THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE K-POP MUSIC

INDUSTRY AND SOUTH KOREA’S GROWING

ENTERTAINMENT MAJORS

THESIS

By:

CHESIA DANIELLA

FELICIA DJURIJANTO

NICHOLAS ABEDNEGO

SHEILA DAVIS ANGKASA

VINCENT AURELIUS

SCIENCE CLASS

MASA DEPAN CERAH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-2019

 THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE K-POP MUSIC
INDUSTRY AND SOUTH KOREA’S GROWING
ENTERTAINMENT MAJORS

THESIS

Presented to the faculty of Masa Depan Cerah Christian Senior High School

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for International Exposure Program Project of Entrepreneurship

By

CHESIA DANIELLA

FELICIA DJURIJANTO

NICHOLAS ABEDNEGO

SHEILA DAVIS ANGKASA

VINCENT AURELIUS

SCIENCE CLASS

MASA DEPAN CERAH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-2019

 APPROVAL PAGE

This is to certify that the undersigned committee have read, and recommend to the
Faculty of Masa Depan Cerah Senior High School for acceptance, a thesis entitled
“The Correlation between the K-Pop Music Industry and South Korea’s Growing
Entertainment Majors"

submitted by
Chesia Daniella
Felicia Djurijanto
Nicholas Abednego
Sheila Davis Angkasa
Vincent Aurelius

Mentor ` Coordinator of English Department

Dra. Liem Sioe Ie Netty Poernomo, B.G.S

Principal

Dra. Liem Sioe Ie

i
 EXAMINING COMMITTEE

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “The Correlation between the K-Pop Music
Industry and South Korea’s Growing Entertainment Majors”

submitted by

Chesia Daniella

Felicia Djurijanto

Nicholas Abednego

Sheila Davis Angkasa

Vincent Aurelius

has been examined and approved by the Board of Examiners on Saturday , 9 February 2019.

Examiner I Examiner II

____________________ ____________________

Chairperson

Netty Poernomo, B.G.S

ii
 ABSTRACT

Chesia Daniella, Felicia Djurijanto, Nicholas Abednego, Sheila Davis Angkasa, Vincent
Aurelius. 2018. The Correlation between the K-Pop Music Industry and South
Korea’s Growing Entertainment Majors. International Exposure Program. Masa
Depan Cerah Christian Senior High School. Mentor: Dra. Liem Sioe Ie
Keyword: Major, K-Pop, Entertainment, Music, and Industry.
This study is accomplished to find out how the K-Pop music industry impacts the
variety of entertainment majors in South Korean universities. The shift of attention towards
South Korea for their music industry brings impact to various life aspects in South Korea,
including South Korea’s education and its majors.
The analysis technique used in this research is the Principle of Causality to find out
the specific cause of the growing entertainment majors in South Korea. The Principle of
Causality states that in every phenomenon, there has to be at least one underlying cause. The
researchers picked this method, in which the results of the research showed that the growing
demand of K-Pop idols from the government and the increase of foreign students over the
recent years contributed to the growth of the entertainment majors. The results are gained
through survey research in which researchers have picked clustered sampling as their
sampling method to pick the participants.
Korean Pop, widely known as K-Pop, is a genre that defines South Korea’s modern
culture. The rapid growth of K-Pop brought waves of tourists and students who are willing to
explore more about South Korea’s music. This leads to a huge number of surpluses towards
South Korea’s export of consumer goods, and so the government saw the advantage brought
by K-Pop, and has decided on focusing on the development of their music industry. This
study will find out the correlation between the K-Pop music industry and South Korea’s
growing entertainment majors, and to figure out if studying in South Korean universities is
sufficient for their student’s future career.
The researchers obtained the information needed using a method design called survey
research design. The participants were Korean high school and university students living in
Seoul, South Korea. Participants were given questionnaires with both open ended and close
ended questions. The data collecting process was held during the International Exposure
Program in South Korea from October 15th – 21st, 2018.
A big number of the respondents likes K-Pop and are composed of a lot of teenagers.
Most respondents opinionated that the music industry is made up of teenagers 15-17 years of
age, which means that a lot of them are high school students. With the moderate impact that
K-Pop brings to South Korea, more than half of the participants picked to study music in their
home country. True to their thoughts, a huge number of participants agreed that K-Pop is the
reason as to why the number of people coming to South Korea fluctuated, and they also agree
that Korean universities are great quality wise, although the advantage after earning the
degree in music is still ambiguous.

