Hyooga 10,307 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 As most people know by now, BTS were the winners of the ‘Best Social Artist‘ award at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards about a week ago. Relevancy or not this was seen as a major milestone for a K-pop group and likewise, people were curious to know what what BTS’s next plans for the Western market were, if they any have any plans at all. Their answers were pleasantly surprising in terms of awareness and realism. Rap Monster basically said they’re not gonna focus on the American market and just do the things that got them all this attention from America to begin with. “We’re really happy that we were so well received in America. However, instead of focusing on entering the US market, which is a huge dream for any artist, we want to continue to make songs for our fans. We will continue to rap and sing in Korean because this is the best way we know how to communicate…Through receiving the award, we’ve built confidence that we can continue to make music that’s unique to BTS.†Thrilled to see them embrace this attitude. In the past, whenever one of the groups or artists from the Big 3 got popular in the West, they’d always jump ship and promote them in the US, spending time there, which in return neglected their Asian audiences to an extent. It’s nothing you can really blame them for, they saw an opportunity, went for it and things didn’t work out the way they expected, but there are some common mistakes that have been made that newer companies can take notes on in order to avoid. Hopefully they made this choice after seeing what happened to other marquee groups who ventured overseas. The most famous example is JYP Entertainment with the Wonder Girls, which is always used as a means to point out how NOT to promote a K-pop group in the West, and rightly so as it had drastic consequences on their domestic popularity. SNSD were saved by the fact that they were loved in Korea and Japan and weren’t gone so long that their fanbases fell off, but once SM Entertainment started getting mainstream hints of SNSD’s popularity from the West, they changed their sound on tracks like “The Boys†and “I Got A Boy†for little purpose. Then you have YG Entertainment, which currently has CL festering in pop purgatory in America as 2NE1 have disbanded. Quibble if you must with those summations, but my main point is while I may not be savvy in music industry knowledge, one thing pretty much everyone agrees on is that marketing and image matters. A lot. And the thing that was very alluring about K-pop to a lot of Westerners was how differently they were marketed and how different their images were, and when you basically take what made them unique and transform that into a generic version of the stuff Western K-pop fans were trying to branch away from, then it becomes harder to really make yourself marketable because there’s already hundreds of Western artists that do what they’re doing. That’s especially true for Asians in America, where they have to fight tooth and nail to gain any sort of proper representation in any form of media. This isn’t to say that previous efforts were 100% failures, far from it, and even BTS themselves have admitted this. However, in the end, while it’s good and necessary to admire the progress they’ve made, it’s also good to learn from their mistakes, which is something that Big Hit & BTS thankfully appear to be doing quite well. http://www.asianjunkie.com/2017/06/02/bts-big-hit-entertainment-learn-from-the-western-market-mistakes-of-others/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 I am happy to read that, bang toto nim has sense But dahmmm they will never let JYP get away with sending WG to America, poor man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mei Matsumoto 2,562 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 They shouldn't try hard and speak cringey English. But they keep making those mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satoori 45,814 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 "Their answers were pleasantly surprising in terms of awareness and realism." Many Armys are not surprise. But I'm glad others are learning more about BTS. Bighit and BTS are smart. e.g. More about this topic from Bighit, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy~ 918 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 I don't feel it's right to post the whole article Asian junkie has to make a living too lol Maybe omit some parts so people will click the original as well? Maybe it's just me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
typo. 2,276 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 I am happy to read that, bang toto nim has sense But dahmmm they will never let JYP get away with sending WG to America, poor man what he did to WG was tragic and I fully blame him he ruined his own group... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 They shouldn't try hard and speak cringey English. But they keep making those mistakes. dahm if they try and dahm if they don't what he did to WG was tragic and I fully blame him he ruined his own group... True, I know. I just find it sad that they will never let him live it down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivianss 5,682 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Maybe big hit consider the failure of older acts try to entering US mainstream market as smth to learn. But why i feel like BTS themselves is not really concerning failure to make an impact as a risk. Like they're not actually afraid to try bc what happened to older act but more like they choose to do what they usually do instead of taking drastic change. Because they're gaining fans and attentions through that already. Idk maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diminie 12,045 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Honestly, stan BTS and Bang PD-nim. That man is so smart and conscious, I couldn't be more grateful and thankful that he's BTS' boss. "I'm not a believer in releasing full English songs to the U.S. market, like many K-pop artists have," Bang tells Billboard in his first-ever interview with American press. "We must focus on what we do best as K-pop artists and producers and maybe add some special features to which international or U.S. music fans can feel attached. That is the best way for me to put K-pop into the mainstream U.S. music market and, in that regard, BTS will participate and perform in a way that is not much different from what they have been doing in the last three years. We're adjusting and improving the way we do shows on the tour to meet the international or global level and expectations so that anyone, regardless of their culture and background, can enjoy BTS music and performances." “A K-pop artist succeeding in Korea and getting noticed by the mainstream U.S. market because of the global scale of K-pop is completely different in every way from entering the U.S. market and competing with the mainstream artists there.