The Infinite Go: Marketable Figures.

Weiqi, igo or Go, as it is known in the West, is a strategy game of Chinese origin that is based on the dispute between two opponents to conquer the largest part of the board.

Encouraging competition between the different entertainment companies in the K-pop culture industry.

Weiqi, igo or Go, as it is known in the West, is a strategy game of Chinese origin based on the dispute between two opponents to conquer the largest part of the board. The K-Pop culture industry is like an infinite game of Go, where entertainment companies (opponents) move their pieces (artists) to conquer the most territory (fans, relationships, commerce).

After the separation of the two Koreas, in the South the government controlled cultural consumption for most of the 20th century. For this reason they promoted and sponsored patriotic songs with popular rhythms. During the 1980s and 1990s South Korea underwent major transformations in political, social, economic and cultural terms. Groups and artists began to form in search of new genres and introduced dance (hip-hop) which was quickly acclaimed by young audiences. The icons of the country’s cultural change during this period were the Seo Taiji & Boys band and the H.O.T. group.

Since the 1990s, this country began a process of cultural globalization in order to dominate international markets. Thus, through the Korean wave movement (Hallyu), its culture spread intelligently to all regions of the planet.

In 1999, the president of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung, created a law for the promotion of cultural industries, in which at least one percent of the nation’s budget has been earmarked for this type of activity ever since. In this regard, Khatleen Rosero, researcher of Korean culture and youtuber creator of the blog Ko-Co, stated that a characteristic feature of this phenomenon is that the government «saw the potential in the country’s music industry to achieve economic and cultural development; for this reason, the industry rigorously complies with a series of requirements in function of ensuring the quality of the groups and soloists of each company.»

<< K-pop generated twelve billion dollars for South Korea’s economy in 2019 >>

Forbes Colombia

The main artist management and production agencies that initially led the cultural power of the time were SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment. It was then that these three monopolies implemented the K-POP formula, which is applied from one group to another: singers are recruited, trained and assembled, as if it were a systematic manufacturing process.

These companies are structured and designed to produce highly marketable idol groups; this is how this business involving millions of people manages to seize large sums of money.

<< K-pop generates one percent of South Korea’s GDP >>

The formation of these groups is done through a rigorous selection and training process. Once the idol groups are formed, entertainment companies promote them through a variety of media, including variety shows, concerts, advertising and social media. Marketing is a key part of the K-Pop industry and companies often invest large sums of money in promoting their groups.

The K-Pop culture industry, specifically, has become more important in contemporary society due to the advent of new technologies and the increasingly widespread access to the Internet. Therefore, the production and consumption of cultural goods of this genre has massified exponentially and this is how the antagonistic companies are joined by HYBE (a company formerly known as Big Hit) in the power sharing.

<< The total value of HYBE’s business amounts to eleven billion dollars and that money allowed it to expand to other formats >>

These large Korean entertainment monopolies are funded to some extent by the large business conglomerates (chaebol) that have been a substantial part of South Korea’s economic, political and social history. However, it is a relationship that generates profits on both sides, as in the case of Samsung’s collaboration with BTS. It consisted of developing Samsung-branded products (cell phones and wireless headphones) with designs and colors characteristic of the boy band (Samsung, 2020). Consequently, it was expected that there would be an increase in demand for these products due to the existing competitions in the market. However, the fandom (ARMY) managed to sell out the Galaxy Buds (wireless headphones) in just one hour after its launch; in other words, this collaboration between Samsung and BTS was a success for the conglomerate company.

If we take into account the previous example, it would not be strange that, according to records of the Hyundai Research Institute, BTS only invoiced in 2020 about 5 billion dollars, almost 0.5 percent of South Korea’s GDP.

Julio Correal, music producer, explains that more than positioning the genre, the country has focused on an «industrialization of music», everything is coldly calculated; the merch, the presentations and global tours; the idea is to achieve that through these bands a musical taste, a way of dressing and speaking is established.

<< If compared to the Colombian economy, what the genre moves, also supported by Hallyu, would be above the GDP of Boyacá (7,368 million dollars) or Bolívar (9,341 million) >>.

Julio Correal, music producer

From the data presented so far, we can understand that the business of large entertainment companies in South Korea will continue to consolidate in the market for the next few years. The fury unleashed by all the influence of Korean culture has allowed companies to establish their wealth. Every day a new company rises; people in the country, even in the world, want to have the same fate as their favorite celebrities; companies go bankrupt, new talents are exploited; and as all these pieces move, the panorama changes and the entertainment industry fights on its Go board to conquer most of the ground.

Written by Daniela Licort Prieto.