BTS, aespa… despite the Pandemic, a strong 2D strategy for Kpop idols
Those of you who have followed my work know that I do not find the “BTS paved the way” arguments very compelling, for a variety of music-history-and-knowledge-of-the-music-industry-related reasons. However, there is one area in which I think HYBE née BigHit Entertainment really has been ahead of the curve with BTS: IP aka intellectual property. I wrote a post on this a few years ago and have continued to watch the downward trajectory of the group from idols into pure “IP” with sinking horror. So, when I saw the article linked below from Japanese K-Pop content creator DJ Utakata pop up on my timeline I thought it was worth translating because “K-Pop IP” is not currently part of the English-language conversation around the industry, despite the fact that the major agencies are all racing as fast as they can to craft their own extended universes and develop IP that can be divorced from the flesh-and-blood, fallible, and very human idols we’ve grown to love.
What struck me a few years ago when I wrote that post on properties—and what has continued to fill me with dread—is the melding of the flesh-and-blood idols with the fictionalized versions of themselves. DJ Utakata touches on this a bit but I think it’s worth flagging up front. There’s long been a tradition of idol groups, boy bands, girl groups, musicians, dancers, film stars, etc. playing outsized versions of themselves in film and on television. I mean who here has seen Spice World? In an Asian idol context, you’re more typically going to see something like Johnny’s & Associates group Arashi had with PIKA☆NCHI in which they played fictional characters loosely informed by their idol personas or Kanjani8’s excellent 8UPPERS which I have on my short list of things I really want to do an episode on. I talk about this in more detail in episode 26.
Something else we’ve seen in the past, in an idol IP context, are idol-crafted characters that take on lives of their own, even to the point of releasing singles like SMAP member Katori Shingo’s “Shingo Mama” persona. The additional artifice layered on top of the existing idol persona artifice is enough to make one dizzy if you aren’t already steeped in the culture but the idol is still at the heart of everything, buried under wigs and pancake makeup, sure, but still there. (People unfamiliar with Asian idols might think of “Chris Gaines”, Garth Brook’s cool rock alter ego, as an example.)
Moving beyond the idol his or herself, idols and their fans can and do build up complex webs of symbols and signifiers. Some of these may be assigned by their management (e.g. group colors) but others are organic. Wear the color purple near an Arashi fan and she’ll think “Matsumoto Jun.” To a Winner fan, sunflowers mean “Mino”. But these symbols only have emotional meaning. If Mino left YG Entertainment tomorrow, YG entertainment would not own the concept of “sunflowers” and prevent Mino from wearing his distinctive sunflower granny scarf. It gets a little stickier when the idol is running his or her own brand like G-Dragon’s Peace Minus One but ideally the idol, not the group’s agency, would be the one with control over the brand, the IP.
Depending on the circumstances, when an idol leaves a group, another idol can in theory be swapped in—this happened to The Tigers—or the group simply closes ranks around the empty space and they move forward with one fewer members. What hasn’t happened (yet) is that the idol is recast as in a soap opera or a long running cartoon: the same name, the same character, just played by a different person. And what really should strike fear into the hearts of not just fans but of aspiring idols everywhere is the potential for agencies to reboot an entire team—think of an idol group with great name recognition and high popularity but who are now aged out of the youth market—played by an entirely different (and much cheaper to hire) group of people. Imagine if instead of having to fight over contract details with idols, agencies could simply replace them with a hologram and AI voice software, or even use the technology to resurrect beloved idols who have passed away. We’ve already seen moves in that direction and the pace may pick up as companies accelerate their quest post-pandemic to reduce their reliance on the actual human beings meant to sing and dance and connect with us on stage to zero. Any fan who cares even the slightest bit about the real people whose images we share all day on social media should be very concerned about the way things are trending.
The cartoon avatars mentioned in the article below are less worrisome although there are points of concern. Some of the properties laid out in the article below, such as the cute BT21 animal avatars in the LINE FRIENDS family, have taken on a life of their own completely divorced from their origins (as BigBang’s T.O.P. demonstrated to much fan amusement). Even if this plumps the bottom line of their agencies, is this really in the idols’ best career interests? To ask the question everybody is afraid to touch: if nobody knows that the Shooky headband is meant to reference Suga, does it really represent Suga at all? Sometimes an anthropomorphic cookie avatar is simply an anthropomorphic cookie.
If you’re interested in the topic you can also check out Brigit, my guest from Episode 39 and her post on IP and video games centering on Kimura Takyua and Judgement. An additional point of reference is the controversy surrounding the UNIVERSE app which is mentioned below (Here’s a write-up in English for the curious) as well as the mixed feelings surrounding the BTSWorld otome dating game. (ETA: Penny Fractions also has up two great posts on the western industry and their investment in the metaverse.)
Please enjoy the translation below! As always, I am not a professional translator. This was done for my own fun and is for personal entertainment use only. DO NOT COPY OR REPOST.
