How J-pop Could Conquer the Asian Market
What do we do with the copyright business?
So what is K-pop looking for in terms of income? The answer is concerts. In the music industry, package sales are declining and music downloads and concert attendance figures are rising. This is a global trend, and concert attendance is again actively rising in the United States. In Japan as well, live shows by individual artists and major concerts around the nation are playing roles in heightening appeal within communities.
Concerts gain income from ticket sales as well as merchandise sales. CDs and music videos are also sold at the venue. Major costs include paying for the artist and band, labor costs for the crew, advertising/promotion fees and venue rental.
Yet holding concerts in Asia poses an obstacle for Japan. The huge difference in commodity prices compared to other nations raises a concern of the income not meeting the costs. K-pop has an advantage with its slightly smaller difference in commodity prices, and, above all, no instrumental bands are used. They focus on visual appearance, so live instrumentalists are rarely present. Most concerts are computer-driven and done in a karaoke style, and it is not rare to see a three-hour, sixty-song concert in front of a 10,000-plus audience without a live band.
How can Japan overcome this disadvantage?
“Concerts are usually done with a sponsor, so the budget should ideally be met,” Kato says. “Even when you run at a loss, you consider it an advertising cost and you get what you paid for. If the audience is too small, you can do it karaoke-style, and this allows flexibility. But having a live band is an advantage. Music is all about whether or not it excites people. The excitement you get from a live band and a computer is completely different.”
Releasing music on the Internet under lenient copyright protection, as with K-pop, makes sense when the business is about gaining larger audiences at concerts. If more releases lead to hits with a packaged product, it raises fame, increases audience numbers and will cover a zero copyright fee.
Ease the copyright and go with the sound, or manage the artist and do the music—these are the two major trends that support the music industry today, but it is not really about forcing a one-or-the-other answer or fighting over which is better. If the two stimulate each other, create a synergistic effect and develop themselves, it will offer large benefits to both the industry and the consumers. The challenge for Japan riding the latter trend is in how it will go about heightening Asian awareness on copyright issues.
“We would let them know that if they produce a single hit, it will continue yielding income for the next fifty years. Japan has protected copyrights and developed the world’s number one market. If Asia learns about this success, things will definitely change. Of course we will need to develop laws, so we expect the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to provide support,” Kato says.
“We want to export Japan’s finest works,” he adds.
As to whether there is a possibility of selling enka abroad, he firmly states, “That’s almost the ideal of what we want to do.”
Music is culture, and the hope is that J-pop will come to spread Japanese ideas around the world.
Translated from “J-POP ga ajia wo seisu ho (How J-pop could conquer the Asian market),” Voice, December 2011, pp. 162–167. (Courtesy of PHP Kenkyusho)
MAMIYA Fumiko
Born 1955 in Oita Prefecture. Graduated from Faculty of Law, Kokugakuin University. Became a writer after working for a notary public’s office and a law office. Reports and writes primarily on corporate back-office subjects such as legal, personnel and public relations matters.
