"After the restoration of Korea's independance, Korea's music has never been ruined so much. We cannot sink any lower. Even if the "singer" that won all the awards last year is that popular, she only sold 150 thousand copies. Korea's music industry doesnt have a 'mid-fielder'. Mainstream has rotten away while the non-mainstream is not active enough. Albums that sell over 100 thousand copies should be over a hundred a year, but not even 10 a year is occuring. "

These were the words of lament that poured out of music professionals at the press conference for the '1st Korean General Music Awards' This new ceremony's commitee held a press conference on the 23rd and explained "We have reached a descision to hold an annual 'Korean General Music Awards' that can recieve recognition from the general public as a whole and gain authority over the many ceremonies held from various broadcasting companies."

This new award system will not take into account any statistics on the amount of times a singer has performed on television or the amount of albums sold like the other ceremonies. Instead, the awards will be given to those that influence a growth in Korea's mass music culture. This means whether or not an artist is mainstream or not, those awarded will be based more on musical talent rather than popularity. The artists will be selected through professional music judges and internet voting of 'this years album' into 14 different categories.

A judge of this upcoming ceremony Lim Jin Mo explained "In the past, when Song Chang Shik, Jo Yong Pil, Lee Sun Hee or Kim Kun Mo recieved the Daesang absolutely nobody raised any objections. However when Lee Hyori won all the awards or that only one of them was awarded to Lee Soo Young, her tears put all those who truly love music in vain. " Furthermore Lim Jin Mo added " 'Lee Hyori' does not exist in Korea's General Music culture. Nor does 'Rain' fall here."

Another professor of music stated "The awards given by the broadcasting companies in the last year showed tendencies to award those who raised the program ratings of various show programs." and that "this new ceremony will contribute to aiding the crisis facing Korea's music industry as well as lead the development of the music culture to a positive direction."

Who will be the first to recieve the true 'grammy' from Korea's music industry? The 1st Korean General Music Awards will be held at Song Kyun University Hall on the 17th of March.

source. Mun Hwa Il Bo
credits: orenji728+ss

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