Tumblr & the K-Pop Fandom @kpoponhere-blog - Tumblr Blog

Introduction

Korean pop music (K-pop), and the broader Korean popular entertainment industry, has had a broad international fan base long before Psy’s 2012 viral sensation “Gangnam Style.” Personally a fan of Korean entertainment since 2009, I grew interested in the effects of the micro-blogging site Tumblr on individuals' experiences of being an international fan.

People enjoy music for its social aspects well as its intrinsic value. For fans of music that is not mainstream in their area, the internet may be the only medium through which they can not only communicate with other fans, but also the only way they can hear the music and get news about the artists as it is unlikely they will be promoted on local radio, news, and television. Online fans can find a multitude of forums, fansites, standalone blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and more focused on K-pop. Amongst these options, Tumblr stands out for its global availability and ability to build a community and fan the flames of fandom by allowing users to share their own and easily view others' art and media of all kinds.

#intro

Background on the Industry

To best understand the role Tumblr takes in the international K-pop community, one must have an understanding of how the Korean music industry works in significantly different ways than the American industry.[1] In Korea, adolescents with potential for stardom, either via talent or looks, are signed to record labels as "trainees," with no guarantee that they will actually "debut" as artists. As trainees they must undergo extensive vocal and dance training, as well as personality and demeanor training so that they are prepared for the variety and talk show circuit. A select group of trainees will be chosen to debut as either solo artists, or more likely, members of groups. A "concept" will be attached to the group that will define their look and sound and the artists will be styled to fit that image. In this way, the K-pop business model surrounds around the actual breeding of hopeful stars into "idols".

The release of a new artist or group or the "comeback"–return with new music– of an established artist is typically preceded by an amped up amount of the marketing that precedes a new release by even a well established artist. Record companies will announce that a new single, mini album or album is in the works and build anticipation for its release by releasing "teasers," photos of the artists or short previews of the music video, everyday or once every few days in the week or two leading up to the single's release. Once the single is released, the artists, especially more successful ones, enter into a heavy promotional cycle. The cornerstone of this cycle are performances on the weekly music shows hosted by the three major television networks SBS, KBS, MBC, the Korean counterparts to ABC, CBS, and NBC. Artists perform their single, every once in a while along with another song on the album, every week for about four to eight weeks. With this form of promotion alone, K-pop fans get a huge amount of exposure to their favorite artists, above and beyond radio play.

Promotional activities include many other events as well. It is customary for artists to make the rounds to the various pop radio stations where they will perform life, get interviewed by the hosts, and talk with fans that phone in. A common type of event in Korean is the fansign, where a relatively small group of fans come with their albums or get photos from the artists signed, allowing them a few moments to speak with the idols. The artists also make their way through the variety and talk show circuit, which is far greater in Korea than America. All of these activities combine to provide fans with a vast number of ways to learn and indulge in their "biases" or favorite artists.

[1] It is worth noting that this description of the industry only applies to pop music–Korea does have various indie scenes, and Korean rock bands and rap artists do start out in much the same ways as they do in America.

#intro #background

Theoretical Grounding

The devotion, displayed through the allocation of time, energy, and money, shown by K-pop fans can be compared to a religious devotion. Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life provides a useful lens through which to view K-pop and its fans. The industry becomes analogous to one vast religion, with the different labels, groups, and artists becoming denominations, sects, and demigods. Durkheim speaks of society lifting ordinary people felt to have great ability in its principle tasks, in this case great looks, voice or dancing ability, and raising them above the level of the average person to the level of deity (1912). This can arguably be seen as the business of K-pop– a clear example provided by Kris, the leader of EXO-M–the Chinese half of the relatively new K-pop group EXO, who is also known amongst fans as Krisus, a blend of Kris and Jesus.