A few notes— “cartoon avatars” here refers to both cutesy cartoon characters (You might be most familiar with Japan’s mascots? ) and to anime characters used in merchandising. Anime goods don’t just feature images of the characters as they appear in the show but you may also find cutesy chibi versions (just google “chibi” and whatever anime you can think of for an example) and other variations of the original designs. You can also find fan drawn chibi or anime versions of popular idols. What I call “cross platform strategy” is my attempt at the loan word “media mix” so feel free to read about that. BTS’s "Save Me” webtoon is the subject of my post on properties linked above and it’s important to note that the characters in that webtoon have the same real life names as the BTS members and there has been confusion, even among fans, about whether an incident or personality trait belongs to the fake history of the “Save Me” character or to the real person. There was a drama planned that would reboot these “Save Me” characters using new actors and to Korean BTS fans great credit, there has been pushback against this.
BTS, aespa… despite the Pandemic, a strong 2D strategy for Kpop idols
By DJ Utakata
Despite the pandemic, HYBE’s (BTS, Seventeen) sales have grown. Compared with the previous year, from April to June, 2021, sales are up 75% to 278.6 billion won (~25.9 billion yen [~ $235.6 million]). The majority of this came from BTS holding an online fan meeting and releasing a single, Seventeen and Tomorrow x Together’s healthy EP and album sales, and the increase in registrants for the subsidiary-run application “Weverse.” But with the restrictions continuing from 2020 preventing concert tours with in-person audiences, it looks like the most bullish market is the IP business, beginning with merchandising.
In particular, HYBE, which centers around BTS, not only released cartoon avatar versions of the group members when they debuted but has also been aggressive in working towards enlarging their IP business. This “business distinctive to K-Pop” has also been receiving attention from the western entertainment industry.
“Cartoon Avatars of the Members” have become a staple
Cartoon avatars have been deployed across all types of media, more and more we’ve seen the swift growth of revenue from licensing for merchandising. In Japan, especially, this is tied to anime and video games, the so-called “2D” sphere. However in recent years what’s called “2.5D”, with 2D works brought into the 3D sphere with things like plays and live action film, have also been well received. The reverse of this cross-platform strategy is “3D into 2D content” or flesh-and-blood human idols decreasing their reliance on physical reality, the burden of the body, while increasing their profits. This has been an on-going experiment, globally, for K-Pop.
Out of everything, it seems like the most common are “cartoon avatars.” In recent years PINKFONG, the children’s educational content company known for “Baby Shark”, and NCT Dream had a video collaboration. The joint Chinese-Korean produced anime Shining Star had music provided by SM Entertainment. And starting in 2015 the agency produced illustrated versions of their artists, along with stuffed animals and other types of merchandising. With collaborations with popular artists like Shin Morae and SAMBYPEN and so on, they were ahead of the curve.
JYP Entertainment has a series of cartoon animal versions of their artists “ZooPM”, “Lovelys”, “SKZoo", and so on; YG Entertainment has the cartoon bear “KRUNK” for use in all types of promotions and advertisements but in terms of a tie-up with a company, it feels like the best known one is the BTS and LINE character collaboration.
BTS x LINE’s “BT21” are the strongest characters
Originally BTS had the “HIPHOP MONSTER” characters which date from their debut era and they not only released merchandise but also comics and educational materials. Recently they released avatars of the members called “Tiny Tan” but the best known characters are the ones that came out of the 2017 NAVER subsidiary LINE FRIENDS collaboration: “BT21”.
BT21 were created from designs originally drawn by each member of the team which LINE designers then polished up. They were done in the style of the popular Cony & Brown characters created by LINE designers and the members' participation in the design process was also turned into content and put on YouTube. It was successful in creating fan attachment at the same time as they completed the characters.
Besides short animations, BT21 has also developed PR content for corporate tie-ups through things like character mukbang (eating videos) and today it’s not just limited to Korean corporations. We also see collaborations with foreign businesses such as the American youth cosmetics brand “The Creme Shop.”
LINE is now using the same kind of technique to develop “WDZY” with with JYP’s ITZY and to develop “TRUZ” with YG’s TREASURE. TRUZ will soon have a pop up cafe in Japan.
Also deploying a cross platform strategy of manga and dramas
Webtoons (manga read vertically, written for smartphones) are popular in Korea and webtoon versions of K-Pop idols have also been created. Around 2012, the group that at the time was known as BEAST from the agency CUBE (today they are an independent group HIGHLIGHT) were the main characters in a comic titled The Beast Destiny Begins, of which a Japanese version was also released.
Also, in Japan, under SM editorial supervision, publisher Shogakukan put out a manga titled ENT. Unlocking the K-Talent World set in the arena of Korean entertainment in which the main characters were SM trainees. Many real life artists made an appearance in the work.
Early on, HYBE also produced manga content [for BTS]. In 2013, separate from the aforementioned comical HIPHOP MONSTER characters, a serious ESP battle story titled We On (song of the same name is on the album O!RUL8,2?) was released. It could be said that the We On universe was superseded by the 花様年華 Pt.0 “SAVE ME” universe originating with the webtoon tied to [BTS’s] 2016 album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life.
