Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Soompi: Awesome infographic on K-pop.
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The Atlantic: Patrick St. Michel makes a solid argument regarding K-pop’s marketing strategies in America.
The forecast is more favorable for Wonder Girls, who mirror Pink Lady’s appropriateness for the time, as their new American single “The DJ Is Mine” features several dubstep-aping portions. Although watching the trailer for their movie can prompt cringes, their TeenNick flick shows that the folks marketing the group know how to zero in on a demographic. Whereas Utada and BoA just showed up in America and presumed being big in Asia would equal sales abroad, Wonder Girls is being introduced—or, for those who saw them open for The Jonas Brothers, further developed—specifically for the teen and tween markets. Given the music industry’s hyper-segmentation, it’s a smart move to focus on the same audience that turned artists like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato into household names.
Girls’ Generation, meanwhile, seem poised to repeat the mistakes of previous Asian artists. They released “The Boys” virtually void of promotion, and now will have to hope an established American rapper can give them a boost—although, to be sure, “featuring Snoop Dogg” trumps “featuring Flo Rida” any day. As for 2NE1, they just started their U.S. push, so their stateside shelf life remains unknown.
Completely agree.
One is attacking the correct demographic in America, the other is just assuming that everybody in America is their demographic.
I do believe that 2NE1 has the best chance out of all the pop groups to actually make a dent in the mainstream though.
Win or lose, they’ll all learn a lot (maybe not SNSD). Can’t wait for their American albums, hopefully they’ll have amazing music with equally amazing music videos which opens a lot of opportunities!
Quick question, who’s the girl in the picture?
NS Yoonji/Yoon-G.
She changed it to “G” ’cause she’s a straight-up gangsta now.
My future fuck buddy.
Sure, they’ll learn a lot, but that’s at the expense of millions of dollars. I fail to understand how these companies go into this type of stuff with what is apparently zero sense of what’s actually going on in the United States.
“Girls’ Generation, meanwhile, seem poised to repeat the mistakes of previous Asian artists. They released “The Boys” virtually void of promotion, and now will have to hope an established American rapper can give them a boost.”
exactly.
SNSD & other kpop groups = Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez etc. it always is and always has been.
I don’t understand how most kpop fans think that their idol groups are any different than those manufactured US pop stars lol
The problem is that they are not equal, they have quite a handicap there.
That’s what I try to make them realize…
I wonder what response if all these artists went into Europe instead of USA.
Dont care much about this article but thanks for the hot ass picture of NS Yoon Ji she is so damn hot!
Gonna agree with that statement about Wonder Girls going for the right demographic. As for 2ne1 when they actually start promoting I think they have the best shot.
Christ… looking at the line chart in that Soompi infographic reminds me of the dot-com bubble before the crash.
If K-pop were a stock I’d say “sell!”.
Good point about the American marketing strategies. As pessimistic as I am about K-pop’s potential in the American market, just thinking of Justin Bieber’s success makes the odds against them seem less daunting.
I mean, if a Canadian boy who looks like a little lesbian can be a success, why not a K-pop group, right?
Massive fan turnout for Girls’ Generation’s Best Buy event results in store shutdown <—Allkpop
Don’t think anybody has ever doubted the rabidness of K-pop fans.
Reading this makes me really really really really sad about Utada Hikaru’s USA adventure. Sigh. She was the only person who was actually interested in artistic integrity and expanding her music horizons when she released ‘Exodus’. Then Island Def Jam had to market her as the ‘Asian Britney Spears’ with an album that was (I am being reductive but w/e) an indie ethereal electronical album. And then for ‘This Is The One’ she really went mainstream R&B but then got sick and IDJ just gave up halfway.
Anyways, back on topic: SNSD isn’t debuting in USA with The Boys. Think of it as a teaser promo.
Well they released it, so I mean they’re selling it as such.
Sort of like Wonder Girls debuting like three times already.
Utada Hikaru’s attempt was just horrid on all parts.
‘The Boys’ is their debut single. They had an official release of it and was the single they performed on American tv. If they have another official album then good luck with that one in erasing the memories of Letterman and Kelly.
Fuck she’s hot.
They seem to be following the same strategy in Europe. During their stay in Paris for the filming of ‘Music Bank in Paris’ that will air in Korea on Feb 8th, they will also be appearing on “Le Journal De 20H” and “Le Grand Journal”. I am not familiar with French TV, but I assume they are major television programs similar to Letterman/Kelly?
I think Europe is more open to the idea of it though.
Japanese and Korean groups with far less fanfare have had success touring Europe before.