Nobody listens to K-pop CDs anymore. This CEO still thinks they’re the future.

Hanteo Global CEO Kwak Young-ho speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily in August at the company’s headquarters in southern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]

 
[INTERVIEW] 
 
If you follow K-pop, you’ve likely heard of Hanteo Chart — the metric over which industry insiders and fans alike obsess whenever an act drops a new album. In a scene where success is often measured in sales numbers, Hanteo has long served as one of the most widely cited and influential barometers of popularity.
 
But with physical album sales dipping last year — while concerts and live events increasingly dominate revenue streams — a question has surfaced: Are albums losing their relevance as the ultimate benchmark of star power?
 
Hanteo Global CEO Kwak Young-ho believes the answer is no.
 
While he acknowledges that album sales will go through what he calls a necessary “adjustment” after the pandemic-driven surge, the CEO is certain that albums remain the bedrock of K-pop’s business model.
 
“The inflated number is going through an adjustment, and I expect the figure to stabilize to around half the Covid-19 peak,” Kwak told the Korea JoongAng Daily during a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in southern Seoul.
 
But that doesn’t mean physical album sales won’t matter anymore.
 
“It remains the only way to generate maximum profit in the shortest time,” Kwak stressed.
 
Over the past few years, Hanteo Global has been pushing its boundaries as a data company, moving into the world of live events. Its latest and boldest venture this year comes with the launch of Hanteo Music Festival.
 

Boy band Riize poses for photos ahead of the Hanteo Music Awards 2024 in central Seoul on Feb. 16. [NEWS1]

The initiative, however, hasn’t been without its hiccups. The festival was originally slated for Saturday and Sunday at the Seoul World Cup Stadium but was pushed back due to venue issues and is now scheduled for Nov. 22 and 23.
 
The initial plan that Kwak shared during the interview, which was before the delay’s announcement, was to bring the vision into Mexico as well. But the event has been postponed, with further plans yet to be decided.
 
 
K-pop meets data tech
 
Hanteo Global, at its core, remains a K-pop data company.
 
Founded in 1993, Hanteo Chart became the first real-time album chart data provider. Hanteo Global was launched in 2018 to focus on broader business ventures while overseeing the chart operation. Today, it partners with over 5,000 retailers worldwide.
 

Hanteo Chart’s real-time global chart [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
Hanteo, therefore, has been positioned as a longstanding reference point for the industry. Its very name translates to “groundwork” or “foundation” of Korean music, reflecting the role it plays as an industry metric of commercial success.
 
Under Kwak’s leadership since 2018, the company has increasingly sought to transform its vast data pool into actionable opportunities.
 
“When we first started out as Hanteo Global, the goal was to contribute to the growth of the K-pop industry using the datasets we’d collected for quite some time,” Kwak recalled.
 
The CEO pointed out that Korea, despite its growing soft power on the global stage, still lacks a truly global platform business akin to Meta’s Facebook or Google’s YouTube — meaning that for K-pop to maintain its expansive momentum through the right strategy, securing and understanding regional data worldwide is integral.
 
“It is already a miracle that K-pop has achieved this much so far,” he said. “In order to help that miracle to last, we look into data for each country and region to provide context on how artists can sustain growth globally.”
 
 
Albums still matter
 
Following explosive growth through the early 2020s, the market for K-pop albums contracted by a significant margin. The number of physical albums sold declined by 15 percent, from 103.6 million copies sold in 2023 to 87.8 million copies last year.
 
The notable dip has many wondering whether K-pop has lost its momentum.
 
Kwak remains confident, stressing that the category has plenty of room for growth.
 
“K-pop, as a genre, took the world by storm,” Kwak noted. “K-pop artists are now on the same playground as any other global pop stars — as part of the broader pop culture.”
 

Hanteo Global CEO Kwak Young-ho speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily in August at the company’s headquarters in southern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Kwak attributes the drop largely to the pandemic-era bubble, when tours and fan events were suspended, funneling fans’ spending toward albums instead. Now, with live events back in full swing, the numbers are normalizing.
 