Even in the following LOVE YOURSELF series of CDs, booklets called 花様年華:The NOTES were included, containing fragmentary diaries of different characters from the webtoon which subsequently were compiled into a book. Furthermore, a drama based in this universe titled YOUTH has been planned. This is a deployment of a cross platform strategy of drama, art book, and manga.
Then, last month, a joint original webtoon project between NAVER and HYBE was announced. We are likely to see more of this kind of collaboration as webtoons continue to expand globally.
Online games were originally popular in Korea but increasingly, in recent years, pop stars like Travis Scott and Yonezu Kenshi have been holding concerts in online games. Game-related IP seems likely to continue growing as a new place for promotions.
“Virtual reality concept” SM draws idols
SM had a new start in recent years with the “SMCU (= SM Culture Universe)”, which is more than just an extension of the MARVEL collaboration. Although the agency’s artists are being used in the universes of American comic book companies MARVEL and DC, every member of the girl group aespa, who debuted in 2020, has a CG avatar and they are the embodied in the SMCU.
Concrete details are still unknown but according to the past SM Congress, not only are all of the SM artists going to be involved in the “SMCU” but the idols and fans will be able to connect in the virtual space via their avatars, regardless of differences in space and time. A collaboration with the aforementioned MARVEL universe is also a possibility.
Previously SM and YG have used holograms to create, in part, a virtual concert. More than just an online concert, a virtual concert can have the feeling of a real world experience. HYBE, in recent years, has invested in “idol virtual reality” by means of AR and XR and it can be said the concept is drawing closer.
Additionally, speaking of HYBE and webtoons, with the announcement of the NAVER and DC comics tie-up, a HYBE and DC collaboration is not only possible but looks promising.
Future issues using 2D works and 3D works
At the aforementioned SM Congress, one topic was the “Prosumer,” who under their own initiative creates and spreads fan art and fan fiction and so on from 2D works and 3D works. Prosumers must be able to take part in expanding the contents of the universe, it was said.
In Japan, the influence of the 2D content prosumer is already recognized to a degree and today we can see convergence culture (fan participation culture) in popular properties. It’s become one of the most important methods of feedback for fans of 2D works and 3D works.
It could be said that the unique K-Pop fan culture of the “Fansite Master”, fans who take photos and video and provide them for the carrying out of public relations, also create derivative works but even within K-Pop’s fandom the influence of fan art and fan fiction is large, in particular it had an outsized influence on popular historic boy groups.
At the beginning of the 2000s, SM had already created a drama starring their idols taken from fan fiction solicited from the fans. Even in recent years, SM administered an social media site called “Fanbook” specializing in fan art, and so on. “Content created from our fan’s hands” is paid attention to.
However, “content from the fans” presents challenges. It’s difficult to know the intention of the agencies and the members themselves, it’s hard to control. Unlike 2D characters who have no “awareness” or “personality”, if fan works featuring flesh and blood human beings are agency (= officially) sanctioned, it is probably necessary for the agencies to keep an eye on the derivative fan works being created.
The Prosumer movement for “authorization”
In 2020 the Korean game company NC SOFT released an app called “UNIVERSE” for use by idol fans in which many agencies participated. There was a paid private call service featuring an AI composite of the artists’ voices but not a small number of fans reacted strongly against the romance simulation-esque elements and the use of the AI elements with the idols’ real voices (there are now restrictions in place but the romantic elements are still there).
Additionally, this year HYBE invested in the American fan app venture “fave”. This app has a system where influencers within a fandom can make money. It’s thought that this is a test to “authorize” the typical American fandom culture of commissions and the influencer economy.
According to the “2020 Hallyu White Paper” published in May of this year by the Korean government agency Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, in 2020, the volume of music related product exports was Japan (65.1 %), China (19.8%), Southeast Asia (12.3 %), North America (1.3 %), Europe (1.2 %). It seems like the breakthrough on the Billboard Chart last year surprised many people.
Actually, although the “percentage of money moved in music related products” is up 30.8% in America and Europe compared to 2018, it’s only 1/60 of the value of exports to Japan. In particular, taking into account the influence of the 2020 pandemic, and the lack of concerts and events and other offline things, it could be said that this percentage is people willing to pay for official IP content.
The topic that made the biggest impression in the white paper is the “importance of improving awareness of official copyright works within Korea” “in particular what stands out is the poor awareness of the copyright issue in some foreign countries but also domestically, this is a point that hinders the foreign expansion of creators ・agencies・ management companies and production companies moving forward and there is an urgent need to develop guidelines to deal with this on a national level and to develop a monitoring system to cut off illegal distribution,” it was pointed out.
Of course, the large percentage of the export ratio to Japan shows the relative level of popularity and evidence that fans are willing to spend money on official IP content. That is, from a global perspective, Japan’s users of “fan activity” have a high awareness of copyright and portrait rights and “authorized sales”.
Until now, to some extent, K-Pop has been known globally for its lack of awareness of copyright but with the growing expansion of IP with all kinds of media, it may only be a matter of time before that awareness of “copyright” and “portrait rights” is changed.