Why Did K-Pop Become an Idol Industry? What Happened to Diversity in Korean Music?

Why Did K-Pop Become an Idol Industry?
What Happened to the Diversity of Korean Music?

When did K-Pop become an industry centered around idol groups?

Why has it become increasingly difficult to find solo singers in the Korean music scene, and why does it feel as though bands receive less mainstream attention?

When did it become almost expected that a singer should be good at dancing and have the kind of appearance associated with actors or models?

I think there are five major reasons.

• A relatively small domestic market
• An idol-centered business model
• The influence of lip-syncing and performance culture
• Korea’s trainee system
• The lack of a sustainable livelihood for singers without an agency

Most Koreans in their 40s remember a time when K-Pop was not centered around the idol industry the way it is today.

They are the generation that actually watched that transformation happen.

If we look back at Korean music in the 1990s, the Korean music industry looked quite different from what it does today.

Korean Music Was Much More Diverse in the 1990s

Every now and then, YouTube recommends old Korean music shows from the 1990s.

As someone who enjoyed that era myself, I sometimes end up watching those videos for much longer than I expected.

And whenever I do, I eventually arrive at the same conclusion.

Korean music used to be much more diverse than it is today.

There was ballad music, rock, trot, dance music, and hip-hop.

On a one-hour music show, you could see a trot singer dressed for a nightclub stage,

a rocker headbanging,

a dance singer performing intense breakdancing,

and a ballad singer singing a sad song all competing for the top spot.

The diversity wasn’t limited to genres, either.

Solo singers were common.

There were plenty of duos and trios.

Of course, there were also larger groups.

There were four-member groups, five-member groups, six-member groups, and even larger ones.

But none of them could be said to represent the entire music industry.

Even if a five-member dance group took first place,

there might be a trot singer at No. 10

and a rock band at No. 16.

The entire music scene was simply different from today’s environment, where large idol groups occupy such a significant portion of the Korean music market.

To be honest, I still don’t know exactly how many members BTS has.

That’s how little interest I had in the singers themselves.

I do know that BLACKPINK has four members.

I can recognize four.

I really do love music.

I’m not a music major, and I can’t sing,

but if I really like a song, it stays on my playlist for years.

Over time, those songs have accumulated into a collection that now includes

a lot of Japanese songs,

old pop,

French chansons,

and even Thai and Vietnamese songs,

regardless of where they come from.

Maybe that’s also why I’m writing this.

Perhaps I simply miss the K-Pop of the past.

Or maybe that’s not the reason.

Either way, I started wondering:

How did Korean music become what it is today?

Before we go any further, let’s briefly define what an idol group actually is.

What Is an Idol Group?

An idol group doesn’t simply mean a group of people who sing together.

Generally speaking, an idol group is a group whose commercial appeal extends beyond music to its stage presence, appearance, performances, and overall image, while its members also work in television, advertising, fan meetings, and various other areas to build a fanbase.

In other words, the product isn’t just the music. The members themselves, their image, their performances, and their fandom are all consumed together.

Once you look at it this way, you can see that the K-Pop idol industry isn’t simply a matter of musical genres.

So let’s look at why the Korean music industry developed in this particular direction.

America Had Idol Groups Too. So Why Did Korea Become Different?

The business of creating and selling talented, attractive male groups certainly wasn’t invented in Korea.

In crude terms,

you develop something like that when you have enough money to make a living from it.

America, perhaps.

It had been one of the wealthiest countries in the world for a long time.

Of course, this is just my personal opinion.

New Kids on the Block, NSYNC, and the Backstreet Boys come to mind.

These groups had quite a lot in common with today’s K-Pop idols.

Their appearance and image mattered.

They danced and performed.

And beyond music, they worked through television, advertising, and fandom.

But there was an important difference.

Even after these groups achieved enormous success, the American popular music industry did not become dominated by a single model.

Rock continued to grow.

Metal survived.

Hip-hop became even more powerful.

And country music remained a major mainstream genre.

The UK is even more obvious.

Idol groups existed there and certainly achieved success, but the entire industry did not tilt overwhelmingly in that direction.

So why did Korea become a market where idol groups occupy such a dominant position in the entire Korean music industry?

1. Korea’s Small Domestic Market Favored the Idol Model

This might sound like an excuse,

but I think Korea’s relatively small domestic market was an important factor in the growth of the Korean idol industry.

Korea isn’t the United States, with hundreds of millions of consumers.

Nor is it Japan, which has one of the world’s most powerful domestic entertainment markets.

Businesses naturally tend to focus on whichever business model is the most profitable.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

That’s what companies exist to do.

Idol groups can sell far more than music.

They can sell merchandise.

They can sign advertising deals for all kinds of products.

They can appear on television.

They can sell tickets to fan meetings and concerts.

And they can capture a huge portion of that relatively small Korean market.

At some point, perhaps music itself became less of the product and more of a means of selling other products.

And from a business perspective, having five commercially marketable personalities might be more valuable than having a single singer.

2. Is K-Pop Still a Music Industry, or Has It Become a Fandom Industry?

Modern singers don’t make money from album sales alone.