iii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................................... i

EXAMINING COMMITEE ...................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... iv

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background ....................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Problem ....................................................................................... 2
1.3 Study Objectives ....................................................................................... 2
1.4 Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 2
1.5 Limitation of the Study ........................................................................... 2
1.6 Definition of Key Terms ........................................................................... 3

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 K-Pop Music Industry in South Korea ................................................... 4
2.2 Record Labels in South Korea ............................................................... 5
2.3 Universities Offering Entertainment Majors In South Korea ............... 8

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 Research Design ..................................................................................... 10
3.2 Research Participants ......................................................................... 10
3.3 Research Setting ..................................................................................... 10
3.4 Research Instrument ..................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Data Description ..................................................................................... 12
4.2 Discussion ................................................................................................. 17

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 19
5.2 Suggestion ................................................................................................. 20

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 21

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 23

iv
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the background, research question, study objectives, significance of
the study, research limitations and definition of key terms

1.1 Background
K-Pop, short for Korean Pop, is a word that generally classifies modern Korean
music as a whole that carries both artistic and cultural values. Although K-Pop has been
around for decades, it is not until recently that the K-Pop music industry started rising in
popularity. The main suspects to this sudden upsurge of attention are the increase of
online social networking services and Korean TV shows that are broadcast abroad,
causing the global spread of Korean entertainment including K-Pop music, also known as
the Korean Wave or the Hallyu Wave.
The main cause to South Korea’s recent economic growth is their export-oriented
policies, and the K-Pop music industry has played a huge role in South Korea’s
economical surplus, as an estimated amount of a US$100,000,000 increase in the export
of cultural products led to a US$412,000,000 increase in the export of consumer goods.
This occurrence was then acknowledged by the South Korean Government and after
seeing the positive effects contributed by the Korean Wave on various sectors, several
cultural centers were built and annual concerts are held every year by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to further promote K-Pop music as a part of South Korea’s identity.
Korean music is known to have its own character that differentiates it from others.
Agencies often give each of their groups a “concept” where one group can have a
different visual and musical appeal compared to the others. That being said, these
“concepts”, along with some strategic marketing done by the agencies and skillful singers
and dancers, successfully raised the K-Pop music industry to fame.
As K-Pop spread throughout the globe, more and more people associate South
Korea with entertainment, given that they are “Asia’s foremost trendsetter”, a title
dubbed by The Economist. Students from around the globe travel to South Korea to not
only seek their culture, but also to study various entertainment majors, a sector that South
Korea surely excels at. All universities in South Korea ranging from national to private
universities, big and small, are using this surge of attention towards Korean entertainment
to gain more students, both local and international.

1
 Given all the reasons above, the researchers will conduct a study entitled, “The
Correlation between the K-Pop Music Industry and South Korea’s Growing
Entertainment Majors”.

1.2 Research Problem

Based on the background above, there are two research questions that will be
addressed in this research:
1. What is the correlation between the K-Pop music industry and South Korea’s growing
entertainment majors?
2. Do campuses providing entertainment majors have the required facilities and
connections to ensure their students’ future career in the K-Pop music industry?

1.3 Study Objectives

Based on the research problem above, the objectives of the study are formulated
as follows:

1 To find out the correlation between the K-Pop music industry and South Korea’s
growing entertainment majors.
2 To figure out if campuses providing entertainment majors have the required facilities
and connections to ensure their students’ future career in the K-pop music industries.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will point out how the society’s change in interest can
alter several aspects in the community. Generally, this study will explain how the Korean
Wave has impacted various sectors in South Korea. Specifically, this study will further
explain the connection between the rise of the K-Pop music industry and the growth of
South Korea’s universities, how the education system in South Korea in the entertainment
majors differentiates them from others, and whether or not South Korea’s universities
have the necessary connection to ensure their student’s future in the entertainment
industry.

