Should AKB48 try to break into the Korean market?

If there was really a timing to enter the k-pop market, its already gone. The K-pop market has very much stagnant over the past year i would say(except EXO).They are now relying on overseas fans and not locals for this momentum and sales they are going at, which is different from 2008-2010 where the growth was mainly locals and i would say there's a limit to this current growth. There are tons of girl group out there now with similar concepts ever since(sexy,cute,blah blah blah.) and if they were to enter a group now, as what was suggested with members of different nationality, it wouldn't work cos there have already been groups in kpop with a few nationalities(if my memories doesn't fail me) and they didn't really succeed(unless you are from the big3). And to add that its a Japanese guy producing this group, i doubt the koreans will buy it at all.

If you do visit korean news websites or read about public views on idols frequently, you will know that most of the koreans are leaning towards the negative side for idols, because there have been too much of them and it have infiltrated almost every aspect of their entertainment .(especially dramas). There's just an influx of idols at tv screens now, i switch on music shows or variety shows and i cant even name most of the idol groups.

Another issue will be with the big players. Its hard to go close to SNSD/2ne1/Sistar and such. Even girls day and a pink only became more popular last year ot two with a catchy song + the fall of T-ara and Kara. There are already the established digital monsters and the physical selling groups in the market and unless you can catch up close on either of one, you will fail ultimately like many others. Unless you are like crayon pop obviously who came up with a very unique song/dance to catch attention but thats it. There's lots of homogeneity in the market now in terms of idol quality and songs.

And if for some particular reason that the 48g have to enter the korean market, i would rather they keep things the same way as the Japanese based one. At least it provides some unique factors to those in the current kpop market.

---kpop fan since 2009

 

then it wouldn't be considered a 48group. What is the point of AKS pouring resources into Korea if they're going to make a "48 group" that's like every other boring kpop group in an already oversaturated industry.

The whole point of creating a sister group in Korea is to have something different than your typical boring idol group that trains for 5 years before they debut.

IDOLS YOU CAN MEET is the whole damn point of a 48 group and the theater is such an important part of the whole idols you can meet concept.

seriously, if you want a 48group in Korea that follows kpop standards, you would be better off writing a letter to SM.

 

@Silenka already said all I wanted to say, but I want to add this: One of the biggest enjoyment of us 48G fans is to see our girls grow from your typical schoolgirl next door to a top national idol. If they were to be trained industrially pre-debut like Kpop groups do, we would lose that important factor of why we love the girls.

So basically you want to create SOL48 but you say it shouldn't have a theater, the girls should be polished before their debut, they should be girls from basically everywhere in Asia (then how is it a Korean group?) and your main arguments are that the Korean market is the tenth biggest worldwide (too bad Japan is only 2nd...) and Jackie Chan did it? Excuse me but LOL. It makes me wonder if you know anything about AKB48 from the way it works to their fans. To me you just sound like a slightly obsessive Kpop fan who just heard some band in Japan had international sister groups and who thought that it was unacceptable that they chose Indonesia and China over Korea because everything from Korea is so great.

The musical style of the 48 groups is very different from Kpop. If we wanted to listen to basic auto-tuned noise we would not listen to AKB. If we wanted our girls to be "fabulous guuurls, fierce bitches, sassy queeens" (actual vocabulary of the average Kpop fan on last.FM) we would not like the girls from AKB.
The only way SOL48 might work is if it follows the recipe used for all the other 48 groups. Even then I don't think it would because the markets are too different and the 48 style is not what is expected in Korea. On the other hand, if it adopted the Korean style I'm sure it would stir controversy in Japan and in the international fandom. So it's a lose-lose situation. I don't think AkiP will ever compromise the soul of its baby (more than he already did ) to sell a few records in Korea.

So in a few words: Never gonna happen.

 

@mdo7: Unrelated, but: APink meets EXO? AKB48 has already done that. We have GLASS no I Love You and Beginner.

I agree with some of the members here: if your idea of a SEOUL48 is to change drastically the way the group works, then I'll pass. AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, HKT48, JKT48, and SNH48 all have the same gist:

• Performs regularly in their own theater
• Have teams; each of which consist of 16 members or more
• Have handshake events for each single released
• Have a sousenkyo where you can vote for your oshimen

This is what makes an xxx48 a sister group of AKB48. They can have different songs, different styles, different composition of members, but a 48group would first and foremost have the idols you can meet principle. You need to be able to see your oshimen and focus on her in the sea of different girls trying to stand out; you need to be able to touch her and converse with her at HS events; you need to be able to watch her regularly on theater shows and not feel distanced by them; you need to see your idols grow from a useless nobody to someone competent and lovable on stage; you need to be able to show your support by voting for them-- that each of the member knows that they'll literally be nothing without their fans.

