Home > Music

Why Chinese firms spend billions on scouting Korean composers

  • Published : Jan 13, 2016 - 14:14
  • Updated : Jan 13, 2016 - 14:14

Major Chinese entertainment companies are offering tens of billions of won scouting hit-making Korean composers, according to local reports.

Big name composers like Shinsadong Tiger, who made T-ara’s “Bo Peep Bo Peep” and Apink’s “No No No,” have been sought out by Chinese firms, local news outlets confirmed Tuesday.

image
Shinsadong Tiger (JTBC)
image
Wang Sicong (Youtube)
Duble Sidekick, known for making Sistar’s “Give It to Me” and ZE:A’s “Illusion,” was also offered billions of won for signing with a Chinese firm, the reports said.

“There have been moves to scout Korean composers, following the recruit of Korean variety show producers and celebrities,” Bae Kyung-ryeol, head of Ready Entertainment’s China business said in an interview with Munhwa Ilbo.

“Going beyond just importing K-pop content, it’s trying to make its own.”

According to the report, A-list composers like Shinsadong Tiger and Duble Sidekick receives 10 billion won ($8.2 million) to sign a deal.

Some 10 billion won may seem like too much for a composer’s salary, considering popular hallyu stars get paid 5 billion won to star in a film or drama, while variety show producers get 1 to 2 billion won in guaranteed wages, plus additional fees per episode.

But why do they get paid more than celebrities? Market insiders say it’s the copyright that the firms are buying along with a composers’ songs.

While one typically has to pay royalties to a song, it can secure the copyright when the composer is signed to the company.

Even if only one song becomes popular, the income from its royalties could be incomparably high in a country of more than 1.3 billion people.

“China has yet to develop professional composers who make pop music,” a producer told the daily anonymously.

“It’s like learning to catch fish rather than buying them,” he added.

Another reason for Korean composers’ popularity in China is that music transcends culture, language, region and race, according to the paper.

“Korean TV dramas or variety shows have limits in being exported to other countries, because of their language barriers. On the other hand, everyone can communicate through music. For this reason, Chinese companies have good enough reasons to spend 12 billion, sometimes 15 billion won, on scouting major composers,” the producer added.

Most recently, Shinsadong Tiger helped girl group EXID sign with Banana Project, owned by China’s largest real estate developer Dalian Wanda Group’s heir Wang Sicong.

It is believed that Shinsadong Tiger will also be involved with Banana Project’s music business in the future.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Most Read Stories : Week