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The 2021 KOCCA Forum - Music and Story
- September 06, 2021 | Music/Other
The 2021 KOCCA Forum - Music and Story
The 2021 KOCCA Forum was held from June 8 to June 17 on the organization’s official YouTube channel live. The main theme was “ Expanding Me and Connecting Us” and related debates and presentations by experts of policy, game, music, story, broadcasting, and finance. This article will mainly focus on the forum’s music and story elements.
Day 3: Music Forum
Expanding the music industry into a new environment
Moderator: Woo-Jin CHA (Music Critic, Manager of Newsletter “TMI.FM”)
Forum Panel: Jung-Oh KIM (PD, SK Telecom Digital Content), Sun-Ho MAENG (Senior manager, Magic Strawberry Sound), Jung-Il AHN (PM, Genie Music), Joy KIM (Professor, Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts), Big Mimi (STAGE8 CEO, Mimi Sisters), Yun-Ho HAM (Space Oddity CEO, Performance Director)
Digital Transition and Expanding the Music Industry
Woo-Jin CHA• The digital transition is changing the industry, so musicians and music producers need to find new markets and consumers. Mr. Yun-Ho HAM, the CEO of Space Oddity, you make and plan performances. You must have given some thought to metaverses, right?
Yun-Ho HAM• I think the digital transition was inevitable, including the metaverse. A lot of people say COVID-19 accelerated change, but in the performance sector, we call it a “forceful transition.” We’ve entered a virtual, contactless world without proper preparation and we’ve had to produce and watch content to adapt. Metaverses, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other video technologies became the center of the music industry thanks to this change.
Jung-Oh KIM• This involuntary virtual, contactless world makes people consume content as individuals. Before COVID-19, large festivals and other in-person performances were thriving. Now, individuals watch performances online and talk to their peers through chat functions.
Jung-Il AHN• Ten years ago, VR and other content had little effect on the actual industry. Today, more people are interested in the technologies because of COVID-19. “Metaverse and Digital Transition” is a new field for the music industry. In the future, music industry workers will have to consider how to work within this new platform.
Woo-Jin CHA• wonder how we can make online performances as engaging as offline ones. Is it possible to transfer the offline experience entirely online?
Jung-Oh KIM• You can’t see musicians up close at in-person concerts, but you can see them more closely online thanks to 3D glasses and VR devices. Metaverses allow for mental compensation: They allow things that would otherwise be impossible in the real world to happen in the virtual one. Still, people are longing for in-person performances. Their desire for actual performances remains unquenched. Nobody wants to see concerts and artist gatherings disappear. When COVID-19 dies down, in-person performances resume. I think both the old industry and new trends—including metaverses—will exist simultaneously.
Yun-Ho HAM• I don’t think performances fully “transitioned” into a digital form. They expanded into digital territory. Now, there are new kinds of performances, which means a new field for the music industry to grow into.
Woo-Jin CHA• The digital transition is changing the music industry and the entry barrier is now lower than ever. There’s more music made and sold every day than before. How would this change affect people studying music and those trying to break into the music industry?
Joy KIM• Students know they need to become entrepreneurial musicians by using future-facing platforms like metaverses. However, there’s a gap between the workplace and the academy—a gap we need to bridge. We shouldn’t just focus on “technological trends”: We also need to focus on people who can’t use these future-facing platforms.
Musicians thinking about change
Woo-Jin CHA• The music industry is changing because of technology. CEO Big Mimi, you’re creating STAGE8, a new platform for musicians and their peers to adapt to this change, right?
Big Mimi• I’m working as a musician while making and producing albums. This platform is based on my experience. It helps musicians focus on creating by connecting them with consultors, networkers, and communicators needed for making music.
Woo-Jin CHA• Entrepreneurial musicians without labels must face problems fighting for copyrights and other rights. How do they manage these kinds of problems?
