The Korean wave, particularly Kpop,
seems to be unstopping transcending across language and continents,
from Asia (Taiwan, China Singapore, Malaysia etc…) to Europe (Paris
etc..). To produce artistes that are versatile, the Korean entertainment
industry has developed a “fool-proof” way to nurture talent to become
world-class performers.
All
Korean artistes require going through a training phase which consists
of intense singing lessons, dance training, and language lessons amongst
other lessons. Many of these artistes may remain as trainees until they
officially debut. For example, Jokwon from the ballad group 2AM was a
JYP trainee for 8 years before he debuted, while G-Dragon and Taeyang of
Big Bang have been with YG Entertainment since their pre-teen days. The
training ensures that artistes that debut are strong in both their
vocal and dancing skills.
For
those that survive and shine through the training and debut, they have
to contend with others in a highly competitive and evolving industry;
they either shine or fizzle out after their debut depending on their
popularity.
However,
despite the success, glitz and glamour, there is an interesting “dark”
side to this formula. As it takes money and time investing in training
potential artistes, entertainment companies such as SM Entertainment,
have had issues with “slave contracts” where deemed unfair to the
artiste (e.g. 13 year length and unfair distribution of album sale
profits)...Read more>>
