On My Way To Korea

Ever since I’ve been following the k-pop industry, I’ve noticed some very interesting things. They have been branching out of Korea, but have not really made it over to the USA successfully yet.   I read a great book last semester named The World is Flat which explains how the corporate wall between countries has collapsed and how people must compete with everyone else around the world.  If you are at all interested in global business go read this book.  Right now.  Okay, back?  Great read, huh?  Anyway, back to the point.  Entertainment has been an industry that has naturally rejected outside influences on purpose to preserve local talent and also just by having different tastes and languages.  Unlike things like accounting or technical development, every country has different likes and values.  That poses a humongous obstacle for anyone trying to promote entertainment on a global scale.  Because of that, all entertainment has lagged far behind other industries in globalization.

So far, Wondergirls is really the only group from Korea I’ve seen which has actually actively marketed here in America. Even that is super small scale so far, I guess they’re just testing the waters.  I know that Big Bang has released English versions of their music, but I don’t recall seeing any big announcements about it.  Personally, I like the originals much better. You can compare the songs at the bottom of this entry.  Maybe it’s just that I heard the Korean versions first or maybe it’s the fact that people’s voices sound different when they speak a different language, I don’t know. Personally, I would love to see a group like Big Bang make it big here in the states.  I’ve heard some great music from other countries, so I hope that we see more globalization in the entertainment industry.  Sadly, I think that language and cultural barriers will keep that dream at bay.  Who knows though, people probably couldn’t dream we would be where we are these days.  What do y’all think?  Can the music world become flat or is the cultural/language barrier too big?

Here are some of the English versions of some popular Korean songs along with their originals:

Big Bang – Last Farewell (English Version):

Big Bang – Last Farewell (Korean Version):

Wondergirls – Nobody (English Version):

Wondergirls – Nobody (Korean Version):