KPop isn't like this. The fact that there are sasaengs that stalk their idols just so they can get a glimpse of them says a lot about the idol culture in Korea. The idols there are perfectly trained and are not regarded as real human beings; they're a whole different species of gods and goddesses walking on earth. AKB48 members are just your normal girls that happen to sing and dance and appear on TV; you root for them because they're like your little sister or role model or friend-- you've talked to them and see them often and you want them to succeed because they're them. Not because they have a hella voice or are stunningly gorgeous or can do pop and lock, like most KPop idols.

Oh, and also, ALL48 have appeared on music shows, so I don't know why you're bringing up that to SEOUL48? I mean, they're bound to perform on music shows; most idols groups (even nugus) have. Each of them has their own variety show as well (AKBingo!, Hakata Hyakatten, SKE48 Magical Radio, NMB48 Geinin!!!, JKT48 School, and SNHello), so I don't see the difference with what you're proposing.

By the way, the 48g has done stuff that are similar to the cutesy KPop girl groups?


if the video does not show watch the video here


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And sexy stuff like those in KPop?


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So like, I think in terms of concepts and such, they've done what KPop's doing; it doesn't change the group much if you want to make them sing stuff like APink's No No No or Girls Day's Something.

Spoiler

(KPop fan since 2010)

(Though I wouldn't mind seeing Paruru, Ricchan, Annin, Renacchi, Naanya, and Mayu doing Mr Chu )

 

i have thought about seoul48 plenty of times, and i feel that it work, but they wouldn't become mainstream artists. i'm a kpop fan too, and when you look at girl groups, they either have the cute or sexy concept. like the person above said, two examples are a pink's no no no and girl's day's something which are cute and sexy respectively. akb48's music has that jpop kawaii concept, which is something not big in kpop. i mean, there's crayon pop who have something like that but they only become popular because of their funny, quirky dancing.

akb48 is popular because they have the idols you can meet concept. kpop idols are not like that. they are people that were trained and are making money for their agency. in kpop, they are trained and only a select few can be famous. in the 48groups, they girls are basic and average, and they are just like regular people.

to the person that said they want to train the korean 48group girls to cater to them...i'm sorry but that doesn't work. i also know they have companies like that too in indonesia and china, but you don't see that with jkt or snh. if there should be an korean 48group, they will have to follow the exact same training technique they have for the other group, practice in the theater, be a background dancer, and work your way up to a team. but since that isn't what kpop is about, then they won't be a success.

i would be up for a seoul48, but i don't think the korean market would, since 48groups don't have large fanbases over there. i mean, didn't sdn try promoting in korea, but failed?

 

OMG this thread is STILL CONTINUES?????????
What a WASTING TIME!!!

 

Just stop by for some entertainment then I found this comment. True to say I thought this topic could stop at this post Because it's not an insult, it's only a simple truth. the author of this topic must be biased on K-pop really hard.
It's almost made me forgot that mostly K-pop stars tried to make their way into Japan market, learnt Japanese and sang their song in Japanese.
I wonder if K-pop market is that great, why do they had to export their stars to others country?
Oh right! Because they can become lengend at their country if they can sale any single more than a 100k copy.(I'm talking about the real CDs here, not the one you download on the internet for almost free at any sites - and still counting it as "the sales" and called it digital) then again when they're in Japan market, they can sale much more because Japanese actually do pay for it.

In my country, any K-pop fan could get their idol album at the price of 10$ or less, but as a J-pop fan, I will have to pay about 50$ or more for AKB's album.
Just think of a country that there're 1 million people paying 50$ to buy something compared to a country that just 100k people paying 10$ to buy it. And that the ideas of Japan and Korea.
Beside, the Yen (JPY) is worth more than Won (KRW)

 

Not aware of this, but thanks for telling me. Didn't know about that.

 

I'm guessing you're not that much familiar with AKB48's music? Both of the songs I mentioned are performed at concerts pretty often; one is even the A-side of their single.

