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K-pop: The Advances of K-pop Artists into Hollywood

Joseph Hwang 1. K-pop’s Growing Stature and Influence At some point, the Hollywood production system began demanding the casting of K-pop idols. In the initial stage, they invited K-pop idols to join as guest vocalists for the OST recording projects in Hollywood films or dramas. However, they are now seriously considering casting K-pop idols as central or major supporting characters in movies and dramas. I acknowledge that this phenomenon reflects the influence of K-pop, aligning with the growing impact of K-pop’s soft power and its expansive global fandom. Jimin , a member of BTS , is the first K-pop artist to sing the OST for the Fast and Furious franchise. He participated in the OST recording as a vocalist, and the album was released in 2023 alongside that movie. We can discover other similar K-pop artists besides Jimin. Furthermore, Jennie of BLACKPINK was cast in The Idol, HBO’s original drama, and attended the Cannes red carpet, marking her debut in drama. 2. Why Hollywood...

A&R: The Core of the Music Business World

Joseph Hwang


* This article is based on the “2023 Music Industry White Paper” published by the Korea Creative Content Agency, part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.


A&R is a term that combines the first letter of the artist and the repertoire. This A&R means a core person in the world of the music business who further matches an artist and songs and then manages the artist to debut or come back, including the entire recording process. The possibility of hitting a song is very much assigned to the role and ability of an A&R. A&R constantly analyzes, evaluates, forecasts, calculates, and decides how to make the artist’s big success through hits.


In the early days of the music business industry, the boundary between an artist manager and an A&R was not definite. As the industry developed, the role and character of A&R became increasingly distinguished and now specialized and specified, except for small companies.


The A&R should maintain the musical and media publicity senses and observe and catch changes in public trends and emotions. First, the A&R should be able to see through human beings’ merits and defects, including their mental and psychological states, to remarkably bring out the artist’s attractiveness more than anything.


A&R always treats and deals with repertoire information among the pool of songwriters or publishing companies. For this task, A&R must renew the updates of this information around the communities. Also, A&R should be able to get the latest news on who can become the jackpot as the new face artists and composers. Even though the small points shouldn’t be missed unless possible, they should be trained to think differently than others.


The role of A&R, who belongs to a bigger company, is becoming clearer. This means that the role of A&R, including the promotion in charge, is certainly distinguished from that of the specialist in publicity works in larger companies.


However, many people wonder how to be an A&R in the K-pop industry. Unfortunately, there is still no way to enter the official or authorized organizations for education. There is only one way to enter K-pop companies: applying for recruitment opportunities and learning the job under the seniors as an apprentice after being hired.


* References and quotations:

https://welcon.kocca.kr/ko/info/trend/1953646

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