Category: Korean music (Page 11 of 11)

Last night (Sunday, Dec. 17), the godfather of Korean rock music Shin Joong-hyun held his “last” concert, rocking out a career in a three-hour gig showcasing his great career. He played many of his biggest songs (although certainly not all of them… there are simply too many). He played them all different styles, just as his career has crossed over so many styles of music.

It was my first time seeing Shin play live, so I was pretty psyched. He opened with Bissok-ui Yeoin, which was okay, but things got a lot more interesting with the third song, Bombi — good song, and he played it more in the original style (throughout the first act of the show, he shifted between playing the songs in their original, “psychedelic” style and a more KBS-trot style). Other highlights were a great version of Mireon and Baram. And when he played Areumdaum Gangsan, he played it in the “disco” style of the Shin Joong-hyun Myujik Pawo (Shin Joong-hyun Music Power) album.

His two “guests” were Shin Hyo-beom and In Sun-i, who were completely different musically than Shin Joong-hyun. I guess that sort of thing is inevitable at a Korean rock concert. Sigh. (Although I will say that In was looking pretty damn good for a woman her age… doing the techno-dance thing just like Uhm Jung-hwa).

The last section of the show featured more of his recent song (which I do not like so much), but done in a more rock style, with just guitars and drums (which I do like). He even played a couple of songs with all his sons on backing, which was kind of cool.

To be honest, it was not a great concert. Age has taken its toll on Shin’s voice. Although he has played so many different kinds of rock over the years, last night showed how he was gotten stuck in the dubious blues-based commercial rock of the 1980s. But it was Shin’s last show, and I guess he is allowed to play it however the hell he wants to.

And so, Shin did not burn out. Last night, the founder of rock in Korea and the single most important figure in the country’s musical history, faded away, leaving a 50-year career with dignity and grace. I was just happy I could be there.

(Note: The first two pics are of Shin Joong-hyun back in his heyday. Second two pics are more recent. I’ll add concert photos once my friend sends me some.)

Someone asked in a comments thread the other day about the extremely low sales of foreign music in Korea. Which got me thinking about how sales have changed over the past few years. So here are the Korean and foreign sales charts for October 2000.

(source: MIAK)

Foreign Sales:

(source: MIAK)

The first thing you will notice is how much larger all those numbers are than October 2006. Shockingly so, I would say. (Although it is worth noting that back in 2000, cassette sales were still pretty significant in Korea, about half of those totals, so the numbers do not compare exactly).

The top title in 2000, by the seminal boy band H.O.T (“Hi-five Of Teenagers”, in case you did not know), could sell 840,000 copies in just one month. Even more amazing, in September, Jo Sung-mo sold a staggering 1.7 million copies of his new album. Cut to 2006, and Rain could barely crack 70,000 copies of his new album.

In 2000, there were four albums that sold over 1 million albums. The biggest-selling album so far this year, the latest by SG Wannabe, has sold just 294,000 copies — that would have been good enough for just No. 28 in 2000.

Then, as now, the top Korean albums far outsold foreign albums. The top foreign album of 2000 was Mariah Carey’s Christmas Album, which moved 468,000 — much better than anything now, but a fraction of what H.O.T sold.

Now, one reason Korean individual album sales are higher than Western albums is because that mirrors the overall trend. In 2000, 63% of sales were Korean music, while just 26% were foreign (Japanese music was illegal in Korea at the time), and 11% was classical.

But another reason that international music seems to sell less well is that Western music uses catalog sales a lot more. The Korean music industry is much more about selling now stuff now and moving on. In the West, think about how many of your albums are “classic” rock or Joy Division or whatever, stuff long since done but that still speaks to you today. In university, it seems like half the freshman class buys Van Morrison’s Brown-Eyed Girl each year. But who goes to university in Korea and suddenly thinks, “I really need the second S.E.S album”? And it seems like most Korean young people do not give a damn about their country’s great classic rock tradition (Shin Joong-hyun, He6, etc.).

This lack of catalog sales is no accident. Because the Korean music industry (like in much of Asia) is so dependent on payola for promoting and marketing acts, it greatly limits the time available for music that is not part of the scene. Western labels generally won’t get involved in payoffs, and catalog sales are too spread out to be worthwhile making pay offs (you need new, big-selling, splashy titles for that system to work best). So once again you can see how poor and corrupt business practices lead to a narrowing of the market, both in terms of what is available and what is known and appreciated by consumers. Business and art, intertwining (as always).