Though I'm interested in the things you know though, so you can PM me about those maybe? If your offer a few pages back still stands of course.

 

Done, it should be in your Inbox now.

 

No.
I certainly dont want to see this:


Do they go to same plastic surgeons? They all looks similiar lol.
It's not all about looks, but it's seriously scary and demand a serious attention
(If they are variable I saw 4X, 3(X+2) , 1Y, 1Z)
And no please
Kpop is not the taste of most of us here. I try to listen. Urghhh.. robotic voices.
Just no. And some of them are just too bitchy.
No way I could regard most of korean stars as role model. If they were my friends, i would seriously them.


Pretty much why I (and lots of akb fans) love akb the way it is.
(Oh and besides the handshake event)

 

@DaimonMichiko: Can you not? Some of us are fans of KPop as well. How would you feel if people bash AKB48 just because they have horrible teeth and can't sing or dance for the life of them?

 

Totally agreed. This is so annoying – why bash another group when comparing the two? Do they really think that AKG has such little merit they can't win unless the other genre is completely shat upon?

 

In KPop forums, AKB = boobs and boobs and boobs, panties, lingerie, bikinis, lots of boobs, boob jobs, JAV stars, gazillions of horny high school girls, talentless, sounds like rats singing, etc

In AKB / Jpop forum, KPop = plastic, autotune, plastic monsters, America-desperate, world stars wannabes, plastic sugeries, anorexic, too plastic, trying too hard to be sexy, etc.

It's really hard when you're a fan of both...

Do the mods delete posts that are pure hate like those? (or since most of them don't care / dislike / hate Kpop, they just let them be?)

 

I'm not seeing the problem here

 

@DaimonMichiko: Japanese idols get plastic surgery too, I already mention this on my previous post. PS is not a Korean thing, it's common amongst East Asian, Japanese are not an exception.

 

The percentage of people undergoing knife in Korea and the rest of East Asia is just difference.
Most people in other parts of Asia dont undergo surgery, but Korea its more like the >50% does (man or women, idols or not, yes including of non idols). There are documentaries about that anyway. Documentaries mention% of surgery level is so high that besides the street which is specialized for surgery, plastic surgery can be found in almost every big street. This, at least, doesnt happen in Tokyo or other parts of east Asia. I come from east Asia btw. and no- plastic surgery is not that common here. Most of us here leans on what they call "power of make up". I dont know why you said that happens in east Asia because the public perception on plastic surgery is generally not that positive. Even artists has to sneak out of here and reportedly do plastic surgery in Korea. And when a tabloid reveal this - it was considered a big scandal. (and that artist is not an idol- more like a senior star).

Oh yeah you should know that japanese still have negative perceptions on plastic surgery as well.
It is to such an extent where family-in-law would hire a private investigator (they confess this is one of the most common thing to investigate) if they see slight difference in childhood face vs current face. It was even discussed in several media. I forget what they were, unfortunately.


PS: I still dont know why you are asking this question here. Based on what i read, you dont sound like an AKB fan at all. It would be normal for me not to have complete understanding on kpop since this is an AKB forum. In your post, you are actually making statements like "An AKB48 Group should throws away the thing that defines AKB group and adapt Korean culture". Whats the need for them to do so? Why you are comparing AKB and the rest of your idol? comparing AKB to <insert japanese idol groups> are like comparing apple to oranges. What would you expect to conclude when you compare <AKB to Korean groups> ?
There are just lots of cultural differences between the two. Not to mention, the tension between South Korea- Japan, which are probably more intense than China-Japan.

 

Wrong!!! I've seen reports and documentary of not only Korean, but also Japanese and Chinese getting PS too, it's very common, read these:

Japan Today- Strong Yen drawing Japanese Women to Korea for Plastic Surgery

CNN-Plastic Surgery boom in Asia

 

People will tend to partake of things that give them a business advantage, often regardless of stigma. It's as simple as that. That line of thinking will happen all over the world no matter what. To get surgery to look better or not just comes down to individual preference and ability to resist the pressures of society.

 

Also I want to add these 4 articles to dispute DaimonMichiko's claim:

RocketNews24-AV Idol, Rina Nanase's shocking PS

Daily Mail-same as above

Kotaku-Japanese men spend $150,000 to look like Michelangelo's David

Kotaku-Why this Japanese woman turned into a "Plastic Surgery Cyborg"