Korean music television programmes: Important piece to K-pop puzzle

Attending a music television programme has become quite the quintessential experience for many K-pop fans.

Every Thursday to Sunday, it’s common to find long lines of fans queuing (some even queue overnight) to enter the recording of these shows in Seoul.

While weekly music ranking chart shows are also prevalent in other countries, the magnitude of such shows is not quite comparable to that of Korean music shows.

To understand this phenomenon, Yahoo Singapore was at the live recording of a recent episode of popular weekly chart show, M! Countdown.

High production cost

While CJ E&M, the entertainment company that produces M! Countdown, was unable to disclose details regarding production cost, it was evident, upon entering the studio, that the company had invested quite a bit in terms of staging, technology and manpower.

A total of 12 cameras were used to film the one-hour show, in which invited K-pop artistes performed on a stage which was fitted with large screens and elaborate lighting.

Around 200 fans were also allowed to enter the studio on a first-come, first-served basis to catch the performances live in a standing area that was only about 2m away from the stage.

CJ E&M said this was to allow fans to get really close to their favourite K-pop stars, which was something they couldn't experience in large-scale K-pop concerts.

Besides the performances on stage, M! Countdown also aired backstage footage of popular artistes who compete for the No. 1 spot each week, with them revealing their feelings and bickering around, adding liveliness and humour to the music show.

The producers weren’t the only ones who put in a great deal of money and effort into the show.

Artistes and their entertainment companies too took the performances seriously.

According to CJ E&M, artistes were not paid for their performances on M! Countdown.

But these K-pop stars and their entertainment companies still gave their 100 per cent when delivering and preparing for the performances.

For instance, stylists sourced for elaborate clothing and accessories for the artistes such as these wolf-themed shirts of Exo to match their single, "Wolf", and this cute and sweet look of Rainbow.

Props were sometimes used to enhance the performances, such as these used in After School’s pole dancing performance and Girl's Day's sweet and sexy dance.

Shawna Siow, a 25-year-old producer who had attended three of such Korean music shows, estimated that even the cheapest props and backdrops could set entertainment agencies back a good few hundred Singapore dollars.

She added that it could go up to a few thousand Singapore dollars for really elaborate stages.

CJ E&M also revealed that artistes who had a tight schedule and could not confirm whether they could make it for the live filming would usually pre-record their performances.

Fortunately for fans who attended this live recording, only one of the acts could not make it for the live recording.

Others who did pre-recordings still turned up for the live recordings despite having already filmed performances beforehand.

Cost-effective?

These music shows are held weekly, not yearly or quarterly, so it may seem superfluous to spend so much resources on them. But the truth is that these shows are integral to the K-pop culture, and very important for producers, artistes and fans.

For the producers, these shows have a reach beyond Korea, which in turn means more markets for them to tap into.

According to CJ E&M, M! Countdown is aired live not only in Korea but also in 12 countries worldwide simultaneously.

Mnet, the channel which airs M! Countdown in Korea, also organises the MAMA Awards and M! Countdown concerts, an annual award show and a series of concerts respectively.

These shows are frequently exported overseas.

While it’s free to attend M! Countdown in Korea, it costs fans quite a bit to go for the MAMA Awards and M! Countdown concerts overseas.

For example, it cost fans between S$98 and S$198 to go for the MAMA Awards back in 2011 in Singapore, which was a sold-out event.

Tickets for the MAMA Awards in 2012 in Hong Kong were priced between 480 HKD and 1880 HKD (around S$80-300), and it was also a sold-out event.

It’s thus no wonder why these producers wouldn’t mind investing quite a bit in terms of production costs as well as going out of the way to make these shows fan-friendly.

Make it or break it

For K-pop artistes who are debuting, going on these shows is a "make it" or "break it" opportunity.

These artistes spend many years training prior to debuting and these music shows are their only major opportunity to break into the highly-competitive K-pop industry.

For example, Henry from Super Junior-M recently debuted as a solo artiste, and he’s been attending many music shows and showing all he’s got in his performances by singing, doing an energetic dance and even playing and dancing, rather dangerously, on the piano in order to launch a successful solo career.

For artistes who have been in the industry longer, the comeback stage (returning with a new single) is also important as it’s the main promotional platform for their songs.

There’s a lot of prestige in winning and attending music chart shows as this means more exposure for the artistes.

In fact, entertainment companies are so concerned about how their artistes’ songs perform on such music broadcast programmes that a few of the biggest entertainment agencies recently came together to report the manipulation of music charts by some other agencies to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office.

One-in-a-lifetime opportunity

For fans, these shows allow them to meet their idols up close and it may actually be the only chance for some foreign fans who live in countries where K-pop stars might not tour to watch their idols perform.

Thus, it’s common to see fans queuing outside the filming venue early in the morning or even overnight.

A 20-year-old Canadian fan who wanted to be known as Alexandra, said she was an “okay” fan of After School, but still she waited for an hour for the pre-recording of M! Countdown.

She described the experience as “exciting” and "surreal”.

Alexandra later queued patiently with her husband for the live recording even though they were not sure whether they could enter the live recording, as they heard that only 20 people from each fanclub were allowed to enter the live recording.

For other fans who get to see K-pop stars more often, it’s also a special experience to attend such music shows as they are able to have an even more intimate experience with their idols.

That’s because the standing area is close to the stage as compared with usual concerts, and the idols also tend to interact with and wave a lot to the fans.

Two Taiwanese students who wished to be known as Kyun and Machela said they really enjoyed the experience because of the “very good atmosphere” and that Exo was “very close” to them during the performance.

They added that they would be attending another music show in the next few days.

[While there was so much for me to jot down throughout the show, for just one moment, I too couldn’t help but just immerse in the sights and sounds and unleash my inner fangirl – waving and making a saranghae (meaning heart in Korean) sign to Henry who was just a few metres away.]

How to enter Korean music shows

M! Countdown’s live recording is held at CJ E&M Center (2F) Studio every Thursday 6:00pm (KST).

Guests are admitted to the studio for free on a first-come, first-served basis, so make sure to go extra early.

For more information on other Korean music programmes, click here.

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