November 11, Seoul--- The Korean Society of Culture Industry held a symposium in honor of Paik Nam-june to understand the role of pop culture in contemporary society. In attendance was the head of the Korea Creative Industry Research Institute, Ko Jung-min, currently a professor at Hongik University.
He spoke about how the music industry is overcoming its third crisis, that being illegal downloading. The first he noted was radio Broadcasting, and the second, TV. He attributes the globalization of K-pop, dubbed “Hallyu” or Korean wave as an attempt to capture the market share to make up for revenue absent due too illegal downloading.
He projected that, “In order for Hallyu to survive …and continue its fever, international copyrights, penetration into the U.S. market, diversification of revenue sources, overcoming of anti-Hallyu, and bilateral exchange are needed.”