The Aussies making a splash in K-pop<\/a><\/p>\nHow is it Australia has managed to produce so many homegrown K-pop stars?<\/p>\n
“So moving away from the Western classical system necessarily, especially amongst jazz curriculums.”<\/p>\n
At a practical level, students explore core musical concepts through multiple, multicultural lenses.<\/p>\n
“Rhythm and melody, these things are kind of universal but the way that traditions deal with them can be vastly different,” Mr Fields said.<\/p>\n
Could Asia become the new America?<\/p>\n
Huge populations, rising incomes and increased digital connectivity are all helping the music business across Asia grow.<\/p>\n
In 2024, 45 per cent of all global revenue from the physical sale of recorded music, such as CDs and vinyl, came from Asia, according to the International Federation of Phonographic Industry’s Global Music Report.<\/p>\n
North America and Europe still remain the biggest regional markets once digital products, such as streaming and downloads, are included.<\/p>\n
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Rose of Blackpink, third from the left, was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia. (Supplied: Universal Music)<\/p>\n
The US is still the biggest single market but Asian countries have cracked the top 10, with Japan ranked second in the world, China fifth and South Korea seventh.<\/p>\n
Music labels such as Warner and Universal are investing in the region, while Western artists collaborate with Asian idols.<\/p>\n
In the past two years, Lady Gaga performed with Korean girl group Blackpink, Ed Sheeran with Singaporean singer JJ Lin and Usher with Malaysian artist Yuna.<\/p>\n
Several Australians or those with strong ties to Australia have also built careers in Asia, particularly in the K-pop scene.<\/p>\n
Rose from Blackpink grew up in Melbourne; Bang Chan and Felix from Stray Kids, lived in Sydney; and Jake from Emhypen moved to Brisbane when he was nine.<\/p>\n
Chasing the music dream in Asia![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/635491bbba86e84209763ca69a5b0ef9\")
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Satsuki says Japan has an interesting and diverse music industry that blends genres together. (Supplied: Satsuki)<\/p>\n
Pop singer-songwriter Satsuki moved from Sydney to Osaka, Japan, almost a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Big cities and good transportation make touring much more economical in Japan and artists can also rely on a revenue stream that has dramatically disappeared in the West: CD sales.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t have any CDs at the start because I didn’t have any use for them,” Satsuki said.<\/p>\n
“The fact that we still sell them, that we still have CD stores is, I think, incredible.<\/p>\n
“People love having physical media and physical cover art, lyric books and all that kind of stuff.”<\/p>\n
Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n
Satsuki said Japan also had an “incredibly interesting and very diverse” music industry.<\/p>\n
“Take BabyMetal, for example,” Satsuki said.<\/p>\n
“They’re fronted by these three, very cutesy girls that sing in a cutesy way, but also have this very, authentic metal band supporting them.<\/p>\n
“That kind of combination, I don’t think you really see in the West and I think it allows people to explore different types of genres and looks and images.”<\/p>\n
Making music but out of the spotlight<\/p>\n
Asia also has opportunities for those who want to build a career behind the scenes in the music business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The film and TV industry is blossoming in many Asian countries, and someone needs to compose the soundtrack of the latest K-drama or Bollywood hit.<\/p>\n
Mr Fields said there were also opportunities to write for video games.<\/p>\n
“And if you think about the diversity of environments, playing scenarios and all these types of things, having a global perspective on sounds and ideas and these other things is critical,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"girl](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/9755bf0fb5837eea1d7019d20308d44d\")
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First-year student Ivana Yue enjoys blending her Australian and Asian cultural influences during music production. (ABC News: Lachlan Bennett)<\/p>\n
“I’ve done some session work for movies in India. I know people that compose here for movies being released in India, in the US, in Brazil.<\/p>\n
“Composition and performing is global now.”<\/p>\n
First-year student Ivana Yue is looking to build a career in sound design, especially for musical theatre.<\/p>\n
Her cross-cultural work reflects her background; she grew up in Hong Kong but attended an Australian International School.<\/p>\n
“My favourite thing to do is to take patterns and melodic repetitions and themes from Asian-inspired music and put it into Westernised orchestral pieces.<\/p>\n
“I also love using different Chinese scales as well, and even Japanese scales.”<\/p>\n
What does this mean for the future of Asian music?<\/p>\n
Finding success as a musician is rarely easy, regardless of whether you look East or West.<\/p>\n
Cultural barriers, language constraints and protectionist attitudes can make it tough to crack into a foreign market.<\/p>\n
And while some countries may be reluctant to embrace outsiders, cultural exchange helped shape one of the biggest success stories in the region: K-pop.<\/p>\n
![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/bef4274660b91ca05c4027d36b1b0c6b\")
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Associate professor Jimmyn Parc says there was a reluctance to accept modern K-pop when it emerged in the 1990s. (Supplied: ANU)<\/p>\n
University of Malaya associate professor Jimmyn Parc said when modern K-pop emerged in the 1990s, it incorporated many elements from Western music.<\/p>\n
“There were a lot of things from United States, hip hop and reggae, and people actually complained a lot,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They said, ‘This is not Korean. We should not accept these kinds of things.<\/p>\n
“Nowadays, after almost 20 years, people love K-pop and a lot of people are really proud of K-pop.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For generations of aspiring Australian musicians, there was a simple recipe for success: pack your bags and move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45114,64,63,45115,45109,134,45113,45112,45110,9975,29068,45111,45116],"class_list":["post-54249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-arijit-singh","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-institute-of-music","tag-chris-fields","tag-entertainment","tag-iggy-azalea","tag-ivana-yue","tag-jimmyn-parc","tag-k-pop","tag-nick-cave","tag-satsuki","tag-university-of-malaya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}