Sun-Ho MAENG• Nowadays, there are many issues in the album business, including copyrights, performance rights, and broadcasting rights. Musicians sometimes forget some of these rights exist. It’s improved recently, but information on copyright and other rights remains still limited. We always think about musicians’ rights and creative environments.
Woo-Jin CHA• In this era, it’s hard to estimate profits. The industry has become too complex, and music no longer produces enough money for artists to live on. Lots of artists are thinking about new markets and profit systems. Mr. HAM, how do you respond to this?
Yun-Ho HAM• I run a service that supports K-pop fandoms and we’re going to begin focusing on the consumer aspect this year. We’re helping them buy celebrity birthday ads, crowdfund, donate to societies under a celebrity’s name, and other financial activities. We’re also working on fandom-made content: “No talent contest,” a contest where people with no artistic talents draw their celebrities, or “Otaku writing contests,” where fans show their sadness, are some examples.
Woo-Jin CHA• After 2020, additional changes have become difficult to predict. This makes the future of the industry unclear. We must build on examples rather than answers. More examples will help people predict the future of the music industry. I hope this kind of forum will help music creators and music makers find more potential.
Picture
(From the Left) Woo-Jin CHA (Music Critic, Manager of Newsletter “TMI.FM”), Jung-Oh KIM (SK Telecom Digital Content PD), Sun-Ho MAENG (Magic Strawberry Sound Senior manager), Jung-Il AHN (Genie Music PM), Joy KIM (Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts Professor), Big Mimi (STAGE8 CEO, Mimi Sisters), Yun-Ho HAM (Space Oddity CEO, Performance Director)
(From the Left) Woo-Jin CHA (Music Critic, Manager of Newsletter “TMI.FM”), Jung-Oh KIM (SK Telecom Digital Content PD), Sun-Ho MAENG (Magic Strawberry Sound Senior manager), Jung-Il AHN (Genie Music PM), Joy KIM (Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts Professor), Big Mimi (STAGE8 CEO, Mimi Sisters), Yun-Ho HAM (Space Oddity CEO, Performance Director)
Day 4-Story Forum
IP crossing boundary: Story’s possibility and diversity
Moderator: Jae-Min LEE, webtoon critic (Webtoon Insight)
FForum Panel: Eun-Joo KIM (CEO, D&C WEBTOON Biz), In-ha PARK (Chairman, Seoul Webtoon Academy), Jun-Gyung SHIM (CEO, YLAB), Nan-Ji HONG (Professor, Chungkang College of Cultural Industries)
The strategy on adapting an IP
Jae-Min LEE• Today on Story Forum we’ll discuss the source of many IPs, the webtoon and webnovel industries, and their respective futures. It’s now common for webnovels to become webtoons and for webtoons to go to video. People say there’s a genre preference when adapting webtoons and webnovels into video: Do you find this to be true?
Jun-Gyung SHIM• There’s a preference for genres where you can spend less money on art or visual effects (VFX) while adapting it to video. Those who make video use webtoons as a base IP to effectively market their product using the webtoon’s popularity. Adapting characters and stories that are already popular minimizes the risk of failure. So, when a video’s profit is estimated to be less than the actual production cost, there’s no possibility it goes to video. However, Korean webtoons became popular worldwide, and the estimated profits from video adaptations are increasing, so the gap is being bridged.
In-Ha PARK• Webtoon and webnovel IP values are rising globally, so the challenges facing video adaptions is lower than ever. However, there’s a difference between a webtoon and video. Webnovels have a very complicated genre classification. A webnovel platform sells trend-savvy novels using genres and hashtags. When a webnovel is adapted into a webtoon, a trendy adaptation is well received by the market. However, video faces a different problem: It takes time and money to produce a product, so genres with a global appeal and low cultural barriers—like thrillers, romances, and horror—are preferred for such adaptation.
Eun-Joo KIM• I think there’s no genre limit anymore. Globally and domestically, if an IP is popular enough, people will want to adapt it to video. There’s a good chance Korean stories will be popular internationally despite their genre.