1.5 Limitations of the Study

This research will inspect South Korean student’s interest towards the
entertainment majors in South Korea as a result from the rapidly rising interest in the K-
Pop music industry. This research will also figure out how the K-Pop music industry
impacts the growing entertainment majors in South Korea’s universities.
2
 The research will be carried out for eight days, starting from October 15th – 22nd,
2018.

1.6 Definition of Key Terms

There are a few key terms that are going to be used throughout the thesis and they
are as follows:
1. Major : “Specialize in (a particular subject) at college or university”
(Oxford Living Dictionary: 2018)
2. K-Pop : “Korean pop music.” (Oxford Living Dictionary: 2018)
3. Entertainment : “The action of providing or being provided with amusement or
enjoyment” (Oxford Living Dictionary: 2018)
4. Music : “Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a
way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of
emotion.” (Oxford Living Dictionary: 2018)
5. Industries : “A particular form or branch of economic or commercial
activity.” (Oxford Living Dictionary: 2018)

3
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This part of the thesis deals with the explanation of K-Pop music industry in South Korea,
record labels in South Korea, and universities offering entertainment major in South Korea

2.1 K-Pop Music Industry In South Korea

Often described as a genre, Korean Pop or K-Pop for short is a word that
describes modern Korean music as a whole that combines various music genres inspired
by the style contained in western music. K-Pop itself has been around since April 11th,
1992, with the trio Seo Taiji and Boys being the pioneer. Seo Taiji and Boys created the
pathway to K-Pop by breaking the stereotypical Korean trot songs from the late 1980.
Despite their disbandment in 1996, they opened a barrier between the Korean culture and
western culture, and between 1995 and 1998, the three well-known music labels, SM
Entertainment, or SM Town, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment, or better known
as “The Big 3”, was created. By SM Entertainment, the first K-Pop boy group was
founded, and this later created an opportunity for the other groups and soloists to pursue
their career in the Korean music industry.

The 21st century marks the global widespread of technological development, and
millennial from all ages, ranging from children to elders, are utilizing technology in
various life aspects, including entertainment. The vast usage of computers, internet, and
social media in human’s daily life are considered normal. This phenomenon is then used
by music labels to their advantage to reach a wider audience, meaning, people outside of
South Korea. The introduction of this new music genre to the outside world rose K-Pop
to fame, and since then, Korean Pop is generally known to consist of three main things
that make them stand out over other music, (Vox.com, 2018) “exceptionally high-quality
performance (especially dancing), an extremely polished aesthetic, and an “in-house”
method of studio production that churns out musical hits the way assembly lines churn
out cars”. These three, along with serious investments in their production department and
their willingness to expand into global markets by releasing albums in different version,
like in Chinese and Japanese, even though it is of the same song, signifies that K-pop is
made to break cultural boundaries and to indirectly show that South Korea is willing to
go lengths to widen their appeal. South Korean artists have hit the Billboard Hot 100
chart at least eight times since the Wonder Girls first cracked it in 2009 with their

4
 crossover hit “Nobody”, released in four different languages, including English — and
the export of K-pop has ballooned South Korea’s music industry to an impressive $5
billion industry.

Given that K-Pop poses a big role in defining South Korea’s culture, the
government gave strict regulations regarding to their music censorship. Although most
South Koreans have relaxed over this topic in the past few years, they used to stigmatize
everything from sexual references to references to drugs and alcohol, as well
as actual illicit behavior by idols. The constant dictation from the society in regards to
this topic causes both record labels and government to do things to prevent controversial
topics, from industry self-censorship, addressing these issues in softer words and banning
songs from broadcasts. However, several artists and studios are willing to risk their
censorship and or let their songs be banned for broadcasts to talk more about societal
issues, and this step in breaking what the society thinks is the norm is part of the reasons
to why K-pop has been able to make international inroads in recent years. The use of
modern themes and sophisticated subtexts without sacrificing their unique concepts is a
formula for continued global success — especially now that South Korea and its culture
has the world’s attention.

