation system. The game learns your dancing habits and pushes you content you will like, at the time that’s right for you! Follow your instincts and pick the perfect pre-made playlist to match your mood, or let the game make recommendations created just for you. For every moment, there’s a Just Dance playlist. With the intuitive interface, personalizing your game experience has never been so easy. Pick your favorite songs among the ever-growing Just Dance catalogue and create your own playlists to customize your Just Dance parties!

Bust a move! The party never stops with Just Dance 2020. There is always something going on in Just Dance 2020! Check out the enhanced home page for the latest news on in-game seasonal events and more recommendations on songs or playlists to dance to and videos to watch. Make sure to visit the World Dance Floor to party online with the Just Dance community and enjoy themed events, Happy Hours, tournaments and new boss families to defeat, all year long! Keep the party going with Just Dance Unlimited! More songs and content will be added throughout the year to enrich Just Dance 2020 players’ experience.

No additional accessories are required to join the fun! Just use your smartphone with the Just Dance Controller app! (iOS, Android, compatible with Xbox One, PS4 and Google Stadia) Use your smartphone to navigate in-game, track and score your moves – no camera, Kinect, or PS Move required! Up to 6 players can play with their phones simultaneously.


Korean Music Synchronization Licensing Consultant : DFSB Kollective

The Korea Herald : [Herald Interview] Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn talks band, K-pop, future plans

Joe Hahn (JTBC)Being in a band is cool, especially if the band is Linkin Park.

The iconic American rock band has produced numerous hits, including “In the End” and “Numb,” since its debut in 1996 and boasts a long list of awards. Since the tragic loss of its vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017, the band is on hiatus.

Still, the band exists and Joe Hahn has been part of its miraculous journey through the years, standing in the back as the DJ. The 42-year-old Korean-American artist is now stepping forward in South Korea, sharing the story of Linkin Park and offering advice to aspiring musicians on a TV show here.

Hahn is a jury member, along with other big figures from the local music industry, on JTBC’s “Super Band,” a talent show that aired its first episode April 12.

“The talent (of the contestants) is amazing. Each story is so different and unique,” Hahn said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul.

“They don’t know what to expect and there is magic that happens when they actually meet another person, the third person, the fourth person and whatever the number.”

As part of Linkin Park, Hahn hopes to share his story with the contestants. Though now established, the group had its difficulties in the beginning. At first, producers thought the band was just a bunch of kids doing weird music.

“Nobody wanted to sign with us, we met almost every label. And people did not understand. They needed us to decide whether we are going more hip-hop or rock,” he recalled.

The band’s music was something new -- a mix of everything from metal rock and hip-hop to disk jockeying. They each were doing their own version of music, creating synergy with how the music genres worked together.

“We took fate into our own hands and we started building our own fan base. We made cassette tapes, CDs and went to clubs to give out flyers,” he recounted. “What we did actually worked so well, we had a marketing company promoting other bands.”

“I want to share these stories. I see the disappointment on the faces (of contestants), but they actually are super talented. Any one of them can be successful and the combination can be even more successful in the context of a band.”

At a press conference held earlier this month for the Friday night TV program, the jury -- including Hahn -- expressed sorrow that bands that perform their own music seem to have fallen out of the mainstream music scene here. The entertainment industry has been tightly evolving around K-pop idol groups.



“When I am in the States, people are talking so much about K-pop. I think it’s pretty brilliant how these labels have been able to recognize things that work and systematically create what they call as the K-pop machine,” the Los Angeles-based artist said.

“I have appreciation for that but I know there is a lot more (to Korean music) than that,” he said. “I actually met some people from those companies, they actually like this kind of music, but as a business it is a lot more difficult.”

Yet he was sure up-and-coming bands like Linkin Park would have their day too.

“We just need whatever the next Nirvana was. You need someone strong, a front man. (‘Super Band’) can actually bring the conversation back on the table. It could be through the show or through someone watching the show,” he said.



Though Hahn strongly calls out for the next wave, he still greatly appreciates the roaring K-pop trend. He says being a Korean is something cool now, with the country leading various industries around the world.

Hahn’s father was a miner and his mother was a nurse, both in Germany. Mass migration from Korea to Germany happened in the 1960s and ’70s, when West Germany invited workers. His parents were part of that diaspora.

“It was very difficult to grow up as an Asian in America, but you know, now it’s like things are changing,” the Dallas-born musician said.

Hahn believes the K-pop trend could lead to something bigger.

“One thing I think about the K-pop factory, it is a great training ground. (The trainees) can learn so much, but they can take that training and turn that into artistry. What do you really want to say?”

That is why Hahn likes BTS. He even worked on a music video of Steve Aoki’s “Waste It on Me” track featuring BTS last year.