†“[...] if [bTS] surpasses that critical point and is able to not just be noticed by the U.S., but jump into that market, we would be so thankful, but I think actively preparing for the U.S. market would be biting off more than we can chew.†“I made a promise with BTS before they debuted. [i promised] that I would help them become an established team as a producer if they believe in the team’s potential and do their best with their individual responsibilities. The members believed in my promise and I also did my best to honor my words. This doesn’t only apply to that moment, but rather it’s a kind of conviction that won’t be forgotten in the present and the future.†Plus, he's cute and funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-in-use 9,797 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 I'm glad non-fans are finally seeing the brilliance of Big Hit that we fans have known for maybe a year now There's a reason why the majority of the fanbase was never worried about this to begin with (and all of the paranoia about Western advancement I saw was from newer, post-WINGS/YNWA-ish era stans or casual stans, surprise)! If there's one thing I've learned in my 2 1/2 years with BTS, it's to just never worry about anything. Every time I worry about something it always ends up working out because BH and BTS make good decisions. Period. I really don't want to stan a company but damn does BH make it tempting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossiblyMaybe 10,178 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 everybody that was paying attention already knew BH's stance on this but some people were more concerned with getting on soapboxes and going on and on about Western Recognitionâ„¢ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost Famous 1,931 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 They're just making music. It doesn't make sense for them to suddenly move to the US and lose the ability to express themselves through their own lyrics. They are taking full advantage of the opportunities presented to them. They've done so much press in the US and they do have goals here like making it to the Hot 100 and performing at an award show. But they don't feel the need to change themselves to appeal to other people. (And what Asian Junkie said is true. From a marketing perspective, you don't benefit from trying to make yourself identical to everyone else in the market.) In a way, they are treating the US market the same way that a US artist would treat a big foreign music market. US artists do promote in other big markets (they sometimes release deluxe editions of their albums for Japan and go on TV shows around the world), but don't make them their main focus. BigHit said that they are working on special features for international and US fans, but that they are still focused on their core market. I think it's a good way to move forward. They are not trying to conquer other markets in the same way that other kpop groups have tried to. However, they aren't ignoring other markets either. If the opportunity presented itself, I'm sure they would appear on a popular US show to perform and be interviewed or take the time to do a photoshoot for a popular magazine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixsi 4,799 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 I cant believe AJ wrote better article about "Western Validation" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aliens-United 19,785 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 As clickbaity and edgy as AJ tries to be, he's right with this article. Can we replace the Western Validation article on OH with this one, as the user before suggested? Anyway, this has never been a surprise for most of us. We've been trying to tell everyone that making US their target market is not BigHit or BTS' aim and it has never been despite what most folks here have tried to claim and unfairly mocked the group for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossiblyMaybe 10,178 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 As clickbaity and edgy as AJ tries to be, he's right with this article. It's a different writer, not the guy who is the main writer (who we usually call AJ lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAUCY 44,499 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 their stance is not all that surprising to most of us, who follow them <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soshill 1,229 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Uh since when did western popularity have anything to do with SNSD changing their sound? AJ is so full of bs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aliens-United 19,785 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 It's a different writer, not the guy who is the main writer (who we usually call AJ lol) That explains it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyrose 12,654 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 I am happy to read that, bang toto nim has sense But dahmmm they will never let JYP get away with sending WG to America, poor man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixsi 4,799 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 It's a different writer, not the guy who is the main writer (who we usually call AJ lol) LMAO no wonder why its a good read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Bear 9,460 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 It's a different writer, not the guy who is the main writer (who we usually call AJ lol) Ah, it all makes sense now. If people would stop blindly hating for 2seconds they would have realised there stance ages ago and we could have avoided the bajillion wank threads that get posted daily and that atrocious OH article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botmy 3,627 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 lol this aint news to ARMYs but thanks for saying the obvious truth AJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Alexâš¡thunder~ 1,590 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 BIGHIT is so damn smart, I am constantly in awe at the way they think and approach things But I ready knew this, and knew BTS opinion on the matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BITTERSWEET KIWI 8,193 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 everybody that was paying attention already knew BH's stance on this but some people were more concerned with getting on soapboxes and going on and on about Western Recognitionâ„¢ Seconded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akpheart 14,900 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 AsianJunkie validation--exactly what I was seeking. /all the sarcasm in the world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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