South Korea s music industry

　　韓國音樂產業

　　Top of the K-pops.

　　韓流頂端。

　　Korean musicians must export or starve.

　　韓國音樂家，音樂外銷成唯一出路。

　　PSY is having the time of his life. On August 12th at astadium in Seoul, the rap star s concert felt like the only party in town. He entertained30,000 fans for almost four hours. And this veteran of the South Korean charts has suddenlybecome popular in the West, since the video for his song Gangnam Style , in which he ridesan imaginary horse around a posh part of Seoul, went viral on YouTube. The track even hitnumber one on the iTunes dance chart in Finland.

　　PSY火了。8月12 日，這位說唱明星在首爾一家體育館內舉行了演唱會，場面火爆萬人空巷。他為30000名粉絲表演了近4個小時。不僅如此，新歌 江南style 騎馬舞MV在油管的爆紅，使得經常登上韓國音樂榜單的PSY在西方也贏得了矚目。這首歌甚至在芬蘭iTunes舞曲排行榜上也成為了第一。

　　Korean pop is turning into an export success. Groups such as SuperJunior and 2NE1 now sell millions of CDs and concert tickets in other parts of Asia. As K-popzooms up the foreign charts, share prices of leading labels, such as SM Entertainment, havesoared too.

　　韓國流行音樂正取得出口上的成功。諸如super junior和2NE1等組合在韓國以外的其他亞洲地區售出了上百萬CD及演唱會門票。韓流在外國的飛速發展，讓SM等大型唱片公司的股票價格水漲船高。

　　But the outlook at home is less rosy. With the world s fastest broadband connections, Koreanshave embraced downloading. This in itself is not a problem, but the way they do it is.

　　不過，韓國音樂產業在國內前景卻不容樂觀。有著全球最快寬帶速率的韓國人喜歡從網上下載音樂，這本身并不是問題，問題出現在下載的方式上。

　　In other countries, many music-lovers still pay for downloads, through the likes of Apple siTunes shop. Fans typically shell out at least 99 cents per track . Of this, 70% goes to music labels and artists.

　　在其他國家，許多音樂愛好者付費，通過蘋果Itunes等在線商店下載音樂。一般下載一首歌曲的價格至少為99美分。其中，音源下載收入的70%會交給唱片公司和歌手。

　　In South Korea, the market works differently. Subscription-based services, which allow thelistener to rent music, are extremely popular. For a period of one month fans of rock andpop music pay a fee of around 9,000 won for 150 tracks. Such services have helped todrive overall music sales to 430 billion won in 2011.

　　韓國音樂市場的運營模式則不一樣。該國的訂閱服務允許用戶租聽音樂，這種服務在其國內極其流行。有段時間，只需支付9000韓元，愛好搖滾或流行音樂的用戶就可以在一月內租聽150首歌曲。2011年，該項業務的銷售額為4300億韓元。

　　Alas for labels and artists, however, their payout is miserly. Under subscription deals, theycollect as little as 30 won per track. This must then be split between performers, writersand the label itself. SM Entertainment s boss complains that even 1m downloads cannot coverthe cost of making a music video.

　　不過，唱片公司和歌手就悲劇了，他們從中獲得的分紅簡直少得可憐。訂閱銷售模式下，唱片公司和歌手每首歌只能收取30韓元。就這點錢還得在表演者、作詞作曲者和唱片公司間進行再分配。SM公司老板抱怨說，100萬下載量收取的分紅還不夠MV制作費。

　　The fear of illegal downloading keeps the average price per track of digital music low. Thatthe subscription-service operators are a powerful oligopoly further reduces the labels bargaining power. Thus, SM Entertainment took in a trifling 1.9 billion won in domesticdigital sales in the first quarter of 2023. By contrast, the firm sold CDs worth 3 billion won,despite the physical format s supposed demise.

　　為遏制非法下載，數碼音源的價格被壓得很低。而租聽服務運營商的壟斷地位，進一步壓縮了唱片公司的談判空間。因此，SM公司2023年第一季度的國內音源收入才19億韓元。形成鮮明對比的是，盡管有朝一日CD終將被淘汰，該公司的唱片銷售額仍舊達到了30億韓元。

　　SM Entertainment and other purveyors of K-pop cover this shortfall at home by having theirstars hawk the latest phone, or appear on television variety shows. The biggest labels havebecome adept at squeezing cash out of their pop stars names, rather than their music. Butonly a handful of musicians are famous enough to benefit.

　　SM和其他公司通過讓明星代言最新手機，或是參加電視綜藝節目來彌補這塊收入短板。唱片巨擘們善于利用偶像名號賺取利潤，音樂本身反倒其次。不過，能單以名氣吸金的明星畢竟只占少數。

　　South Korea s old business model, perfected by its carmakers, was to use a captive homemarket as a launch-pad from which to invade foreign shores. The country s pop musicianshave turned this model upside down: they have to export their tunes to make up for meagrepickings at home.

　　傳統的韓國商業模式已由汽車制造商發展到極致，即先掌控國內市場，然后以此為跳板征服外國市場。而這個國家音樂人卻將這個模式顛倒過來：不得不通過音樂出口來補貼國內的微薄收入。

　　South Korea s music industry

　　韓國音樂產業

　　Top of the K-pops.

