Meanwhile, over at the other blog...

Some thoughts on Korean movies in America, live music websites, and other things over at my new blog. I guess I should get into the habit of writing over there. Feel free to check it out if you like.

Shin Joong-hyun's Fender Guiter, Other Random News

Jason Strother has a fun and interesting article about Korean rock great Shin Joong-hyun getting honored by Fender with his very own guitar. Apparently it was the first time Fender has given that honor to an Asian artist. There is a longer audio version of the story, too.

The Korea Times just published a surprisingly thorough look at the year ahead in movies. The article lists a lot to look forward to, from big names to long-time-coming sequels.

An interesting article on Asian-American hiphop, particularly in the Los Angeles area.

Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics) is producing The Wondergirls' new album? (Okay, apparently this was announced a couple of weeks ago, but I just noticed it. And am rather stunned).

Hey, Darcy Paquet's book, NEW KOREAN CINEMA, is out at last. Very cool. Looking forward to reading a very different take on the Korean film industry than I wrote about. Hope to get some sort of review up here before too long.

You have undoubtedly heard plenty about Korean TV dramas and other entertainment doing well all over Asia and beyond... But here is an intriguing story about the old MBC drama JUMONG becoming a bit hit in Iran.

With the country being rocked right now by a democratic uprising, it is fascinating to learn a little bit about the changing going on these days to popular culture in Iran. I have met with several Iranian filmmakers and poets over the years (and regular folk, of course), and I am constantly intrigued at how different life is there compared to how most people in the West think it is.

Real Pop Wars: Episodes 1 and 2 -- The Fans Strike Back

Two interesting music stories in the news that seem very different, but that both revolve around the issue of audience power fighting with the powers-that-be.

The first and more fun one is about the latest battle between rival fans clubs, as fans of Big Bang and the Wondergirls teamed up to screw over fans of Dong Bang Shin Gi (aka DBSG, aka Tohoshinki, aka Tong Vfang Xien Qi, aka TVXQ). It seems that fans of Big Bang and the Wondergirls got together and reserved nearly all the 1,700 tickets to a DBSG concert. Then, at the last minute, they released those tickets, so they went unsold, the seat unoccupied. Impressively bitchy maneuver.

The more serious story I came across was a talk by Ian Rogers (CEO of Topspin and former head of Yahoo music) about how the CD business is dying and that "I don't care." The key point of his argument is that CD sales are down, but that is hurting the record labels much more than it is hurting the artists. In fact, for many artists, the new business model that is emerging is better, with a much broader middle class of artists who can support themselves through Web sales, touring, merchandising, etc.

I suppose his thesis is not groundbreaking these days, but it was a happy thing to think about, as applies to the Korean music industry. Korean music moguls have for the most part recognized this change for some time. After all, the Internet destroyed Korea's CD sales quicker and more seriously than anywhere else on the globe (that I know of). Which is why almost all musicians in Korea have been signed to 360 deals for ages -- the money is in the celebrity, not the music itself.

One thing Rogers recommends, though, is instead of signing 360-deals with record labels, artists should create their own 360 deals with themselves. Labels can help artists, but they are no longer the be all and end all.

I wonder if (and hope that) we are going to see these effects in the Korean music industry? Korean young people have had so little choice for so long, most are sadly unaware of what music can and should be. Not that teen-pop and ballads are terrible, but there are a lot more options in the world.

When are Korean independent bands going to grow more assertive about challenging the status quo? When are Korean music fans going to assert themselves more, and take advantage of the limitless options the Internet age provides? I would like to think that one reason the live music scene has been improving so much over the past couple of years has been because of these very issues.

Symphony for the Devil

This is an interesting development -- the New York Philharmonic is debating whether to play in North Korea. Apparently the orchestra will be playing in China in February 2008, and since they would be in the neighborhood, they could potentially swing by Pyongyang for a show.

Bizarre, you say? Or worse, endorsing an evil regime? I hope that is not what you are thinking, because the idea has some interesting possibilities.

The State Department supports the trip and has helped guide the orchestra in planning. Orchestra management calls the visit purely musical and apolitical, but Korea experts say a concert in Pyongyang by a major American orchestra would be a publicity coup for North Korea.

“This is going to be a major media event, particularly on the Korean peninsula,” said Frederick F. Carriere, the executive director of the Korea Society, a nonprofit organization that seeks closer ties between the United States and both Koreas. “You couldn’t get that from Ping-Pong, or whatever.” He said that in the view of North Korea, normalizing relations with the United States was “absolutely key” to improving ties with South Korea.

Besides, if there is anything an orchestra understands, it is following in lock-step to the whims of a madman.

Okay, I joke. But seriously, though, classical music still has real power to shape people's thinking. I'm reminded of Glenn Gould's trip to Russia back in the 1957. But do the North Koreans take their classical music as seriously as the Russians do (or did)?

I just talked to Andrei Lankov (the obvious go-to guy for comparing North Korea and Russia), and he said that the North Koreans do take their classical music seriously. They have not politicized it the way the Soviet Union did (although they did ban the public performance of classical music for about 15 years, in the 1960s and 70s), and it is probably the least controversial part of high culture, accepted in a way that painting and the other Western fine arts art not.

So if classical music is relatively accepted in NK, how can performances by the New York Philharmonic help? Well, it is always good to show Americans in a positive way publicly in North Korea. If it could lead to a North Korean orchestra playing in the United States, so much the better. Since so much of NK is built in propaganda and lies, the more channels you have to bring in outside information and influences the better.

UPDATE: Thanks to the Marmot for the link. I also have written something of a follow-up.

Music Execs Killed the Radio Star

Okay, so the movie industry can be pretty dumb at times. But why is the music industry so actively and aggressively evil? And stupid. So very, very stupid.

I complain based on the decision in the United States to dramatically raise royalty payments on Internet radio. Over the last couple of years, I would say that well over half of my CD purchases have come from acts I have heard via Internet radio. No Internet radio means no purchases, and no money for the record labels. How is that equation difficult to understand?

Time to re-listen to Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows"....
Everybody knows that the fight is fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich stay rich,
That's how it goes...
Everybody knows.

Btw, there is on online petition to save Internet radio over here.

(UPDATE: I don't seem to have "Everybody knows" on my computer. So instead I listen to "My Secret Life". Which is apropo of nothing... but it is a good song.)