The success of Korean pop music has been great for artists like BoA and Lee Hyori, whose names have become synonymous with the very term K-Pop, but it has tended to overshadow some of Korea’s other talents not of the pop music genre.

This is one of the reasons for last Friday night’s 2004 MTV Asia awards voting party at Seoul’s Hard Rock Cafe in Chongdam-dong, which featured artists from the hip-hop and R& B genres.

Tei, a Korean R& B artist, Epik High, a hip-hop group, and MC The Max, a modern rock band, performed for close to 500 people.

It is also one of the reasons teeny-boppers, MTV Asia’s current primary fan base, were not permitted to enter the party, otherwise open and gratis for all Seoulites at least 20 years old. Bernie Cho, MTV Korea’s creative planner, said it was time for MTV Asia’s audience to expand.

"Right now, most people associate MTV Korea with KPop. Hip-hop and other kinds of music are not emphasized enough. This is one of the reasons I pushed for an age limit," Cho said.

MTV Asia is only three years old, an infant in the Korean music industry, where MNET, KMTV and Channel V, specializing in Asian music, have firmly established themselves.

The voting party, which gave gifts to the first 300 guests and two free drink tickets to everyone, was a promotional gig to get South Koreans geared toward MTV, small potatoes here but a behemoth in the West.

River S. Juhn, an MTV representative, said the voting party, where there was no shortage of groupies alternating between clapping and holding up their digital cameras, was a success.

"It was better than what we expected. We don’t see this kind of party all the time, since we don’t have a lot of power in the industry yet," Juhn said.

Korean artists BoA, Wheesung, Seven, Fly To The Sky, and Hyori have been nominated for MTV Asia music awards. Viewers can vote on MTV’s Web site through tomorrow. The awards ceremony is set for Feb. 14 in Singapore.

credit: korea times+K pop vault

that's not just true in korea. in china/taiwan also, the other genres are under-appreciated. In japan, they've already caught up with the rest of the world and lots of people are aware of all the hardcore/punk/metal/hip hop artists in japan. however, in china and korea, the 'different' artists struggle to gain recognition.

of course, there have been some successes, but overall, i agree with them. the audience has to expand.

i want to hear those korean bands....MC to the max? and that other one. hmmm

from what I've heard those other korean bands aren't that bad, they just haven't gained popularity as quickly as those other artists.