The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 207

207. Awakening of Popular Culture

One month later.

In the Ministry of Culture’s conference room, the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Culture, Vice Minister, Director of Popular Culture, Broadcast Censor, Director of Broadcast Programming, Director of Entertainment, and veteran advisors gathered for a free discussion on strengthening the competitiveness of popular culture.

The staff presented the following measures:

– Establishment and expansion of practical music departments in universities

– Activation of popular song contests to discover new singers

– Increase in music broadcasting programs

– Relaxation of popular culture censorship

– Establishment of overseas promotion companies (entertainment companies)

These mainly focused on education, talent discovery, and broadcast programming.

The President spoke.

“In my view, these seem like good measures in terms of quantity for fostering popular singers. However, I want to supplement the qualitative aspects.”

Then, the President displayed a series of photos of popular singers performing passionately.

The attendees were very curious about what the photos of Lee Mi-ja, Na Hoon-a, Song Chang-sik, Patty Kim, and Nam Jin were meant to convey.

The President was amused by the attendees’ curious expressions.

“What if Patty Kim sang Lee Mi-ja’s ‘Island Village Girl’?”

“…….”

“What if Song Chang-sik sang Na Hoon-a’s song? Or Ha Choon-hwa sang Song Chang-sik’s song?”

Everyone shook their heads at the bizarre combinations.

“Your Excellency, the public might find it interesting, but it’s highly unlikely that Patty Kim would sing Song Chang-sik’s song on television. It’s considered taboo to sing someone else’s song on TV. We occasionally had song-swapping events during holidays, but the audience response wasn’t great, so it quietly disappeared, Your Excellency.”

It was the answer the President had anticipated.

“Now, let’s think about this. Foreign pop songs are highly sought after, but domestic singers don’t sing each other’s songs as an unwritten rule. Why is that?”

The broadcast censor, adjusting his black horn-rimmed glasses, said,

“Your Excellency, isn’t it perfectly normal for singers to sing their own songs? It would be considered unfair if Lee Mi-ja sang Patty Kim’s song.”

The President said.

“There are several song festivals where newcomers have to sing original songs. If they sing another singer’s song, it’s dismissed as imitation or a talent show performance. It’s ingrained that singers should only sing their own original songs. But doesn’t a song become more diverse and richer when many singers sing it? Why should only one singer have the exclusive right to sing a song?”

The attendees were perplexed as the President questioned a familiar and obvious practice.

The Minister of Culture replied on behalf of everyone.

“Well, that’s because each singer has a different genre, and the lyricist and composer tailor the song specifically for a particular singer. It’s a matter of ownership and artistic vision. If a composer gives the same song to several singers simultaneously, the music industry will become chaotic.”

“You’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s a copyright issue. But singers don’t typically hold copyrights, do they?”

“…….”

“The essence lies elsewhere. Since we’re on this topic, let’s be frank. The fundamental problem is something else.”

“…….”

“Isn’t it because the lyricist and composer are the ‘Gap [the superior party in a contract]’ and the singer is the subcontractor ‘Eul [the inferior party in a contract]? ‘”

“Pardon? What do you mean…?”

“Let’s face the reality of the popular music industry. They treat you like a musician if you sing classical music or art songs, but popular singers are often dismissed as mere entertainers performing in nightclubs, isn’t that the reality?”

“Hmm, hmm.”

The President raised his voice as if he had made up his mind.

“Singers can’t perform on stage unless they do what the planners, lyricists, and composers tell them to do. Isn’t that the reality? Like the saying, ‘The bear performs the trick, but the Chinese man takes the money [meaning someone else profits from another’s work],’ they spend their lives singing as they’re told, only to end up as penniless, broken people without even owning their own home. It’s because of the exclusive slave contracts.”

“…….”

“Even without a contract, if they fall out of favor, they won’t get songs, and their TV appearances will be blocked. They have to wander around nightclubs. Don’t you all think that only lyricists and composers are considered true musicians, and popular singers are just clowns?”

“…….”

The attendees avoided the President’s gaze.

“The practice of treating singers as mere entertainers remains. Singers are ‘Eul [the inferior party]’ to the lyricists and composers. They are tied to the songs given by the ‘Gap [the superior party]’. Singers are included in the ownership of the lyricist and composer, so they can’t share songs. Isn’t that so?”

“…….”

“Singers climb the music charts and appear on TV to increase their recognition and get higher guarantees in nightclubs because the planning companies take all the profits from album sales. Not only popular singers but also entertainers like actors and actresses, especially comedians, are treated even worse.”

Stung to the quick, the attendees were speechless.

“Isn’t it true that the popular music industry is centered around planners, lyricists, and composers, so popular singers don’t have the right to express their own voices and choose their songs?”

“…….”

The President was using this shock therapy because he had experienced the future.

During Chairman Wang’s time, the most shocking music program to him was ‘I Am a Singer’.

Until then, song contests were either for citizens enjoying singing, like the National Singing Contest, or for selecting aspiring singers, like the University Song Festival.

However, ‘I Am a Singer’ broke the mold by having established singers, not just aspirants, compete against each other.

Viewers were shocked and bewildered by the sight of mid-career singers, who were not exactly hot stars but were known for their good singing, competing like rookies with other people’s songs.

