it's sort of funny how korean and japanese culture ended up shaping pop culture around the world despite them not being as large as some other media markets
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👍. Reminiscent of the "British Invasion". Reflective of a healthy market, though, in which popularity is generally determined by the quality of the product, and not the market-share of the maker.
aug 24, 2025, 7:00 pm • 0 0 • view
The Japanese music missed a huge chance to capitalize on the anime boom of the late 90s and early aughts, and it all boils down to “fuck em, we refuse to modify our business model.” The Korean music industry was, apparently, taking lots of notes, because it largely avoided the same mistakes.
aug 24, 2025, 6:50 pm • 30 4 • view
Japanese music industry* This is a huge bugbear for me. The J-Pop industry is wildly xenophobic, insular, and peak-bubble levels of corrupt, and they just shot themselves in the foot over and over.
aug 24, 2025, 6:51 pm • 13 2 • view
The Korean music industry is insanely corrupt and abusive but decided to be export focused at some point. Comparative history would be really interesting because Korean culture overall is pretty insular as well.
aug 24, 2025, 7:11 pm • 3 0 • view
They’re also allergic to meaningful aesthetic change or indie performers, so the stuff that’s making waves today is largely interchangeable with what was hot in the 90s. I can be on this soap box all day.
aug 24, 2025, 6:52 pm • 10 0 • view
Prob not a coincidence that Korea is a small market but a major exporter so a saturated domestic market of music and media would drive a push to export internationally
aug 25, 2025, 5:35 am • 1 0 • view