K-Pop itself has entered the US for a long time, but it was not until BTS, a K-Pop
boy group that became a global sensation in 2017, won the Top Social Artist in the
BBMAs, receiving a number of votes that outnumbers their rival’s. This attracted
thousands and millions of newer fans, each one questioning the existence of K-Pop and
discovering its quintessential properties that draws their attention. This opened a chance
for the 4th generation K-Pop groups, or the newer groups, to enjoy their success in a wider
spectrum of fans, and exposing the modern K-Pop song to various cultures around the
world. Nowadays, K-Pop is flourishing in many different parts of the world, gaining a
major number of fans through their catchy music and unique concepts.

2.2 Record Labels In South Korea

Record label or music label is often known as a brand or trademark associated

with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Sometimes, a record label is
also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the
production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of
copyright for sound recordings and music videos; also conducting talent scouting and
5
development of new artists, often known as "artists and repertoire" or "A&R"; and
maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The definition of record
labels in South Korea is similar, with slight alterations, in which South Korean does more
work in terms of managing their artist’s activities. Most record labels in South Korea are
responsible for all the works above, along with being a talent agency in which they scout
and train new artists for their upcoming debut, music publishing house, event
management and concert production company. More often than not, these record labels
hold contracts with several groups, duos, and soloists, and even producers and
choreographers.

From approximately 57 record labels, the top 4 biggest and most successful record
labels in terms of their yearly revenue, market capitalization, and their wide domination
over the entertainment industry in the global community are JYP Entertainment, SM
Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and the newest one to join the group, Big Hit
Entertainment, with the rankings written in order. The top three record labels are the first
three K-Pop record labels to exist in South Korea, and since then, they have been
competing and at the same time leading the entertainment industry. These record labels
have extended their market by going public on KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers
Automated Quotations), the secondary trading board of Korea Exchange.

JYP Entertainment has been on top of the list since mid-2018, with the continuing
popularity of their girl group TWICE, highest-grossing Stateside shows GOT7, plus the
launch of several new promising artists, including rookie boy bands Stray Kids and Boy
Story, have helped JYP see its best year. On Thursday, 30 August 2018, JYP’s shares
closed on the KOSDAQ at 31,300 KRW, up 2.29% from the day before. The increase
pushed JYP's market capitalization, the market value of the company's outstanding shares
on the stocks exchange, to 1.09 trillion KRW, exceeding SM's of 1.08 trillion. It is the
first time since it became listed on the KOSDAQ in 2001 that JYP emerged as the biggest
entertainment firm by market capitalization, coming out ahead of former No. 1 SM
Entertainment and now-No.3 K-pop label YG Entertainment. Following the rise of
JYP, is the Big Hit Entertainment that rose atop the entertainment industry with the
global rise of BTS, with that label being the underdog and seeing a huge success on the
global stage. This increase is generated by one group and one duo, BTS and HOMME,
with BTS playing the biggest role in this massive growth. Big Hit Entertainment founder
Bang Si-Hyuk was a former JYP executive who worked on many of the label’s earliest
6
hits. Thought Big Hit Entertainment and JYP Entertainment are rivals, the pair plans on
working together this year. Both JYP and Big Hit have signed on to pursue multi-
company business opportunities in 2018, and it is expected that each continues to see
gains throughout the rest of the year. SM Entertainment is known to be the pioneer of the
record labels in South Korea, topping the chart in terms of their overall sales and stocks
until recently. SM has expanded its wings and is known to be one of few entertainments
to hold auditions abroad in several different countries, and 15 divisions ranging from
entertainment abroad to mobile communications. Despite all this and their efforts on
trying to catch up, SM Entertainment is slowing down due to the lack of promotion and
comebacks, compared to JYP Entertainment’s. YG Entertainment is also left behind with
the market capitalization of 7.4 billion won. Both SM Entertainment and YG
Entertainment have also lost a number of their well known artists, with SM losing almost
half of their popular long-lived girl group Girl’s Generation and lacking promotion on
their older groups, focusing on bolstering newer groups like the girl group Red Velvet
and boy group NCT instead. YG Entertainment is also facing a similar problem, where
they lost their well known girl group 2NE1 and the scandals and hiatus of their boy group
BIGBANG that came alongside with it. They are left with 3 active groups and a few other
smaller acts that may or may not bring much impact when it comes to rivaling the 3 other
steadily-rising record labels.

