By Mark Russell (of the Korea Gig Guide)
Steven Kim, the founder of the Jisan Valley Rock Festival, has lived in the middle of Korea’s live music scene since 1997. He attempted to launch the first summer music festival way back in 1999 with the Triport Rock Festival, but unfortunately a typhoon rained out the fun that year (well, I had fun anyway, but the rain did not help the concert). Seven years later, he tried again with Pentaport (same location, but two more ports, apparently), and once again he was met by torrential rains, but this time the festival survived.
Over the next couple of years, Pentaport flourished, but a conflict with his partners last year led Steven and his company Nine Factory to create the Jisan Valley Rock Festival instead. Despite being crazy-busy, Steven took the time to answer a few questions about Jisan Valley and the local music scene for the Gig Guide. Enjoy.
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Mark: How has the Korean music scene changed the most since Triport?
Steven Kim: Yes, I think the music scene changed quite a lot after Triport and the late ’90s, and changed further in the early and mid 2000s. I think the changes are now going on every year.
The biggest change in Korea is that the retail music market has downsized drastically. For example, [a few years ago] there were over 1,000 music record retails shops in Korea, but now there are only about 50 stores around the whole of Korea, waiting to be closed.
Younger Koreans are the most advanced users in getting and downloading digital music online. Although many do purchase those downloads, the overall market is not very significant.
The concert market has increased over the last 10 years, but it has been a very slow and gradual increase. However, the markets have become diversified, with many different genres of music and concerts, which is a good thing and it shows some potential for growth in the future.
Any increase in the market share of concerts is probably due to the growing number of female audiences and their ever-growing purchasing power. Whether it be rock or pop or pop idols or musicals, nowadays most of the tickets sold are snatched up by female fans, who represent about 80% of the market. Similar female dominance in the market share is happening throughout the entertainment industry, like for movies, art galleries and even some sports like baseball.
Mark: How would you compare the live music scene in Korea to other countries around Asia? Japan? South Asia?
Steven: Comparing any Asian countries’ music or live industry to Japan is very futile. Japan now is officially #1 music market in the world (the United States dropped to #2 last year) and it is a top-5 market in the world for live music. The rest of the Southeast Asian countries’ live music industry is still in an early stage.
Mark: What has been the biggest challenge for you as a concert promoter? Was it Triport? The first Pentaport? Some other concert?
Steven: Dealing with a fragile, weak market every day. Whether it is multi-day festival or weekday concert, it is work for us — but our work doesn’t make us tired and we welcome any work-related challenges.
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You can read rest of the article here.
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Note: This year’s Jisan Valley Rock Festival runs July 29-Aug. 1. More acts should be announced mid-May. You can buy tickets for this year’s Jisan Valley Rock Festival in English online here, or by calling 02-3443-9969.
