The dark side of the "K-Pop" industry and why it needs to change.

K-Pop is now a "genre" of music. Since when was pop music from a particular country labelled as [country]-pop? We would be seeing a lot of English-Pop, American-Pop, Chinese-Pop if that was the case. But aside from assigning a language/origin as a genre of music -- completely disregarding the fact that not all music from Korea is pop but is frequently labelled as such, or the fact that any pop music from any other country is labelled as anything other than "Pop", K-Pop has serious societal impacts that don't get enough scrutiny.

In the year 2019 alone, we've seen so many scandals surrounding the pop-stars from Korea as well as other gross foul play from other members of the industry. From drug and sex scandals, to forced prostitution, sexual assaults, and of course, suicides.

Yes in 2019 alone, Cha In-ha, Koo Hara, Choi Jin-ri (Sulli) and who knows how many other lesser known k-pop stars committed suicide. Sadly, this isn't even a rare occurrence in the industry, with the Korean Pop industry throwing tragedy after tragedy, year after year.

Why does this happen so often in the Korean Pop industry?

It boils down to the culture of the Korean Pop industry and to some extent, the sexist un-equal opportunity culture of Korea. Despite being quite advanced in terms of internet liberty, Korea remains stagnant, even backwards, when it comes to gender equality and gender roles in society. The men continue to dominate the white collar jobs and women are still mostly expected to be housewives. There is inherent chauvinism which means that women are not given much opportunity (if at all) to empower themselves. It is a society dominated by men. A patriarchal society.

You can spot this kind of culture in other countries too, prevalent in Asia where women expect all manners of chivalry, from paying for everything on dates, to being the bread winner when starting a family. This of course comes with caveats for the woman as they are essentially expected to be full time house wives and essentially act as sexual objects.

Women in the Korean pop industry are treated no different. It might appear that they have some semblance of liberty and self respect, but the reality is most women have had to do unspeakable things to get their foot in the door where competition is excessively high and opportunities very few.

Women in the Korean pop industry are frequently treated like prostitutes

At the heart of many of the scandals which appear not just in 2019 but all the years before, are the reports of women who are "paid" to sleep with rich and powerful businessmen with significant influence in the industry.

It doesn't help nor is it a surprise then, that idols are banned from having relationships of their own. For not the potential damage it might do to their popularity with the opposite sex, but the value of being chase and exclusive as sexual objects to the higher-ups and potential business investment.

One example most recently is of Lee Seung-hyun, a former member of the group "Big Bang" who is currently on trial over allegations of paying "prostitutes" for foreign businessmen to attract investment to his own business.

Using sex as a means to climb the ladder isn't a phenomenon exclusive to Korea and its pop industry, it is considered the "dark side" of business in nearly all industries and societies with androcentric tendencies.

Competition is intense for few opportunities to debut

The K-Pop industry is extremely saturated and highly lucrative. The allure of becoming a star has a much larger pull in Korea than anywhere else in the world. It is true that some early pop music from Korea was highly innovative and unique, even ahead of it's time, this early advantage was abused by the record companies and turned into an industry where everything from the idols themselves, to the music, are all artificially manufactured to drive the industry forward and capture the attention of as many young people as possible.

Think of early successful "influencers" on other social media platforms opening up their own "influencer" agencies to manufacture even more "influencers."

The result of this is that the perceived barrier to entry is much lower than it actually is and makes becoming a K-Pop idol seem more than possible.

The continuous mass influx of "trainees" to the few successful record companies mean that the industry is very much saturated with "idols". When the supply of potential idols far exceeds the demand, the reality is that most people never get to debut. They will spend most of their early teenage years as a trainee in the hopes of catching the attention of someone higher up.

When the competition is tough, anything goes

Since there are an abundance of trainee idols, and each are more desperate than the next to succeed, a natural arms race occurs. Every measurable attribute (as well as the under the table ones) are considered. Looks, personality, musical ability, voice, dancing ability are all aspects an idol must excel at. Explains why the plastic surgery industry in Korea is booming no? In reality, much like the situation with university degrees and jobs, the idol industry is full of talented, good looking, musically inclined, vocally gifted, dancing maestros. Making the cut is almost a game of chance.

As discussed above, women feel pressured to offer something "extra" in addition to all their other qualities, and that usually boils down to sexual services and favours with decision makers. Astonishingly, (but perhaps not) it's the same with the guys too.

In a cutthroat industry. Anything goes!

K-Pop is highly centralised and controlled at every level

Since the TV networks and record companies are all in cahoots with each other, an idol/groups opportunity to make it big depend a lot on the opportunities to have a stage to perform and get attention through the traditional media channels.

Few companies at the top dominate most of the air time and thus, the market is considered an oligarchy. When few companies collude together to keep their dominant position in the market, it makes it very difficult for competitors to enter the market. Furthermore, the intense competition and high turnover of idol/groups mean that the members of those groups have little input into the music they sing and perform.

Artists do not have artistry

The saddest part of the industry is that almost all of the music produced in the K-Pop industry come from the record companies themselves and not the members of the group. They have a magical formula which has been honed over time and adapted to the needs of the market and do not need the "artists" to make meaningful contributions.

Instead, they are treated like low income paid actors. They are told what to sing and how to sing it. Their dances are choreographed by someone who is not in the group. Their music is written by the same person/group who write and produce the music for all the other groups in the record company too. Their wardrobe is pre-determined to optimise appearance with the music video and the general aesthetic the market expects to see.

In essence, NOTHING about a K-Pop group is organically created by the members of the group. It is ALL manufactured.

What does this mean for the industry?

• It means that we get endless amounts of generic sounding music which are difficult to differentiate.

• It means that diversity in the industry is decided by a few powerful people.

• It means that idols have little empowerment to express their unique artistry and talents.

The K-Pop industry needs a complete make-over. The more attention we give the manufactured idol groups, the more we empower the K-Pop industry and it's cronies.

It's time to let the people shine and stop treating them like slaves.