经济学人精选文章：韩国流行音樂产业的未来

开心青年

    PSY本名朴载相，在韩国的知名度原本就很高，上个月推出新专集，更让自己成PSY(pictured,alsoknownasParkJae-sang鸟叔（如图，本名朴载相）火了。8月12日，这位说唱明星在首尔一家体育馆内Koreanpop(knownasK-poptofans)isturni韩国流行音乐（也称韩流）正取得出口上的成功。诸如superjunior和Buttheoutlookathomeislessrosy.Withth不过，韩国音乐产业在国内前景却不容乐观。韩国拥有世界上最快的宽带链接速率Inothercountries,manymusic-loverssti在其他国家，许多音乐爱好者付费，通过苹果Itunes等在线商店下载音乐。InSouthKorea,themarketworksdifferent韩国音乐市场的运营模式则不一样。订阅服务允许用户租听音乐，这项业务在韩国Alasforlabelsandartists,however,thei不过，唱片公司和歌手就悲剧了，他们从中获得的分红简直少得可怜。采取订阅销Thefearofillegaldownloadingkeepsthea为遏制非法下载，数码音源的价格被压得很低。而且租听服务运营商的垄断地位，SMEntertainmentandotherpurveyorsofK-SM和其他公司通过让明星多上电视节目来弥补这块收入短板。这些最大的唱片公SouthKorea’soldbusinessmodel,perfect韩国传统的商业模式由现代汽车发展到极致，即先掌控国内市场，然后以此为跳板






PSY本名朴载相，在韩国的知名度原本就很高，上個月推出新专集，更让自己成为世界级的艺人。他在《江南Style》的嘻哈风格沿襲搞笑，自创的马式舞步和深具感染力的音樂节奏，让欧美人士也為之疯狂。影片是埃足本《江南Style》，至今在YouTube已超2200万人点阅。PSY打破了少女时代的纪录，以最短的时间在YouTube网站上创造了2000万點擊率的纪录。

South Korea’s music industry

韩國音乐产业

Top of the K-pops

韩流顶端

Korean musicians must export or starve

韩國音乐家，要么出口音乐，要么选擇餓死。




Now what am I bid for the rest of the suit?

PSY (pictured, also known as Park Jae-sang) is having the time of his life. On August 12th at a stadium in Seoul, the rap star’s concert felt like the only party in town. He entertained 30,000 fans for almost four hours. And this veteran of the South Korean charts has suddenly become popular in the West, since the video for his song “Gangnam Style”, in which he rides an imaginary horse around a posh part of Seoul, went viral on YouTube. The track even hit number one on the iTunes dance chart in Finland.

鸟叔（如圖，本名朴載相）火了。8月12日，这位说唱明星在首爾一家体育馆内举行了演唱会，场面火爆万人空巷。他为30000万名粉丝表演了近4个小时。不仅如此，因为新歌“江南stlye”骑马舞（在首尔高档社区附近做騎马的动作）MV在油管的爆红，韓国出道已久的鸟叔在西方也贏得了瞩目。这首歌甚至在芬兰iTunes舞曲热度图表上也成为了第一。

Korean pop (known as K-pop to fans) is turning into an export success. Groups such as Super Junior and 2NE1 now sell millions of CDs and concert tickets in other parts of Asia. As K-pop zooms up the foreign charts, share prices of leading labels, such as SM Entertainment, have soared too.

韩国流行音乐（也称韩流）正取得出口上的成功。诸如super junior和2NE1等組合在亞洲售出了上百萬CD，举办了多场演唱会。因为韩流在外国的飛速發展，SM等唱片公司的股票价格因之水漲船高。

But the outlook at home is less rosy. With the world’s fastest broadband connections, Koreans have embraced downloading. This in itself is not a problem, but the way they do it is.

不過，韓國音乐產业在国内前景却不容樂观。韩國拥有世界上最快的宽带链接速率，韩国人也喜欢從网上下载音乐。下載音乐本身并不是问題，问题是下载的方式不对。

In other countries, many music-lovers still pay for downloads, through the likes of Apple’s iTunes shop. Fans typically shell out at least 99 cents per track (and more in countries such as Japan and Britain). Of this, 70% goes to music labels and artists.

在其他国家，許多音乐爱好者付费，通过苹果Itunes等在線商店下載音乐。一般下载一首歌曲最少要支付99美分（有的国家收費更高，如日本和英国）。其中，音源下载收入的70%会交給唱片公司和歌手。

In South Korea, the market works differently. Subscription-based services, which allow the listener to rent music, are extremely popular. For a period of one month fans of rock and pop music pay a fee of around 9,000 won ($8) for 150 tracks. Such services have helped to drive overall music sales to 430 billion won in 2011.

韓國音乐市场的运營模式则不一樣。訂阅服務允许用户租听音乐，这项业务在韩國极其流行。只需支付9000韩元（8美元），爱好摇滚或流行音乐的用户就可以在一月內租听150首歌曲。音乐租听业务在2011年的销售额为4300亿韩元。

Alas for labels and artists, however, their payout is miserly. Under subscription deals, they collect as little as 30 won per track. This must then be split between performers, writers and the label itself. SM Entertainment’s boss complains that even 1m downloads cannot cover the cost of making a music video.

不过，唱片公司和歌手就悲剧了，他们從中获得的分红简直少得可怜。采取订阅销售模式，唱片公司和歌手每首歌只能收取30韩元。就这点錢还得在表演者、作词作曲者和唱片公司間進行再分配。SM公司老板就抱怨说，100万下載量收取的分红还不够歌曲制作費。

The fear of illegal downloading keeps the average price per track of digital music low. That the subscription-service operators are a powerful oligopoly further reduces the labels’ bargaining power. Thus, SM Entertainment took in a trifling 1.9 billion won in domestic digital sales in the first quarter of 2012. By contrast, the firm sold CDs worth 3 billion won, despite the physical format’s supposed demise.

为遏制非法下载，数碼音源的价格被压得很低。而且租听服務运營商的垄断地位，进一步压縮了唱片公司的谈判空間。因此，SM公司2012年第一季度的音源收入才19亿韩元。形成鲜明對比的是，尽管相比數码音乐唱片會毁損老化，该公司的唱片销售额仍旧达到了30亿韩元。

SM Entertainment and other purveyors of K-pop cover this shortfall at home by having their stars hawk the latest phone, or appear on television variety shows. The biggest labels have become adept at squeezing cash out of their pop stars’ names, rather than their music. But only a handful of musicians are famous enough to benefit.

SM和其他公司通過讓明星多上电视節目來弥补这块收入短板。这些最大的唱片公司已经变得善于利用偶像的名号圈錢，而非通过音乐本身赚取利润。不过，只有少部分明星有足夠的名气让他们圈钱。

South Korea’s old business model, perfected by its carmakers, was to use a captive home market as a launch-pad from which to invade foreign shores. The country’s pop musicians have turned this model upside down: they have to export their tunes to make up for meagre pickings at home.

韩国传统的商业模式由现代汽车發展到极致，即先掌控國内市場，然后以此为跳板征服外国市场。而这个国家音樂人却將这个模式颠倒过来：只能通过音乐出口来补贴国内的微博收入。