“More than the music itself, I love the story. They are thinking about their fans. It’s really important, you know. There is a few components that I would give (as advice), know your audience and have a relationship with them, and become an artist,” he said.

While some may know of Hahn only for his role in Linkin Park, there is more to him than that. He is also a producer, photographer and director. He showed short film “The Seed” at the Busan International Film Festival in 2006.



“While I am here, I get to meet with people and see what the possibilities are, whether it will be art or fashion. I am very open to it. I think in the past, I wasn’t, because I was focusing on certain things,” he said.

Deeply involved in photography, Hahn will be holding an exhibition in China beginning Saturday. He may take out a camera on his JTBC show too, since he takes it with him nearly everywhere.

“I have many interests. Of course the music is the main thing that people know me for. But I actually started with visual arts in college,” he said. “When I was young, I used to love comic books. I used to draw all the time.”

After studying visual arts in college, Hahn started work in special effects, designing imaginative creatures and doing storyboarding for movies and TV.

“With film you have passage of time. That was the beginning of me,” he said.

https://www.koreaherald.com
By Im Eun-byel

TV Show International Talent Casting : DFSB Kollective

2019 NPR Music @ SXSW South By Southwest : Big Phony

The All Songs Considered SXSW Preview, 2019

The annual South by Southwest music festival is our personal endurance challenge to discover as many great unknown and often unsigned bands as possible in just one week. To train for the event, Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson and I listen to more than a thousand songs by bands playing the festival, from all over the world, and try to map out a calendar to see our favorites.

On this edition of All Songs Considered we play some of the standout songs ahead of the 2019 festival, including the Ghanian artist Jojo Abot, garage rock from Blushh, the Japanese pop group CHAI, music made by robots (I'm not making that up) and much, much more.

Big Phony 'Hanging On A Thread'

Raised in New York City and now living in Seoul, South Korea, Bobby Choy channels delicate folk-pop into Big Phony, with a voice reminiscent of Elliott Smith.

 

The Austin 100 : Big Phony

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

Genre: Rock

Why We're Excited: Bobby Choy, who records under the self-deprecating moniker Big Phony, was born and raised in New York City. But these days, he makes his way in his parents' hometown of Seoul, where his sad, plaintively lovely folk sound might seem like an odd fit — imagine Elliott Smith if he were trying to compete for attention with K-pop bands. Later this year, a feature film called Fiction and Other Realities will tell Choy's story; the singer wrote it, co-directed it and stars as... well, himself, naturally.



The All Songs Considered's 'Wow' Moments From SXSW 2019

Each year, the buzz in Austin, Texas, at the South By Southwest music festival can reach a deafening pitch. Our NPR Music team is here to help you cut through the noise. Every evening, we'll gather to roundup and recap the best discoveries of the day.

Keep up with our coverage of SXSW 2019 by subscribing to All Songs Considered. We'll be sharing 'Wow' moments every morning and updating our SXSW 2019 playlist with the best-of-the-fest tunes from the bands that we couldn't get enough of.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15

All Songs Considered has been soaking up SXSW all week, so you'll have to forgive the gang for forgetting just how many days it's been. But recommendations and giddiness abound in their latest late-night dispatch, with Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton and Stephen Thompson singing the praises of artists from all over the world.

For Bob, that meant raves for Combo Chimbita, Borzoi and Seán Barna, while Robin loved Cherry Glazerr, Nanook of the North, Tamino and Big Phony. For his part, Stephen saw musicians from six continents — and came away with a long list of recommendations, including Pipo Romero, Stefan Wesolowski, 47SOUL, Jojo Abot, yahyel, Sonambulo Psicotropical and The Comet Is Coming.

International Digital Distribution : DFSB Kollective

Billboard Magazine : Love X Stereo Releases 'Zero One' Music Video: Watch

Love X Stereo, "Zero One"Electronic indie band Love X Stereo return Friday (Feb. 15) with a brand-new music video for their song “Zero One.”

Beginning with a cut of Annie Ko singing breathily about the end of love over mellow, rollicking beats, the song is an ambient ode to the hardships associated with romance. It also features scenes from the short film of the same name, as “Zero One” serves as its soundtrack.

Directed by and starring Korean-American Nick Neon, the Zero One film is a sequel to 2016’s award-winning Ultra Bleu. Like its predecessor, the new short continues to explore the story of a gay man finding his place in the world, inspired by Neon’s own life.

Ko and Toby Hwang formed Love X Stereo in 2011, and have been active in the Korean indie scene since then. They most recently released the compilation album Winter Dreams last year as a tribute to the PyeongChang Olympic Games.

“Zero One” is available on digital music platforms. Watch the music video for it here:



https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news
By Tamar Herman

International Digital Distribution : DFSB Kollective