South Korea Is Bailing Out Their Music Biz, Karaoke Bars
Ministers hope the five-year plan will double the country’s annual sales, online and in shops, to 1.7 trillion won (1.2 billion dollars) by 2013, they said in a statement.
Under the plan, the ministry will open in December this year two concert halls in Seoul, which will specialise in pop music and offer some 4,000 seats in total.
It will also build a K-pop culture centre in Goyang City, around 40 km (25 miles) north of Seoul, by 2013, which will include a 3,000-seat pop concert hall, a hall of honour for local pop artists and an exhibition hall.
The ministry will also support 35,000 noraebangs — karaoke bars without alcohol — across the country by providing karaoke equipment.
What was missing from this report was whether the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry would be sponsoring and supporting the emergent music blog industry. We haven’t extensively covered K-Pop stars like Rain in the past, but send a million won our way and it’ll be all K-Pop all the time around here! We’ll even set up our own karaoke room!
SKorea to spend 91 million dollars to bolster K-pop music [AFP] Bi Rain – With You [YouTube]