Do Music Moguls Know a Secret About K-Pop?
More and more, American artists are being drawn to the culture, fashion and music of Asia. Will.i.am is producing tracks on 2NE1's next album, Kanye West is working with JYJ, and Wonder Girls recently opened for the Jonas Brothers. It's been said before, but this may be the year that K-pop breaks through into American pop culture. Can K-pop cross over or is it exclusive to an Asian population? Do K-pop artists need to have an English language single or can an in-language song make it in the U.S. market? What exactly is K-pop anyway?
Presenters
Jeff Yang writes the weekly column Tao Jones for the Wall Street Journal Online, and is a regular contributor to WNYC radio, as a pundit on Friday Follow panel on PRI's "The Takeaway" and as a correspondent for "The Brian Lehrer Show."
Prior to joining the Journal, for seven years, Yang wrote Asian Pop, a biweekly column on Asian and Asian American media, entertainment, technology and culture for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was the founder of aMagazine: Inside Asian America, which grew into Asian America's largest and most influential English-language media institution, and of aOnline.com, one of the first Asian American content and community sites on the web, and is the author of a number of bestselling books, including Eastern Standard Time; I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (the international action hero's official autobiography); Once Upon a Time in China; and the new graphic novel collection, Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. Volume two of Secret Identities is scheduled for a Fall 2012 release.
Yang lives in Brooklyn, NY.
CEO of S&C Group, LLC. Founded Koreaboo in 2010 after an extensive background in marketing, particularly in the social media field.
Koreaboo has grown to be one of the largest international news portals for K-POP, receiving exclusive partnerships with some of the top management companies in Korea such as Cube Entertainmnet. Established as the first organizers of K-POP Convention at the LA Convention Center in 2010.
With over 1million+ readers a month, Koreaboo has established itself as one of the leaders in the Hallyu Wave.
Ted Kim is currently EVP Strategic Planning & Business Development of CJ Entertainment America where his duties include corporate strategy and planning as well as leading the company's English language production activities. CJ Entertainment is a vertically integrated media company active in film, television, music, live performance and electronic media and one of the leading media and entertainment studios in Asia.
Ted most recently led the company’s development and production partnership with 1492 Pictures and Chris Columbus. He is also currently a producer on the English language feature films “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” (Warner Brothers), “A Bittersweet Life” (Fox) and “Korean Wedding” (Lions Gate) for CJ Entertainment. Ted was an integral part of CJ’s acquisition of ImaginAsian Entertainment and is a member of the Mnet US Board of Directors.
Prior to joining CJ Entertainment, Ted was an attorney with over 13 years of experience as a key legal and financial strategist for clients in entertainment, media and technology.
Friday, March 16
