When the whole world went into lockdown, few of us may have understood at the time the impact the pandemic would have on our enjoyment of K-Pop. For those of us far away from South Korea, the impact on travel might have presented a temporary suspension of international concert tours or fan-meetings. For those of us closer to Korea, the sudden limit on travel would have caused concern but it seemed foreseeably short.

For others, we may have understood how much longer a wait we were in for — and how, more than a year and a half later, travel bans continue to keep us away from live experiences of K-Pop.

And whilst K-Pop fans are very aware of how quickly the industry adapts and spreads content, two very significant events happened that we can positively say were necessitated by the COVID pandemic.

These were: the speeding up of technologies that changed the online experience of K-Pop, and the marked raised profile of both:
1) K-Pop as a genre to be reckoned with, and
2) groups that embraced these technologies and found themselves surging in popularity.

Companies and artists who were able to swiftly harness the captive attention of their online audience benefited tremendously – and an industry which took an initial hit when the pandemic struck, found itself capturing fan loyalty and wealth in new and perhaps more efficient ways.

The Seoul Story has already covered old school versus new methods of enjoying K-Pop in a recent article but all those worries of poor quality videos and difficult access are well and truly out the window as many companies embraced the online and now much more international audience and provided new and more accessible ways to appreciate idols.

The Cosy and Close-Up Concert Experience

K-Pop artists are all very experienced at communicating with audiences via such live streaming platforms as Naver V Live and Instagram live. Shifting into concert mode would not have been much of a stretch for them, despite the relative silence in the performance space devoid of an audience. While the costs of staging a concert online would probably remain similar to a live staged event (including rehearsals, costumes, crew and staff, dance back up and production costs such as design, sound and light and so forth), the companies would not be able to charge fully for the experience as the fans would only be experiencing the concert on their devices. 

Thus many groups and soloists dialled down the costs by creating more intimate and cosy, bare-staged online concert experiences that allowed a modicum of performance value and even some audience interaction.

Further to that, the online experience being the only avenue for appreciation of a live performance, meant that more viewers would pay to tune in, thus making the venture a lucrative one that benefited the producers, and created an even tighter knit between the artist and fans — an intangible asset that is so very important in K-Pop that Western pop artists are only barely beginning to understand is to their benefit.

The MEGA Online Concert Experience

When SHINee returned as a full group, they held a SHINee World concert that SM Entertainment conceptualised under their Beyond LIVE concerts using immersive technology to create an augmented virtual experience that extrapolated above and beyond the regular online concerts that the music performance industry was already utilising. 

They reportedly grossed USD 4 million streaming the concert to 100,000 fans. Even though the technology was top notch, the ticket price still had to match the limitations on the audience of the online device-viewing experience. Even so, it set the precedent for future online experiences — even when borders open up in the future.

The One-on-One Fan Video Calls

Gone are the days when International fans would pore enviously over moments shared by the lucky few who got to attend fan-signing events where photography and one-on-one interactions with their idols could happen for a fleeting moment.

Now groups regularly hold online one-on-one video calls with fans which allows fans to enjoy the attentions of their idols, no matter where they are from. Groups whose members have a good grasp of other languages, such as English, Spanish and Mandarin could capitalise on these opportunities to foster that very unique sense of ownership K-Pop fans have that their western counterparts do not — a feeling that they belong to their idols, and their idols to them.

The sense of immediacy that was ever-present in the K-Pop experience was further heightened by the feeling that one personally mattered to one’s idols, as a fan and online friend.

The Paid Personal Relationship

Bubble and Universe are new ways to interact more personally with your idol. These paid services are a type of broadcast messaging system managed personally and in real life by your idols, with boundaries and gatekeeping pathways firmly in place. 

In essence, one subscribes to receiving personal private messages from your idol who may share pictures, videos and audio messages with you — even addressing you by your name. Fans may reply with a character-limited text and emojis, and are expected to keep the conversations and shared media private.

It is a form of role-play, since the idol does not see who you are even though they see your message, and can choose to have their message to you addresses in your name for that intimate touch.

If a fan understands the purpose of this app — which is to deliver restricted doses of pure dopamine with every message received – the benefits are of great value. There is something to be said about feeling appreciated and heard, even if one is aware the relationship is virtual. In this time of isolation and perhaps enforced disengagement, the value is real.

Merchandise

The upward shift in online streaming has a double value — where before a digital release would have been consumed as a filler or meanwhile product in between physical album releases or concerts, now digital albums are the ultimate form of musical release, with physical albums becoming more of an incidental bonus. Added to that, the extras included in a physical album have become more valuable, as they are limited and tradeable.

Whilst some asking prices for photocards have reached into the hundreds, the value of those cards are only confirmed once someone pays for them — and we may never know exactly unless the seller verifies.

The importance of merchandise in K-Pop has always been there — it’s just that now its significance as only one of a few avenues that any fan can truly partake in in the consumption of the K-Pop product has increased.

We have yet to see how the concert experience will be after the world opens up in the future. One thing is for certain, the K-Pop world adapted quickly and jumped on new trends and technologies quickly to recapture their market. This was due to both the industry itself, which has always been a highly competitive, highly productive industry – and the fans, who have always been highly motivated and incredibly mobilised to support their idols.

Written by: Christina O
Featured Image by: Agnes