But looking past the pandemic-driven inflation in album sales, demand remains strong, Kwak pointed out, and increasingly global.
 
“The number of countries where K-pop albums are sold in retail stores now exceeds 40,” said Kwak. “This means K-pop still has potential to maintain its growth.”
 
Physical albums still remain a key pillar of the business, he noted.
 
“Buying an album will remain the first thing many fans do when they discover a new favorite act,” Kwak said, pointing to the ritual that continues to define fandom culture.
 
“Album sales figures became the capital to set up concerts and bring fans to them,” the CEO added. “K-pop concerts overseas are spectacular — and those spectacles are powered by the revenue the companies secure through albums.”
 
 
K-pop accelerator
 
Kwak cited 200,000 copies as the bare minimum for an act to sustain its career — a feat easier said than done, especially for smaller companies without the capital or network to compete on the same scale as K-pop’s biggest agencies.
 
“High-quality content is integral to attracting consumers in the global era, which costs a lot both in producing and promoting,” Kwak said. “This capital race places a heavy burden on smaller companies.”
 
That’s where Hanteo’s newest initiative comes in, as an incubator and accelerator.
 

Boy band Just B [HANTEO GLOBAL]

Earlier this year, Hanteo launched the “Artist Global Accelerating” or AGA project, which leverages its regional networks to connect artists with retailers, distributors and promoters to help them scale up in underrepresented regions.
 
The first to join the project was boy band Just B, which completed a four-week run in Mexico in May, where Hanteo runs an office. The company also has hubs in Chile and Japan.
 
Just B gained more than 130,000 followers on social media over the course of the four weeks and performed for an audience of 35,000 in Mexico City.
 
The project was, for Kwak, proof of concept.
 
“What we do is to boost a group’s ticket power from hundreds to thousands,” said Kwak, adding that the plan is to expand the project to Chile, Japan, China and Vietnam.
 
The happiness on the Just B members’ faces during their time in Mexico is something that Kwak recalls with particular pride.
 
“Our ultimate mission is to lay the groundwork for artists in each region and serve as a shoulder that artists can lean on.”
 

Boy band Just B performs in Mexico as part of Hanteo Global’s AGA project, designed to boost the group’s presence in the country. [HANTEO GLOBAL]

 
From data to stage
 
Now, Hanteo Global is pushing beyond numbers.
 
Hanteo has been betting on its credibility as a data company to branch into live events. It has been hosting its own award ceremonies since 2021 and is now stepping into the festival space.
 
The move feels natural, but it hasn’t been entirely smooth. Despite the delay of the company’s inaugural Hanteo Music Festival, H.O.T., the legendary first-generation K-pop boy band that debuted in 1996 under SM Entertainment, is still on board as the headliner.
 

Boy band H.O.T. will headline Hanteo Music Festival, scheduled to take place on Nov. 22 and 23 at the Inspire Arena in Incheon. [HANTEO GLOBAL]

The company also has international ambitions: It plans to launch a “water festival” in Mexico featuring mostly Latin American musicians active in the United States, tapping into its network in the country.
 
That event was initially set to take place in November, but the postponement of the Hanteo Music Festival has pushed it back, and the company says its new date has yet to be determined.
 
During the interview, which took place before the plan’s revision was announced, Kwak said that the company’s existing assets positioned it well as a “storyteller” for live shows, expecting its inroad into the live events business to create new opportunities for artists with festivals serving as a space for networking.
 
“Hanteo has its data set, works closely with artists and maintains constant communication with retail partners, both domestic and overseas,” Kwak said, adding, “We can make the playground more diverse.”
 
Kwak envisions the upcoming Seoul festival as “a birthday party” and a fitting tribute for the legendary K-pop boy band H.O.T.
 
“It is truly inspiring,” Kwak said, “for Hanteo, the name of which represents the foundation of the Korean music industry, and H.O.T., the pioneering first-generation K-pop group, to join hands.”
 
 
 
 

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]