This thought came off the back of this interesting article that premises that music is losing young men, as seen in the YoY change in gender ratio of live music attendees. The author argues that young men are turning to far right platforms, gaming, and other parts of the manosphere, instead of engaging with music.
I thought it’d be interesting to discuss this within the context of Kpop, which females form the bulk of the fandury. There is a 2022 article from Korea JoongAng Daily that estimates it at 70 to 90 percent – I still think the figures can still be relevant as a benchmark.
Now before some people think this is a dick-riding post, let me explain why I think it’s important:
- More male listeners = more demand and continued growth of the industry. Instead of constantly squeezing female fans and recycling fans (looking at you SM), kpop can also continue its growth by reaching out to more men. And by men, I don’t mean those who just think of idols as just sexy women. There are men who just enjoy listening to music as a hobby.
- When the consumer base is overweight on a particular gender, it loses an intrinsic reason for diversity and that impacts creativity negatively. We as consumers of kpop will suffer.
- The viability of female idols in the industry. It’s obvious from the Hanteo charts that boy groups/male idols are the bestsellers though there are some females who are doing well. If fans are just going to mainly support male idols, how can females have a viable career?
Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this.
submitted by /u/lynxstyle91
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