Albums, photocards, merchandise, fan-sign events, concerts, advertising, brand collaborations, and countless other elements are now part of the business.

In this system, the size of the fandom can become more important than the music itself.

Of course,

making good music is important.

But ultimately, if you want to succeed, you need people who are your fans.

And those fans have now become accustomed to idol singers.

Eventually, you put down the guitar

and go to a dermatologist to take care of your appearance.

So sometimes I wonder:

Has K-Pop become less of a music industry

and more of a fandom industry?

3. The Era of Lip-Syncing Helped Shape the Idol System

I want to make one thing clear first:

many idols today have excellent live singing abilities.

Their effort and hard work absolutely deserve recognition.

But the early days of the idol industry were different.

At the time, entertainment companies often prioritized appearance over vocal ability.

The group could simply have its strongest vocalist handle the high notes.

The other members could focus on dancing, flipping forward, flipping backward, and performing.

Back then, lip-syncing was frequently allowed on music shows.

Is that still the case today?

Anyway,

as a result, stage performance began to matter more than vocal ability.

Performing difficult choreography while singing perfectly is obviously extremely difficult, so doing both requires an enormous amount of practice.

But if singers only had to move their lips,

idols could perform increasingly demanding choreography.

And since broadcasters needed to hold viewers’ attention,

they naturally preferred visually spectacular performances.

Singers gradually became something more than singers.

They appeared on variety shows to entertain viewers,

and they had to maintain a popular image outside of music as well.

How attractive they looked on a television screen

became increasingly important.

4. Korea’s Trainee System Became a Factory for Producing Idols

I don’t know how things work in other countries.

But Korea’s trainee system is quite intensive.

Many future idols enter entertainment agencies at a very young age, sometimes during their teenage years.

They then spend years training in singing, dancing, performance, and other areas.

It’s not unusual to hear stories of trainees spending three, five, or even seven years preparing for their debut.

After several years, the trainee system can produce

a highly polished performer.

But at the same time, it can also encourage uniformity.

Once a successful formula has been discovered,

what company would willingly take the risk of doing something completely different?

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons so many groups end up looking and feeling similar.

5. The Lack of an Infrastructure for Making a Living

About four years ago, I was absolutely in love with Thailand.

I’m staying in Vietnam now,

but back then Thailand felt almost perfect to me.

The weather was hot, the food didn’t particularly suit me, and there wasn’t really that much to do,

but somehow,

it was perfect for me.

Because everywhere I went in the city,

I could hear bands playing music.

Eventually, I even found noodle restaurants—almost like Korea’s Kimbap Cheonguk—where a band would come in and play for a while.

And I thought,

“Ah…”

“Thailand might actually beat Korea when it comes to bands.”

Why?

Because as long as there are places willing to pay them to play,

they have a reason to keep going.

They keep playing.

They keep improving.

And eventually, if being good becomes the norm,

you start discovering some truly exceptional bands.

They don’t have to become like those unfortunate bands somewhere five hours away by plane,

in a country that proudly calls itself an idol culture powerhouse,

who have to finance their own bands

and perform on the streets while constantly worrying about whether they’re allowed to be there.

So Why Was America Different? The Role of Radio

I think radio played a much bigger role than many people realize.

Of course, this is also just my opinion.

America is an enormous country.

Long-distance driving is a normal part of everyday life.

At least, that’s what I’ve heard.

I’ve never actually been there.

But even when I drive for three or four hours,

I find myself reaching for the radio.

Radio can’t show you someone’s appearance.

It can only transmit sound.

So even if a group is visually attractive,

it ultimately has to compete through the music itself.

I’m not talking about live performance here.

I’m simply talking about the music.

Under those circumstances,

rock bands, singer-songwriters, country singers, and countless other musicians could continue finding their own audiences.

Again, this is only my personal theory,

but perhaps radio played an important role in maintaining musical diversity.

Maybe it functioned as a kind of filter—

or even a lottery machine—

for discovering music.

Has Korean Musical Diversity Really Disappeared?

Once, I expressed this exact frustration online.

Someone replied:

“You just haven’t been to Hongdae.

You just haven’t gone looking for them.”

In other words,

I remember replying something along the lines of:

“If something only exists when you go out of your way to find it,

isn’t it fair to say that it effectively doesn’t exist?”

These days, I’ve discovered some Korean bands through YouTube.

DAY6 and WOODZ, for example.

I’ve been listening to Glen Check and Electric Eel for what feels like ten years.

So yes,

they are still out there.

The problem is that you have to actively search for these bands

because they’re becoming increasingly difficult to discover.

I’m Still Waiting for Korean Music

As I mentioned earlier,

I listen to French chansons.

I listen to American oldies from the 1960s and 70s quite often.

I listen to J-Pop.

There was even a period when I was obsessed with Thai pop music.

Language was never really a problem for me.

If a song moved me,

I kept listening to it.

Then I’d look up the lyrics,

translate them,

and try to understand them.

But I can’t remember the last time

I actively went looking for new Korean music.

And Korean is a language I can actually understand and relate to immediately.

And I’m certain I’m not the only person who feels this way.

That feeling of no longer looking forward to new releases.

Maybe I really should just learn Thai.