A number of theories lay a groundwork that makes it possible to view Tumblr as the space for K-pop devotees to join together in the sharing of audio and visuals that heightens each person's beliefs, involvement, and knowledge of the "religion." Durkheim argued that devotees must be brought together in active relationships so that their beliefs stay strong (1912). Through the internet, Tumblr brings together a globally dispersed population. Gee (2004) discusses "affinity spaces" as places where people learn from each other, contributing what knowledge and creative inputs they have and benefitting from the knowledge and creative pursuits of their peers. This concept is drawn on by Jenkins (2006), who explores "participatory cultures." Participatory cultures easily allow individuals' artistic expression with strong support for the creation and sharing of art and include some educational pathways, such that knowledge passes from those who know to those who do not (Jenkins, 2006).

Tumblr, as used by K-pop fans, easily fits the descriptions of both the affinity space and the participatory culture. As a microblogging platform that allows the uploading, embedding, and linking of a variety of text posts, photos, gifs, fan art, fan fiction, video and audio and that gives bloggers free reign in designing the look of their blogs, it meets the creative requirements of both concepts. With the like and reblog buttons, following and tagging, posts are shared and loose fan communities form that unite people around shared biases. Information passes through the fans by virtue of the ask box and through question posts–answers can be publicly displayed as posts so that the information is publicly available.

#theory #intro

Past Research

Academic, empirical research in English on K-pop uncommon, while research on Tumblr is even more scarce, likely due to the fact that it is not as widely used as other forms of social media.[2] Much of the research that does exist is outdated and focuses on the Hallyu wave, the spread of Korean popular culture outside of the country's borders. This research makes bare mention to social media as a part of the driving force, and focuses more on political and social implications. Some research, however, has been done on K-pop fans and social media.

Jung (2011) found in her study on Indonesian K-pop fans that the internet is of paramount importance for keeping up to date on K-pop news because of a lack of availability on other media. Fans in her study enjoyed sharing K-pop news across various sites, spreading the knowledge (Jung, 2011). These fans enjoyed the ability to build networks with other fans globally through Twitter and Facebook, and said that once K-pop was integrated into their social media usage they became more engrossed in the culture (this study was conducted before Tumblr existed) (Jung, 2011). In an ethnographic study of the online 6Theory forums connected to the news and gossip site Allkpop, Kwon (2012) found that by discussing the idols, fans brought about stronger emotions in each other, giving them even stronger beliefs that their biases are worth adoration.

[2] There are two "generations" of K-pop idols. In this paper I chose to focus on the current, second generation, which still has many artists active in the industry. Most first generation idols, active in the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s, are no longer working as idols, though many do have other roles in entertainment now. To make things more clear, the contemporaries of first generation idols include the American artists N*SYNC, while the contemporaries of second generation idols include the British group One Direction. Much of the research that has been done on K-pop makes reference to first generation idols, however.

#intro #past research

Hypotheses

I will argue that Tumblr users that actively contribute through the creation of original posts will be more obsessed with and knowledgeable of K-pop and Korean culture because they are more engrained in the participatory culture. Based on Kwon's research, I think these people will have made more and deeper connections with other fans. Through the activities they engage in on and through Tumblr, I believe that fans create affinity spaces within Tumblr.

Specifically I hypothesize:

H1: Creators will be more likely to understand the Korean alphabet and language.

H2: Creators will spend more money on K-pop.

H3: Creators will attend more live K-pop related events.

H4: Creators will be more likely to seek out and attain social relationships with other fans.

#hypotheses #h1 #h2 #h3 #h4 #intro

Methods

To assess levels of fan behavior, I consulted with two friends who are Tumblr users and K-pop fans. We compiled a list of activities that can be done on Tumblr and as a K-pop fan. I created a measure for each of these items on my survey, along with other demographic information.

Due to an inability to accurately translate my survey, my sample is limited to English speaking Tumblr users and K-pop fans, which can be found–with varying levels of fluency–in many parts of the world.

I created my survey as a Google Docs Form. In presenting the survey to potential participants I, or my friends, always explained that I was a student doing a project for a class and that I needed K-pop fans that use Tumblr to take it and included the link.

