WHY IS INDIA STILL NOT READY FOR K-POP?
Korean pop music or “K-Pop” has has been trending around the world for the past 3 years, yet it has still not trended in India. This article discusses the aspects that may have led to this lack of popularity in the Indian market:
Monopolised Market:
As India has its own massive music market, largely dominated by Bollywood music, it is difficult for music beyond this spectrum to enter the arena. The industry has not shown to be conducive to music beyond the region or in English.
Destination
Even if these artists come to India it is pretty difficult for them to choose a specific destination. India is a big country where foreign companies have to choose one major city for their concert (such as Mumbai, Goa or Delhi). They also require a huge space or stadium for their concert as there more than a million fans in India. However, not all the fans would be able to attend the concert because, amongst other factors, they may not travel to another city for it.
Open Mindedness
Indian parents and young adults (people in their 20s) have not shown to accept and welcome K-Pop. When looking over K-Pop stars, both male and female artists portray similar images in K-Pop, with a clear skin, cleaned shave, makeup and accessories on them. However, to the majority of Indians, makeup and accessories are still seen as meant only for women.
It is true K-Pop artists do not conform to typical conventions in India (or across the world) — this may be what fans admire most, even though it may detract others.
Cost:
K-pop entertainment companies use huge and heavy equipment as props for their concert, thus needing to make appropriate shipments. Beyond equipment, these concerts also require a high number of staff members like makeup artist, hair stylist, managers, cameramen, and technicians, to accompany the artists. As a result, the tickets are also costly.
Tickets in the US cost $250 (₹18,000), with even a light stick costing $52 (₹4000). Not many people in India will be willing to spend ₹4000 just on a light stick and ₹18,000 on a concert ticket. However, companies will never set the ticket price low as there will be no profits at all.
With all these factors in mind, I have concluded cost to be the most relevant one. This can be reflected by the online attendance of the BTS concert called Bang Bang con on YouTube in April 18th and 19th. It was free, consisting of a compilation of the videos of past concerts. Many fans from India streamed this. However, in June, when BTS had a live concert online which required a payment, only a handful from India streamed it.
When people do not want to pay to stream it online, there is no guarantee they would pay a large sum of money for a ticket. As many of the fans are younger and without paying capacity, there is not incentive to widen the range or include K-Pop. To these fans, K-Pop is not just music but a culture. As one myself, I ask readers to broaden horizons and welcome every culture, as that is supposed to be Indian culture.
(PS: As an Army, I personally hope BTS would come to India and perform. I purple you.)
Written by — Chandana Priya
Edited by — Malini Srikrishna
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