To get in a music label, individuals need to train so companies can maximize their
abilities to its fullest potential for their debut. More often than not, record labels,
especially big ones, hold annual auditions to scout for more people, especially the
younger generations, to aid in the process of developing newer groups that will in turn
bring a larger profit to the record label. Sometimes, record labels will hold auditions
abroad in hopes that they can widen their appeal. Working in the entertainment industry
is all the rage in South Korea that schools offering training are built so students enrolling
can train to be a part of the K-Pop music industry and become a part of their desired
record label. Every day, “trainees”, the term for people the training phase, learn how to
dance and sing, sometimes learn how to read and write Korean for foreigners. They only
focus on singing and dancing, with no lessons on basic subjects, and they train everyday
for up to 12 hours a day. Through the highly competitive auditions mentioned above,
record labels hand-pick each participant and inducts these talented participants into the
K-pop regimen. Along with rigorous training and learning, they also learn how to
moderate their public behavior and prepare for life as a pop star. Then, when they are
7
 older, stronger, and lucky enough to make it to the debut phase, the studios will place
them into an idol group or even, occasionally, launch them as a solo artist. A lot of these
participants decided to leave because of how gruesome and strict the company can be
when it comes to their training sessions and their physical appeal, in which these 2 factors
are important when it comes to being a K-Pop idol. The industry is notoriously
exploitative, where performers are regularly signed to long-term contracts, known
as “slave contracts,” when they are still children, which closely dictate their private
behavior, dating life, and public conduct.

2.3 Universities Offering Entertainment Major In South Korea

The amount of students migrating to South Korea is steadily growing, as South

Korea provides quality education with cheaper tuition fees than those of other countries
that are popular for studying or famously known as “student countries”. These
advantages, along with the exposure to a very one-of-a-kind culture, a mixture of eastern
and western culture that is, attracts hundreds and thousands of foreigners to study in
South Korea.

With the heart of its culture set in K-Pop, South Korea is the epitome of the
perfect entertainment world, and many people find the interest to study various art and
entertainment major in a land that is famously known for their huge entertainment
industry. This can be seen in the increase of search trend in the keyword “Korea National
University of Arts” from the year 2008-2009 up to the present time. Universities are
using this increase in demand to attract more students by opening up new majors,
especially majors related to entertainment. As stated by Broadway World (2016), the top
5 universities offering performing arts major in South Korea are Korea National
University of Arts, Seoul Institute of the Arts, Chung-Ang University, Seoul National
University, and Sungkyunkwan University, 2 of which are government-owned campuses,
with Seoul National University being the most prestigious and highest-ranked university
in South Korea as for 2018.

Korea National University of Arts is established by the Ministry of Culture and

Tourism, that (KARTS, 2018) “..educates across six areas of art: music, drama, film &
multimedia, theatre, film, dance, art, and traditional art. This university is the first in the
nation to meet the wishes of the world of art and education”. Korea National University

8
of Arts states that they provide majors that consist of the School of Music, School of
Drama, School of Dance, School of Visual Arts, School of Film, TV & Multimedia, and
the School of Korean Traditional Arts. “Each school functions as an independent
educational institution, like the schools mentioned above. Although these six schools are
professional, independent institutions, they actively interact to improve their level of
professionalism across the world of art.”

This shows that the government of South Korea are placing their utmost attention
towards developing their “soft power”, that as Wikipedia stated, means pursuing
achievement of one’s goals by persuading stakeholders using cultural and ideological
power, with K-Pop taking account of most of the impact given. The development of soft
power attracts the attention of global audiences that will improve the perception of the
world towards the South Korean culture as a whole. The ratio of 2:3, showing the
comparison of national universities and private universities for the top 5 universities
offering performing arts major in South Korea, shows that the government is willing to
provide entertainment majors in their universities to support their music industry, in
hopes that more people from the younger generation can take place in this movement.

