Contactless era will pave new possibilities for K-pop: SM Entertainment Chief

[Photo by Success Economy Institute]

Korean popular culture faces a turning point to seize new opportunities and expand its influence beyond the current key markets by making the most of digital technologies that have proven their immense capabilities in the contactless era ushered in by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Lee Soo-man, founder and chief producer of South Korea’s top entertainment agency SM Entertainment.

“This contactless era where we are no longer constrained by space or time brings new opportunities for K-pop. By using new technologies such as artificial intelligence and Avatars, SM Entertainment will continue to develop the concept of Culture Technology, a convergence of systemized culture and technology, now used as our fundamental operating system,” says Lee during a recent online seminar in Korea.

Titled “Responding to Era of Post Pandemic: Convergence of Culture and Technology”, the seminar was co-hosted by Maekyung Media Group and Success Economy Institute.

The seminar centered on how Korea could weather the post-pandemic storm by combining the country’s two strengths of culture and technology. The combination of Korea’s hardware technology prowess and soft power pop culture such as K-pop and K-dramas, Asia’s fourth largest economy will be able to jumpstart its economy in the post Covid-19, experts said.

NCT 127 “Beyond Live” [Photo provided by SM Entertainment]

Lee said that the contactless era is a golden opportunity for the K-pop market to reach out broader audiences and grow further since it could no longer be constrained by space or time, citing “Beyond Live”, the world’s first online gig series as a case in point. SM Entertainment held the world’s first online concert, using cutting edge technologies such as AR, digital interaction and artworks that instantly grabbed the attention of the global entertainment industry.

SM Entertainment’s girl group ‘Aespa" [Photo provided by SM Entertainment]

SM Entertainment’s newest girl group ‘Aespa‘, who debuted last year, is the first project, which marked the beginning of future entertainment, Lee said. The Aespa group has four real members and four avatars as their digital versions. Lee plans to build ‘SM Culture Universe’, which incorporates nanotechnology, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence which are becoming the new normal even in the entertainment industry.

“K-pop culture converged with digital technologies will become the trailblazer in shifting the country’s business paradigm,” he emphasized.

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