　　韓流頂端。

　　Korean musicians must export or starve.

　　韓國音樂家，音樂外銷成唯一出路。

　　PSY is having the time of his life. On August 12th at astadium in Seoul, the rap star s concert felt like the only party in town. He entertained30,000 fans for almost four hours. And this veteran of the South Korean charts has suddenlybecome popular in the West, since the video for his song Gangnam Style , in which he ridesan imaginary horse around a posh part of Seoul, went viral on YouTube. The track even hitnumber one on the iTunes dance chart in Finland.

　　PSY火了。8月12 日，這位說唱明星在首爾一家體育館內舉行了演唱會，場面火爆萬人空巷。他為30000名粉絲表演了近4個小時。不僅如此，新歌 江南style 騎馬舞MV在油管的爆紅，使得經常登上韓國音樂榜單的PSY在西方也贏得了矚目。這首歌甚至在芬蘭iTunes舞曲排行榜上也成為了第一。

　　Korean pop is turning into an export success. Groups such as SuperJunior and 2NE1 now sell millions of CDs and concert tickets in other parts of Asia. As K-popzooms up the foreign charts, share prices of leading labels, such as SM Entertainment, havesoared too.

　　韓國流行音樂正取得出口上的成功。諸如super junior和2NE1等組合在韓國以外的其他亞洲地區售出了上百萬CD及演唱會門票。韓流在外國的飛速發展，讓SM等大型唱片公司的股票價格水漲船高。

　　But the outlook at home is less rosy. With the world s fastest broadband connections, Koreanshave embraced downloading. This in itself is not a problem, but the way they do it is.

　　不過，韓國音樂產業在國內前景卻不容樂觀。有著全球最快寬帶速率的韓國人喜歡從網上下載音樂，這本身并不是問題，問題出現在下載的方式上。

　　In other countries, many music-lovers still pay for downloads, through the likes of Apple siTunes shop. Fans typically shell out at least 99 cents per track . Of this, 70% goes to music labels and artists.

　　在其他國家，許多音樂愛好者付費，通過蘋果Itunes等在線商店下載音樂。一般下載一首歌曲的價格至少為99美分。其中，音源下載收入的70%會交給唱片公司和歌手。

　　In South Korea, the market works differently. Subscription-based services, which allow thelistener to rent music, are extremely popular. For a period of one month fans of rock andpop music pay a fee of around 9,000 won for 150 tracks. Such services have helped todrive overall music sales to 430 billion won in 2011.

　　韓國音樂市場的運營模式則不一樣。該國的訂閱服務允許用戶租聽音樂，這種服務在其國內極其流行。有段時間，只需支付9000韓元，愛好搖滾或流行音樂的用戶就可以在一月內租聽150首歌曲。2011年，該項業務的銷售額為4300億韓元。

　　Alas for labels and artists, however, their payout is miserly. Under subscription deals, theycollect as little as 30 won per track. This must then be split between performers, writersand the label itself. SM Entertainment s boss complains that even 1m downloads cannot coverthe cost of making a music video.

　　不過，唱片公司和歌手就悲劇了，他們從中獲得的分紅簡直少得可憐。訂閱銷售模式下，唱片公司和歌手每首歌只能收取30韓元。就這點錢還得在表演者、作詞作曲者和唱片公司間進行再分配。SM公司老板抱怨說，100萬下載量收取的分紅還不夠MV制作費。

　　The fear of illegal downloading keeps the average price per track of digital music low. Thatthe subscription-service operators are a powerful oligopoly further reduces the labels bargaining power. Thus, SM Entertainment took in a trifling 1.9 billion won in domesticdigital sales in the first quarter of 2023. By contrast, the firm sold CDs worth 3 billion won,despite the physical format s supposed demise.

　　為遏制非法下載，數碼音源的價格被壓得很低。而租聽服務運營商的壟斷地位，進一步壓縮了唱片公司的談判空間。因此，SM公司2023年第一季度的國內音源收入才19億韓元。形成鮮明對比的是，盡管有朝一日CD終將被淘汰，該公司的唱片銷售額仍舊達到了30億韓元。

　　SM Entertainment and other purveyors of K-pop cover this shortfall at home by having theirstars hawk the latest phone, or appear on television variety shows. The biggest labels havebecome adept at squeezing cash out of their pop stars names, rather than their music. Butonly a handful of musicians are famous enough to benefit.

　　SM和其他公司通過讓明星代言最新手機，或是參加電視綜藝節目來彌補這塊收入短板。唱片巨擘們善于利用偶像名號賺取利潤，音樂本身反倒其次。不過，能單以名氣吸金的明星畢竟只占少數。

　　South Korea s old business model, perfected by its carmakers, was to use a captive homemarket as a launch-pad from which to invade foreign shores. The country s pop musicianshave turned this model upside down: they have to export their tunes to make up for meagrepickings at home.

　　傳統的韓國商業模式已由汽車制造商發展到極致，即先掌控國內市場，然后以此為跳板征服外國市場。而這個國家音樂人卻將這個模式顛倒過來：不得不通過音樂出口來補貼國內的微薄收入。