Chuseok may be a big season for the movies, but apparently it is not a holiday that inspires people to buy music, as October sales were in general down. Eight of the top-10 were new releases.

The biggest album of the month was, no surprise, the new Rain release. Hitting the stores just halfway though October, “I’m Coming” sold over 71,000 copies. Not bad, but not a number that will make anyone forget the glory days of the late 1990s.

Even Dong Bang Shin Gi did a lot better with their latest release, selling about 120,000 copies in September, despite being released on Sept. 28. Teeniebopper fans might be enthusiastic, however, it looks like most DBSG fans bought their albums right away, because the album sold half as many copies in all of October as it did in three days in September.

Not on the top-10 but notable – Uhm Jung-hwa’s latest album made its debut in No. 16 with 7,456 album sales. But since it was released only on Oct. 25, it still has time to build. And SG Wannabe is the biggest-selling album still on the charts, albeit way down at No. 20. Its April 7 release, SG Wannabe Vol. 3, has now sold 294,975.

(source: MIAK)

Plus, I believe MIAK has started reported digital downloads, at least when they can. Shin Seung-hun, for example, sold 40,000 digital downloads in October. Only a couple other artists were listed, though.

Foreign Sales:

(source: MIAK)

Korea’s most sex pop star, Lee Hyolee, is reportedly on the verge of signing the biggest contract ever for a Korean female singer, over $1.5 million for three years. No word on what exactly that sum would cover, since Ms Lee has never been much about album sales.

(And, yes, I know this news is a few days old. But since nothing has been signed yet and all is speculation, what the hey).

Hyolee is a curious figure (so to speak) in the new Korean music industry. Her albums do not sell particularly well. Her first album sold a tad over 144,000 copies back in 2003, and her second album, DARK ANGEL is not even listed on MIAK (not unusual, though, as often management companies decide for whatever reason not to cooperate with MIAK). In fact, at this point, Hyolee is all about mobile phone downloads and commercial endorsements — like much of the local music business, only more so. She is one of the first post-sales pop stars, thriving in an age where musical success has little to do with moving CDs or filling stadiums.

Her new management company, Mnet Media is an interesting new affiliate of CJ Entertainment, a merger of some websites and GM Management (but strangely, not the TV station M-Net). CJE is certainly not shy about spending money, and this deal is incredibly rich, even by local, star-obsessed standards.

Look at that… while I was busy in Busan, the Music Industry Association of Korea came out with a new music chart.

The most noticeable part of the chart is the utter lack of Shinwha, even though the band was No. 1 last month. This has happened before, so I assume the problem is with MIAK. Perhaps Shinwha’s distributor is having some sort of tiff with MIAK, or something like that. On the other hand, Shinwha has the No. 1 spot on the foreign chart… So basically I have no idea.

Anyhow, the charts this month are absolutely stuffed with new releases. I wonder if the music biz is like the movies in Korea, with the Chuseok holidays creating a hot season. Embarassing to say I have never looked into that before.

(source: MIAK)

And here is the foreign sales chart:

(source: MIAK)

Well, as long as I am posting the movie charts, maybe I should try doing the music charts, too. Fortunately, the Music Industry Association of Korea only publishes this information once a month.

Unfortunately, music charts are not what they once were. Especially in Korea. In 2005, physical music sales (of CDs and cassettes) made up just 113.8 billion won (around $118.5 million). Digital sales (mobile phone ringtones, Internet subscription services, etc.) came to a hearty 248 billion won ($258 million). Impressed? Digital music in Korea is nearly 2.5 times bigger than “regular” music sales (regular to old people like me who like to have something to hold).

This trend is just going to continue, too. Physical music sales once was around 400 billion won a year (416 billion won in 1996). Most people in the industry will tell you that piracy and file sharing destroyed sales. I would tell you that stale, uncreative, juvenile product had at least as much influence, but what do I know? Anyhow, the important thing is that, thanks to the Internet and mobile phones, Koreans are spending more money than ever on music. I read an industry analysis once, made by a local securities company, that predicted the digital music market will top $1 billion by 2010.

Anyhow, I babble. On with the charts. First up – Korean albums sales for August:

(source: MIAK)

Foreign pop chart to come soon (when I am in the mood). Since the top-selling foreign acts usually would not make the Korean top-10, I will post them separately. FYI, at the moment, Korean music makes up about 62% of the CD market, with foreign music around 23% and classical around 15%.

UPDATE:

Okay, here is the foreign chart:

(source: MIAK)