I started my sample by posting it in a close-knit Facebook K-pop group I am in that consists of eleven other girls, at least seven of whom participated. Using a snowball sampling method, I asked them to share it with qualified people that they know. I believe the survey was posted to two or three other K-pop or Korean culture related Facebook groups, as well as the Facebook fan page for Los Angeles area Girls Generation (a girl group) fans, giving me well over 30 responses. The fan page post gave me a huge number of responses. Knowing from personal experience that different groups of people tend to like girl versus boy groups, I used the ask box function of Tumblr to share the survey with a "Tumblr famous" TOP blogger (TOP is a rapper for BIGBANG, a highly successful boy band). Her post about the survey also garnered me number of responses, evening out the girl group to boy group fan ratio. I also posted about the survey on each of my own K-pop blogs.

#methods

Results

114 people took my survey. The sample is young (91% under the age of 27) and heavily female (80%). Twenty-three countries are represented, but two-thirds of respondents are from the United States and the second most highly represented countries (Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Australia) provided 4 respondents each. Nearly half of respondents (47%) are Asian or Pacific Islander, a third are white (34%), and 13% are Latino/a/Hispanic. Most respondents became fans of K-pop in 2008 or later (85%) and most started using Tumblr in 2010 or later (95%). I used a combination of Google Docs to aggregate this data, Stata to run chi2 analyses, and Microsoft Excel to make charts.

My independent variable is whether or not respondents are creators on Tumblr. This was measured by asking users if they used Tumblr to share visual art or fan fiction with a Likert scale. Fifty-six percent of respondents are creators (responded at least "Somewhat Agree" to either question).

#results #sample demographics

H1: Linguistic Investments

Fifty-six percent of respondents reported being able to read Hangul. Only 18% reported being able to speak Korean at a level of fluency, most of whom learned since becoming a fan of K-pop. Creators and non-creators were found to be equally likely to be able to read Hangul (p = .979) and non-creators were found to be more likely to have learned to speak Korean since becoming a fan of K-pop. This hypothesis failed.

Knowledge of the Korean language can be very helpful for reading song names and lyrics and for searching for information on Korean artists on the internet. An important first step that can be taken to make the above tasks easier is learning the Korean alphabet, Hangul. Whether a creator of content or not, the ability to read the alphabet makes it easier to search for videos on YouTube, as well as to search through your own music library for songs. Non-creators may then find it equally worthwhile to learn the alphabet.

#results #h1

H2: Financial Investments

Fifty-two percent of respondents agreed that they have spent more money on K-pop since joining the site, while only 16% had ever bought their bias a gift. Comparing creators with non-creators, 25.56% more creators had ever bought their bias a gift (p < .05) and 17.38% more creators felt that had increased their spending on K-pop goods (p < .10). This hypothesis appears to have been supported.

In one of the interviews I held, my friend brought up that a soon-to-be released album of her favorite group had already sold 299,280 units. She felt it should have been even more as "our fanbase is pretty devoted... As for me, exo is the first group I have bought multiple albums for...Even before knowing what the songs were (laughs)." The other interviewees, also fans of this group gave similar statements. They are all creators, who occasionally upload photo and video when their idols are in town. Another girl, who has a habit of making accomplishments of the group life events on her own Facebook timeline, expressed a desire to help them break records, as these will make them more famous. "SM [Korean record label] can take all my money!" was expressed by all three girls interviewed. Durkheim expresses that the religious sentiment is truly an appraisal of shared group ideals. I would argue that by investing in the company and band, fans are investing in their own happiness.

When asked why she felt it necessary to buy a gift for her bias if she is already supporting them by purchasing their albums, merchandise, and show tickets, she responded, "Just knowing that they're constantly enduring a lot just to produce a music video or album that will carry me through my tough times makes me so appreciative of all that they do."

#results #h2

H3: Live Events

Over half (58%) of respondents reported ever having been to a K-pop concert, while only 16% said they'd ever gone to the airport to see artists arrive or depart. Thirty-three percent of respondents have been to a meet-and-greet with a K-pop artist. 54% non-creators and 59.38% of creators have attended a K-pop concert, however this result is insignificant (p = .914). The difference between creators and non-creators who had been to a fansign (.81% more creators) or to the airport (3.16% more creators) were also insignificant. This hypothesis was not supported.