“Not rookies, but established singers with their own songs are competing with other singers’ songs?”

“How are they going to objectively evaluate Kim Bum-soo and Lee So-ra?”

“I know, right? Their styles are completely different. It would be fair if they sang the same song, but the singers choose the songs, so what are they comparing to compete and rank them?”

“In the end, it depends on the singer’s popularity.”

“That’s right. The rankings are already set.”

“And if you come in last there, you’re completely finished. It’s fatal.”

“Tell me about it! After one or two broadcasts, there will be a scapegoat. It will be a singer’s graveyard. How many more episodes will it last?”

“Hmm, it’s going to be canceled soon.”

Singers who only managed to digest other people’s songs in their own style remained at the bottom of the rankings.

The rankings were heavily influenced by how large their fandom was and how popularly they processed the performance and arrangement, revealing its limitations.

As feared, when a famous singer was eliminated at the bottom and suffered a fatal blow, angry fans protested, and there was much talk and trouble about the rankings, and the program didn’t last long.

However, this program sparked admiration that established singers could arrange and sing other singers’ songs to suit the times in official settings, broke the taboo of ‘one singer, one song’ for the first time, and set a new milestone for established singers’ competitions.

‘King of Mask Singer’ was a competition program for established singers that reduced the side effects of ‘I Am a Singer’.

It started as a holiday special program that predicted who was singing well with a mask that made it impossible to recognize their faces and a modified singing style, and then it was organized into a regular broadcast.

By covering their faces, they were not caught up in prejudices such as popularity, and they competed only with music heard by the ears, so it was evaluated as a true competition for established singers, enjoyed great popularity, and lasted a long time.

Another program that competed only with songs heard by the ears was ‘Hidden Singer’.

The singer went into a booth that viewers could not see and imitated the same song in a round-robin style, and when there were frequent contestants who sang better than the original singer, established singers and viewers were greatly shocked.

The original singers’ impressions after the competition were like this.

“I’ve been singing my song habitually, but meeting someone who sings better than me has given me a strong stimulus to work harder!”

“Meeting fans who cherish my song as their life’s song has given me a purpose for why I should sing. I will sing again with a new heart!”

Contestants who surpassed the original singer appeared frequently, making established singers nervous, and they overcame the limitations of imitation by competing only with singing ability.

Programs were even created where not only established singers but also aspiring singers and established singers competed together.

It was ‘Tomorrow is Mr.(Miss) Trot’ [a singing competition focused on the Trot music genre].

They competed only with trot songs, divided by various occupations, ages, and careers, and the winner was decided in a tournament format.

When stars were born as rookies ranked higher than mid-career singers, they recorded viewership ratings surpassing terrestrial broadcasting despite being a cable broadcast, causing a trot craze.

This time, a program was created that completely eliminated genres and competed with music of various genres.

It was ‘Singer Gain’.

Aspiring singers and unknown singers were re-examined, and fresh new stars appeared.

‘Immortal Songs’, which openly invited the original singer to sit down and watch the competition, was also popular.

In addition, many similar song competition programs sprang up, and the established singer competition experienced a renaissance.

The growth and development of competition programs that disregarded genres has provided more singers and aspirants with opportunities to go on stage and be recognized for their skills by singing other singers’ songs.

Eventually, singers such as ‘Sohyang’, the end plate king of singing ability who sings domestic and foreign established songs and pop songs to the level of God even without proper hit songs, and ‘Forestella’, who sequentially broke through all genres from classical to rock and sublimated crossover to a new level, were praised by vocal trainers around the world, confirming that the foundation of the Korean idol wave was solid.

Singers realized that it was difficult to survive with past fame and once-popular songs alone.

Established singers made great efforts to prove their superiority and upgraded themselves one step further.

Viewers also repeatedly admired that there were so many people who sang well in Korea.

It was a series of processes in which the axis of popular music shifted from lyricist and composer-centered to singer-centered by showing that songs are illuminated by singers.

The President said.

“In the Joseon Dynasty [Korean kingdom from 1392 to 1910], wasn’t the class below scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants the entertainers and courtesans? That class system that existed only in Joseon still remains in the subconscious.”

The attendees all lowered their heads.

When the President told them to come up with measures to become a powerhouse in popular culture, they only knew that it meant to enrich the entertainment culture that the people would enjoy when unification was achieved and they had enough to eat and live on.

However, the President was harshly criticizing the deeply ingrained prejudice against popular culture figures.

The Prime Minister said.

“I now realize that this task was given by Your Excellency after such deep philosophical reflection on popular culture! I deeply regret my perfunctory attitude in preparing for this.”

He stood up and gave a neat apology.

The Minister of Culture also said.

“As the Prime Minister said, I deeply regret that I, as the Minister of Culture, have been implementing policies with a lack of insight, philosophy, and knowledge!”

“I also regret it!”

The attendees all stood up and bowed to the President in repentance.

The President was embarrassed by the sight that could only be seen in historical dramas.

“Ah, it’s enough to awaken in your hearts, don’t do this. I’m getting embarrassed.”

The businesslike atmosphere changed dramatically to an academic and passionate one.