9
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODS

This part of the thesis deals with research design, research participants, research setting, and
research instrument

3.1 Research Design

For this research, a quantitative and qualitative method design called survey
research design was used.

This research design features two important characteristics. First, survey

researchers ask their participants, who are often called respondents in survey research, to
report directly on their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to the researchers. Second,
considerable attention is paid to the issue of sampling.

3.2 Research Participants

Research participants refer to the individuals involved in a research. Participants

are selected through sampling methods.

The participants in this research were Koreans living in the city of Seoul,
specifically high school and university students. Using clustered sampling method, the
participants were selected randomly from a group of high school and university students.

3.3 Research Setting

The research setting can be seen as the physical, social, cultural site and time in
which the researchers conduct the study.

The research was carried out during the International Exposure Program in South
Korea, in the city of Seoul, starting from October 15th – 21st, 2018.

3.4 Research Instrument

In the data collecting process, the researchers used questionnaires. A

questionnaire is a form of research instrument consisting of a series of questions for the
purpose of gathering information from respondents.

10
 The questionnaires which were used were typical questionnaires with both open-
ended and close-ended questions. The close-ended questions were used to measure the
responses of the participants to a particular phenomenon being examined, while the open-
ended questions allow researchers to seek the respondents thought further about a certain
phenomenon, expressed in their own words.

11
 CHAPTER IV

DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter deals with data description and discussion

4.1 Data Description

4%
8%

YES
NO
NEUTRAL

88%
Figure 1

Figure 1 shows that 88% of the participants like K-Pop. A small fraction, the
numbers showing 8% from the total participants, is neutral about K-Pop, and the last 4 %
do not like K-Pop.

0% 0% 0%

19%
KIDS
TEENAGERS
YOUNG ADULTS
ADULTS
SENIORS
81%
Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the opinion of the participants on what age group makes up a
majority of the K-Pop fans. 81% of the total participants agreed that teenagers are the
biggest contributor to the total number of K-Pop fans in the current moment, followed
with the opinion from 19% of the total participants that young adults make up a majority
of the K-Pop fans. With that said, no participant selected the Kids, Adults, and Senior
option, with 3 of the selection receiving 0% votes.

12
 0%
32% YES
NO

68% NOT SURE

Figure 3

Figure 3 shows that 68% of the participants were certain that they are not planning
to work in the K-Pop industry somewhere in the future. On the other hand, 32% of the
participants are on the fence on whether or not they plan on working in the K-Pop
industry. No participants, meaning 0% of the participants, chose K-Pop as their definite
career choice.

0%
KIDS
43% 12-14 YEARS OLD
15-17 YEARS OLD
57%
18-23 YEARS OLD
> 23 YEARS OLD

Figure 4

Figure 4 shows the participants’ opinion on the biggest age group that makes up
the artists in the K-Pop music industry. A little over half, or 57% of the participants,
thought that the average K-Pop artists are about 18-13 years old. The rest of the
participants, 43% in number, thought otherwise, picking 15-17 years old as their answer.
The rest of the answers however, Kids, teenagers 12-14 years of age, and artists older
than 23 years of age received no vote, with the chart showing 0%.

13
 1
2
0% 12% 3
24% 4
5
23%
6
7
8
41%
9
10

Figure 5

Figure 5 shows the opinion of the participants on the importance of the music
industry towards South Korea’s growing entertainment major on a scale of 1 to 10. 41%
of the participants chose 8 as their answer, followed by 24% of the participants that
picked 9 as an answer, 23% that chose 7, and the rest, or 12% of the participants, chose 6
on the rating scale. No participants chose, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 as their answer, earning 0%
of the total votes.

44% SOUTH KOREA

56% OVERSEAS

Figure 6

Figure 6 showcases the participants’ preference on studying if they were to work

in the K-Pop industry in the future. More than half of the total participants, 56% in the
chart, chose South Korea as their preferred destination when it comes to studying in order
to prepare for a career on the K-Pop industry. The other 44%, however, thinks otherwise
and prefers studying overseas.

