The K-pop Revolution Is Here!
It's a new era in the music business. Listeners get to discover music their own way, less dependent on traditional outlets. Spotify, Apple, and Tencent (China+India) have taken over fully as the dominant platforms of music consumption. Streaming is the norm, and for the first time in many years, the music business is starting to make sense again.
What does that have to do with K-Pop?
"Modern K-pop "idol" culture began with the boy band H.O.T. in 1996, as K-pop grew into a subculture that amassed enormous fandoms of teenagers and young adults" (Wikipedia). Up until now, K-pop was mostly known in Asia. Meanwhile, many bands would come to the US to perform every few years, playing sold-out arenas and stadiums. However, only in 2017, BTS was the first Korean pop band to take over the media in the US, staring in popular TV shows such as: The American Music Award, Jimmy Kimmel's Summer Concert, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Ellen, New Years Rocking Eve, E!, ET, Access Hollywood and many others. With the remix of "Mic Drop" featuring Steve Aoki and Desgiiner, BTS was able to secure #28 on the Billboard Top 100 charts.
ARMY - the BTS fan base, have proven over and over again that the power of fandom can move mountains. Voting day and night in a very self-organized way, it was impressive to watch the incredible support and involvement of ARMY as an integral part of the success of BTS. This was new to us here in the US, we had never seen anything quite like that. ARMY propelled BTS to win the Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist in 2017.
There are hundreds of amazing acts in Korea that are now starting to get traction in the US. The audience was already here, but the combination of the power of social media & streaming brought it to a level of national awareness. Today we see 6 K-pop Idol groups topping the Social 50 charts for the 1st time. Its historic. It's time to connect East & West as one. Its time to acknowledge the huge K-pop fanbase across the world and its time for the new fans from all over the world to finally discover what they have been missing out on. If you haven't seen a K-pop concert yet, go see one as soon as you can. If you haven't watched any K-pop music videos, watch one today. Korea, known for its quality and excellence, are infiltrating pop music and the world is getting addicted. The idol mainstream is also starting to expose the indie music scene along with other Korean music genres.
With a new generation that is much more accepting and culturally open, its K-pop's time. It might take a few years to fully cross-over, but K-pop will be a recognized genre worldwide. East and Wes
