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The explosion of K-Pop

Posted on by Brian Lee

YouTube has launched the careers of musical artists such as Justin Bieber and Arnel Pineda (current lead singer of Journey). Now’s it launching an entire genre of music called K-Pop.

I bet more people are familiar with K-Pop–which is pop music from South Korea–than they realize. Just turn on the radio or go online to hear/watch PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” which the New Yorker calls the “Macarena of the moment.”

These videos have high-quality production and dance choreography, which certainly helped them go viral worldwide (the No. 1 rule for viral marketing is to have good content). So far, “Gangnam Style” has more than 600 million views, Girls’ Generation’s “Gee” has 90 million and Super Junior’s “Mr. Simple” has 50 million.

K-Pop’s popularity is an example of the ever-evolving digital landscape. Previously, you typically discovered new music through the radio and/or by watching MTV/VH1. Now, by the time a song hits one of those media, you’re already familiar with the song through YouTube, Spotify or iTunes.

What does this mean for the notoriously greedy record industry? Besides using these new avenues, record executives need to remember it’s okay to give away something for free. Recent sold-out K-Pop concerts in the United States and huge record sales prove this.

And if something is worth sharing, people will share it.

It’s That Time of Year: Annoying Campaign Calls

Posted on by Katelyn Youngblood

Ah, election season.  While I’m a strong supporter of exercising your right to vote, what I do not support are political parties that cross boundaries to get their point across—in fact, it’s reaching the point where they’re actually pushing voters away.

Let’s backtrack a couple of weeks.  On October 4th, President Obama came to Madison to speak.  Regardless of which party you identify with, seeing the President of the United States come to your school and speak is a pretty cool experience.  I saw him when he spoke at the UW campus in 2010, and I thought it would be good to attend again, especially during election season.

Here’s the thing.  In order to get through the gates and access Bascom Hill (having him speak on Bascom Hill is a whole other issue, which can be found here), you needed to sign up for a ticket online.

From a marketing/communications standpoint, it was a brilliant idea. Require the name, email, and phone number of the attendees so that you can target them later. Easy, simple, and bound to get a few votes. While this bothered me quite a lot, I was forced to type in my phone number and then pressed “I’m in!” (which is another thing that made me cringe).

A few weeks went by until last Monday, when I was rudely awoken by an unknown number calling my cell phone.  Of course it was Obama for America calling and of course they were wondering whom I’m voting for in the election. As nicely as I could, I asked them not to call me again.  This peace and quiet lasted a whole two days, until they called me again. A few days later I got a third call.

I get it. I’m a college student voting in my first presidential election and getting people like me involved is important.  However, if you’re going to call my personal cell phone and harass me with annoying political propaganda I’m not going to appreciate it. It’s just the principle of it.  I’d have to have been living under a rock if my life in the last few months hasn’t been inundated with political, partisan bullshit. But yes, I’m acutely aware that it’s important to vote.

However, if this overbearing campaigning is even making me, who never doubted that I would vote, begin to hate politics in general, what is this doing to those who aren’t as sure?

Because regardless of your political views, age, race, or where you live, NO ONE likes being awoken by annoying campaign phone calls, and it’s certainly not going to win you any votes.

#firstworldproblems

Posted on by Emilie Buckman

Sometime I think our internet savvy, hyper-aware generation can be too detached for its own good.  Need an example? Look at the twitter account @firstworldroblems.

Don’t get me wrong when I first saw the tweets I thought they were entertaining. And I am definitely guilty of complaining about trivial inconveniences associated with living a country of abundance. (The other day I started whining about how my phone always freezes up when I am in Instagram than someone pointed that was an first world problem.)

I started rethinking the accounts humor when I saw this viral video for WATERislife, which has Haitians reading actual tweets from the popular accounts. Their organization helps provide clean drinking to impoverished residents of Haiti.

After seeing the video I felt both incredibly happy, while also feeling like a huge jerk. (It’s hard not to feel bad living in a society that has so much, yet complains about small problems. If you don’t feel like a jerk I am pretty sure you don’t have a soul.) But my happiness outweighs those feelings because I know what good WATERislife can do with this video.

The video is so simple yet to so effective. In my opinion, a great way to connect with this shrewd generation is to show the highlight the juxtaposition of their indifference. This is one video does just that! Here’s hoping it goes viral!