14
 12%
0%
YES
NO
NOT SURE
88%

Figure 7

Figure 7 shows the participants’ opinion on whether or not K-Pop impacts the
number of students coming to South Korea for educational purposes. A majority of the
participants, 88% of them, agreed that K-Pop brings impact to the number of students
coming to South Korea, whereas the other 12% chose Not Sure as their answer. No
participant picked no as an answer, thus showing 0% on the chart.

30% YES
NO
0% NOT SURE
70%

Figure 8

Figure 8 shows the participants’ opinion towards the quality of universities in

South Korea that offer entertainment majors when it comes to preparing their students for
the music industry. Based on the data gathered, 70% of the participants picked yes as
their answer while the rest, 30% of the participants, have yet to find out more about this
topic, which is why they picked not sure as their answer. No participant, 0% on the chart,
picked no as an answer.

15
 1 2
0% 9%
3 4
36%

5 6

55% 7 8

9 10

Figure 9

Figure 9 shows the answers that the participants picked regarding on their opinion
on the impact given by the K-Pop music industry to the growth of various entertainment
majors in South Korea in a scale from 1 to 10. 55% of the participants picked a moderate
7 to answer this question, while 36% of the participants picked 8, and the rest, counting
9% in the chart, picked a 6 in the scale. A major number of the other digits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
9, and 10 received no vote, resulting on a 0% in the chart.

26%
YES
44%
NO
DEPENDS
30%

Figure 10

Figure 10 shows the participants’ answer on their opinion on whether or not

students graduating from campuses with a degree in entertainment are highly benefitted
for a chance to be successful over others. More than one third of the participants picked
Depends as their choice of answer, followed by 30% of the participants who picked No,
and the rest, or 26% of the participants, picked Yes as their answer. The small gaps of the
percentage of total answers between each answers makes for a balanced and almost
symmetrical chart.

16
4.2 Discussion

Based on filled in questionnaire, a big number of the respondents, favored K-Pop

and that a lot of K-pop fans are teenagers around 10-19 years of age. Although
respondents that are neutral when it comes to K-Pop wrote that K-Pop is similar to other
songs, a majority of others that preferred K-Pop over other music thought that the blend
of catchy notes in pop songs, along with their powerful performances and deep meaning
in ballad songs made K-Pop unique and preferable. When asked to answer what makes
K-Pop grow in such a fast rate, the opinions are mixed, but the answers mostly revolved
around their talent and their visuals, with some who answered their diversity and the wide
variations of music.

Although intrigued and acknowledging the impact of K-Pop to various aspects in

the society, including the growth of various entertainment majors with more than 90% of
the participant who rated the impact of K-Pop a 7 or 8, no respondents were sure that they
are planning to work in the entertainment industry. In fact, more than half of the
respondents were certain that they are not planning to work in this field somewhere in the
future. This makes it hard for them to know any universities offering entertainment major
that works with a music label, which is why most of the respondents picked “none” as an
answer. Even so, almost half of the participants agreed that the Korean Music Industry is
made up of a big percentage of teenagers 15-17 years of age, which is the same age group
of a high school student, similar to the age of most of the respondents. This makes it vital
for universities to offer various entertainment majors as this can be a platform for the
idols to improve further in terms of their capabilities. The universities have given a
response in regards to this phenomenon, with one respondent who wrote that most
universities in South Korea have entertainment majors, especially the top ten universities
in South Korea.

When they were given a choice to choose between studying more about the music
industry in South Korea or overseas, more than half of the participants chose to study in
their home country, which makes sense given the fact that South Korea is known for their
entertainment industry and technology more than anything else. This also explains why
the participants think that the increase of foreigners in South Korea is due to their
education, especially their quality universities that offer entertainment majors, in which
more than 75% of the participants agreed that K-Pop impacts the amount of students
coming to South Korea, and 70% of the participants said South Korean universities
offering entertainment majors to be a great platform for students to learn and prepare for
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their future career. However, when asked to choose between learning in a record label or
university, some of the respondents chose music label over campuses because they can
learn more about performances and music, while some chose campuses over record label
because they said it is not that easy to learn music and performances all at the same time.