Jae-Min LEE• Unlike Korea, the global market is not open to real-life adaptations of an IP. An animation adaption seems to be a medium for the global market: What do you think?
Nan-Ji HONG• Consumers want diverse adaptations so they can consume them in different ways. If either a webnovel or a webtoon takes a while to go to video, we need to diversify our methods to build and grow their respective fandoms. Globally, Gen-Z consumes webtoons and webnovels as interesting, albeit forgettable, snippets. We can work tactically within this trend.
Eun-Joo KIM• When you animate and record sound for a webtoon, it hits audiences differently. We make trailers to showcase and advertise products, but we’re promoting ourselves with promotional videos (PV) to show the creators of webtoons and webnovels that their products can be animated. Most adaptations are currently focused on high-grossing products, but that will change in three to five years.
In-Ha PARK• Quite a few people have asked how an IP business tactic is different from a one-source multi-use (OSMU). A traditional OSMU stems from popular content and is built into a franchise from there. IP business tactics need to consider the directions the IP will go in from the start and make various portfolios for businesses.
In the future, webnovels or webtoons will not need animated adaptations, but will be directly adapted into live-action series or movies. They’ll be enjoyed by different fandoms in the global market.
In the future, webnovels or webtoons will not need animated adaptations, but will be directly adapted into live-action series or movies. They’ll be enjoyed by different fandoms in the global market.
The future of the webtoon and webnovel market
Jae-Min LEE• How do you predict the future of the webtoon and webnovel markets?
Eun-Joo KIM• Many held negative views about adapting webnovels into webtoons when we started out. There weren’t many examples, and most had yielded poor results. But we’ve seen an increase in demand for such adaptions. After four or five years, the adaptation market has become very competitive. More than 30 novels are turned into comics per month now. We think other adaptations can go in the same direction. The industry is already in motion. In three to five years, we think other adaptations—like video, live action, or video games—will face similar competition.
Jun-Gyung SHIM• Korean webtoon adaptations made for the global market are the future. People who are making Korean webtoons must keep on making good content to continue this change. The industry must provide an environment for high-quality works and diverse trials. It can’t just focus on cost reductions and being cost effective.
The webtoon industry is in its infancy and it needs constant investment. I hope successes will plant a seed of positive feedback and create a bright future for the industry.
The webtoon industry is in its infancy and it needs constant investment. I hope successes will plant a seed of positive feedback and create a bright future for the industry.
In-Ha PARK• The webtoon and webnovel markets have grown, and most webtoons are made by teams. There are people who worry about individual artists being left out, but we need to meet the global market’s content demand so Korean webtoons and webnovels will be created using multiple methods. Artists’ creativity will become increasingly important, and their range of activities will expand, so there’ll be a new field filled with various possibilities for work. Platforms should not let the market and platform competitors work it out—rather, they should directly find things they need for artistic environments.
Nan-Ji HONG• I have a close relationship with blossoming creators in the scholarly field. In this competitive era, the market and trends change constantly. Still, artists and works are becoming better as a result. What’s needed is more investment and more trust.
Jae-Min LEE• The webtoon and webnovel markets are going through changes: We need to work on adapting to the changing trends.
Picture
(From the left) Jae-Min LEE (Webtoon Critic, Webtoon Insight), Eun-Joo KIM (CEO, D&C WEBTOON Biz), In-ha PARK (Chairman, Seoul Webtoon Academy), Jun-Gyung SHIM (CEO, YLAB), Nan-Ji HONG (Professor, Chungkang College of Cultural Industries)
(From the left) Jae-Min LEE (Webtoon Critic, Webtoon Insight), Eun-Joo KIM (CEO, D&C WEBTOON Biz), In-ha PARK (Chairman, Seoul Webtoon Academy), Jun-Gyung SHIM (CEO, YLAB), Nan-Ji HONG (Professor, Chungkang College of Cultural Industries)