Attendance at live events typically requires a financial investment (concert tickets can often exceed $100) as well as time investments for the length of the event, the wait time before it and travel to and from the venue. While it could be argued that attendance at the concert may only be a sign of appreciation of the artist's music and for live performance, the musicians do not typically perform at the airport. The airport provides opportunities to take videos and photographs of the artists, which can later become blog content, and the simple benefit of being in the presence of your idol.

#results #h3

H4: Social Connections

"I've met a lot of people through this fandom and they're like sisters to me, and the community we've formed has been one of the most supportive for me all year. So aside from loving EXO because of their music, their performances, their personalities and every day of hard work they put in for their fans, I also love them because of the other people they bring into my life."

Creators were 26.38% more likely to say that they use Tumblr to connect with other members of their fandoms (p < .01). They were also 20.06% more likely to have made a friend on Tumblr (p < .01) and 3.43% more likely to have met a friend they met on Tumblr in real life (p = .892). This hypothesis was partially supported.

As shown in the quote and the survey data, creators derive a social benefit from their devotion to the fandom. Of course, since creators were found to be more likely to see Tumblr as a place to make friends, this could relate to their higher likelihood of making friends on Tumblr. Few respondents seem to have made the online to real-life connection. This could be explained by the international nature of the fandom and the friendships–it could be prohibitively expensive for the members of a friendship that spans from Australia to Canada to meet up in real life. Still, the friendships people report forming do seem to point to the creation of affinity spaces on Tumblr.

#results #h4

Conclusion

Overall, the results of my research is inconclusive in its support of my claims. Hypothesis 1, that creators will have greater Korean linguistic knowledge, and Hypothesis 3, that creators will attend more live events, were both not supported by my evidence. Hypothesis 2, that creators will spend more money and Hypothesis 4, that creators will have stronger social connections to other fans were both supported in some way.

As one of the stronger results in my survey came from the question on buying gifts for artists, it could be worthwhile to look into gift-giving and fandom, both related and unrelated to Tumblr.

A sample size of 114, though large for a survey for a class project, is far too small to give a representative selection of English-speaking international fans the world over. If I were to do this again with more time and resources, I would research Tumblr famous bloggers for a wide variety of K-pop artists and request for each of them to post about the survey, as well as posting on fan pages on Facebook. It would also be worthwhile to get a control group of non-Tumblr using K-pop fans who would answer a subset of the questions to see what differences can be found there, as my project does not tell us about a basic effect of using Tumblr.

It would be interesting to do a comparative study, contrasting a representative sample of international fans outside of Asia with a representative sample of international fans within Asia. International fans in other Asian countries were very underrepresented in this study, and these fans have far more chances to see their idols than the rest of international fans, which may result in important differences in their responses.

#conclusion

References

Durkheim, Emile. "The Elementary Forms of Religious Life." 1912. Sociological Theory in the Classical Era: Text and Readings. By Laura Desfor. Edles and Scott Appelrouth. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2005. 124-34. Print.

Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: a critique of traditional schooling. London: Routledge.

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jung, S. (2011). K-pop, Indonesian fandom, and social media. Race and ethnicity in Fandom, Transformative works and cultures, 8.

Kwon, C. (2012). Who is your bias? The symbolic interactions and social solidarity of the K-pop Fan Community. Annual Linfield College Humanities and Creative Projects Symposium.

#sources

shineesays

"The way Korean fans cheer for us is a bit different because they can understand the lyrics. For international fans, because they don’t understand the lyrics, I think they cheer more for our performance aspects. We heard that many people learn the Korean language because they love Korean culture and Korean music, and through that, they try to understand our songs. We’re really amazed by this and the effort that international fans put into learning Korean to tell us that they love us."

— Choi Minho (Soompi Exclusive Interview)