Although learning in a university claims to provide the optimal learning

conditions for the students to grow as an artist, some respondents wrote that it is not
enough as it is not that simple to be a K-Pop artist, and that substituting university is
better if music is what they are focusing on. On the other hand, some respondents
opinionated that studying in a university is sufficient and a respondent even wrote that it
will be very helpful, although the sufficiency of studying in a university was not stated by
the respondent. Some respondents did not know the answer to this question though, as
they have yet to experience it themselves. This explains figure 10, where the diagram
shows a miniscule difference between the respondents that picked Depends, and the
respondents that picked No, with the numbers showing a 14% gap.

Despite the disagreements, K-Pop is still impactful to the global society, let alone
South Korea themselves. This is why a total of 88% of the participants chose a rating of
7, 8, and 9 in rating the importance of the K-Pop music industry in the process of
entertainment major growth in South Korea’s university.

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 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

This chapter deals with conclusions and suggestions

5.1 Conclusion

Based on the data gathered through the research and the data analysis, it can be
concluded that:

1. Most of the participants there like K-pop music and only some are neutral to them, this
shows that they really enjoy their own country’s entertainment and even after adapting
to the worldwide trends, K-Pop music in general still suits the taste of South Koreans.
2. Most of the fans there are Teenagers, while the others are young adults. When linked
to the bigger percentage of teenagers, specifically people in the K-Pop music industry
on the age of 15-17 or 18-23 years old where they are in the age of searching for a
university to enroll in or studying in the university, it can be concluded that
universities are taking this advantage of peaked interest in the entertainment industry
to gain more students through developing their entertainment majors.
3. A minority of the respondents that liked K-pop are taking it seriously, where they
were considering on working in the K-pop music industry while the rest of the
respondents were using K-pop as their entertainment source. This shows that although
little, the ratio of people who are interested in this work field is pretty high,
considering the fact that there are countless jobs available on the market.
4. A large number of participants think that the music industry affects the growth of
South Korea’s entertainment major in a significant manner after observing the increase
of the amount of universities offering entertainment majors. This statement supports
the fact that more and more students overseas are willing to study in South Korea for
majors related to music, explaining the link between the increase of international
students and the growth of entertainment majors in South Korea.
5. Most of the participants prefer to study in Korea if they planned on working in the K-
pop music industry because it is South Korea’s original entertainment, in which they
excel in. Most of the respondents even wrote that South Korean universities offering
entertainment major are sufficient quality wise and that it provides good education for
students interested in this major. That being said, most participants believe that being
successful in the music industry depends on the individual’s luck and the person itself.
19
 Some of them believe that it is a bad choice to choose university as a media to study
K-Pop and would rather study in the record label directly, and vice versa.

5.2 Suggestion

Based on the conclusions presented above, the researchers will offer some
important suggestions as follow:

1. As this topic has not been studied thoroughly and is based on the data gathered from
a small number of participants along with the information gained by the researchers,
more research needs to be done in this field.
2. Most of the participants have other sides to their perspective that they may want to
express even further. Even so, the time and language barrier are the 2 main aspects to
why the participant’s opinion cannot be explained in a detailed manner. More time
should be spent on the data collecting process, and proper translation must be
provided in the questionnaire.
3. Based on the research, South Korea has good aspects that have boosted their
economy in the past decade, with one of their many aspects being their music
industry. They have developed a good system of maximizing a capability they are
really good in, focusing on that aspect, and using any given opportunities to develop
their nation’s soft power, like for instance, the K-Pop music industry. Indonesia can
use this method, search Indonesia’s best capability, and change this country for the
better by first focusing on the economical aspect that will highly benefit Indonesia’s
development.
4. Korean government is very supportive when it comes to finding a part of their
identity that differentiates them from others that can benefit them in several aspects,
and do things that will attract their citizens to join in. Indonesia has cultures and
resources that others do not. The development of these cultures and resources can
both maximize Indonesia’s potential and create workspaces that can recruit people,
thus decreasing the number of unemployed citizens. Seeing the impact of the music
industry that was once seen as unimportant and can seem like a mere entertainment
but turned out to be just as powerful as other governmental aspects, nations should
pay more attention towards developing what they own and grow as their own
country.

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APPENDICES