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Korean TV-- Vinyl

Ken Boyd

Ken Boyd

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My wife is Korean and she watches some Korean Channels all the time and they just had a long section on Vinyl records. They had a section showing a factory which produces them, and how they were having a hard time keeping up with the demand. They interviewed a few bands on how they felt about getting their music out and how vinyl was important to them and their fans. And they also had some sections of record shops and interviews with buyers and shop owners.

I had to ask my wife what they were talking about because of course it is all in Korean and I don't know enough Korean to understand full conversations. She said overall the show was about how popular vinyl has become, and how many young people like the vinyl because it seems more like art and the way that an artist would want his music released.
 
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I moved here to Korea 6 months ago so I'll share my insight.

LP's here are no more popular here than in the states. It's really a subculture just as it is in the states. You'll find the occasional restaurant/bar/cafe/coffee shop that spins vinyl but aside from audiophiles you'll have a few younger "hipsters" who buy LP's and that's about it. In the 6 months that I've been here, I've only seen 2 stores that sell physical media. Both of them were quite small, one selling only CD's and the other selling CD's, cassettes and LP's.

There is a place here that has nothing but audio and electronics shops along with stores selling LP's, CD's, etc... This area actually outdoes the famed Akihabara strip in Japan. You can find shops selling the latest high end audio and right next to it another shop with stacks and stacks of vintage gear. Next time I go there, I'll take some pics and post them on AK. It's a one stop shopping area for all things pertaining to electronics and audio.
 
Read this.

http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=101290

Last year,I literally fell in love with the music of Shin Joong-Hyung.Overnight he became one of my favorite artists of all time.I soon learned three things.It is next to impossible to get his Korean records,when you see them they are sold by Korean or Japanese sellers,often on Japanese or Korean web sites,not ebay.Invariably they sell in the high hundreds of dollars,to over a grand,regardless of condition.The pressing quality is crap on these late 50s-70s Korean records.The same poor quality,noisy vinyl you got from Taiwan,Indonesia,etc.

What I have been buying are these limited editions of a few hundred copies that were pressed in the US,and exported back to Korea,where fancy deluxe packaging and covers were made.These records were made from about 2003-2008.Unfortunately they did not issue all of his records.These 2000s issues are becoming rare collectables.Note what it says about the Light In The Attic issues.
 
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According to a German friend, South Korea went on manufacturing classical music LPs until 1993, whereas in most other parts of the world production was stopped in 1991 (I´m talking about all the major classical music labels, e.g., Phlips, DG, Angel/EMI, London/Decca, etc). For that reason, some classical LPs have only been released in South Korea. I guess that may be considered as an important precedent.
 
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I'm just glad it's happening. Niche market or not, it's happening. The UK just had their best record sales year in over a decade.
 
guiller said:
IIRC, South Korea went on manufacturing classical music LPs until 1993, whereas in most other parts of the world production was stopped in 1991 (I´m talking about all the major classical music labels, e.g., Phlips, DG, Angel/EMI, London/Decca, etc). For that reason, some classical LPs have only been released in South Korea. I guess that may be considered as an important precedent.
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Maybe they were importing them.Look at what the article says about these dealers mostly US pressings,with the Korean ones in a back room away from the more common records.I have a few DG,Angel,and Sony Classics,that were pressed after 1990.Not to mention how few people in Korea own turntables.
 
thorenstd124 said:
Maybe they were importing them.Look at what the article says about these dealers mostly US pressings,with the Korean ones in a back room away from the more common records.I have a few DG,Angel,and Sony Classics,that were pressed after 1990.
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I´m quoting a German friend here, as I´m not an expert in LPs since I´m not crazy about one format for music reproduction out of several (that is, I love LPs, CDs and so on, no sides taken for me). He mentioned 1991 as the date in which the last classical music LPs were pressed in Europe and 1993 as the last date in which they were pressed in South Korea. Certainly this is not inconsistent with what you say. I consider him to be an expert, so I hope that this data may be of some use.
 
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That factory that was pressing the vinyl on the show didn't look like it was in Korea, as the workers were not Asian.
 
thorenstd124 said:
Read this.

http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=101290

Last year,I literally fell in love with the music of Shin Joong-Hyung.Overnight he became one of my favorite artists of all time.I soon learned three things.It is next to impossible to get his Korean records,when you see them they are sold by Korean or Japanese sellers,often on Japanese or Korean web sites,not ebay.Invariably they sell in the high hundreds of dollars,to over a grand,regardless of condition.The pressing quality is crap on these late 50s-70s Korean records.The same poor quality,noisy vinyl you got from Taiwan,Indonesia,etc.

What I have been buying are these limited editions of a few hundred copies that were pressed in the US,and exported back to Korea,where fancy deluxe packaging and covers were made.These records were made from about 2003-2008.Unfortunately they did not issue all of his records.These 2000s issues are becoming rare collectables.Note what it says about the Light In The Attic issues.
Click to expand...

Great article I will have to keep that place in mind for when we make a trip to Korea. Plus I want to run over to Japan and check out some of their shops, there are a number of shops in Japan which sell really nice used gear, maybe I can find something special not normally imported to the states and ship it back with me.



This pretty much confirms your German friends statements.

"Collecting vintage records is not a cheap hobby in Korea. Most vintage records are priced high, even records in poor condition, with original Shin Joong-hyun albums often priced in the hundreds of thousands in won. The price is based largely on rareness, as Korean vintage records become more and more rare in their home country.

The Korean record industry stopped producing new vinyl records around 1994, according to Kim. “The Korean music market totally collapsed,” says Kim. “Factories closed, markets closed.” Record shops have dwindled, but some still remain, exclusively selling used LPs.

Not only are new records no longer being produced, but the existing ones are disappearing from Korea. Kim gets a lot of foreign customers, particularly from Japan, who seek out Korea's vintage records. He recalls Yoko, a Japanese record collector who would make monthly visits to the shop for vintage records and take them all to Japan."
 
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Report back to us about what it's like,and if they have any old Shin Joong-Hyun,or related artists like The Pearl Sisters,what these records cost.
 
The record that guy in the article is holding is an original pressing of Kim Jung Mi's Now album,from 1973.This record is now recognized worldwide as a masterpiece.Some say it is the greatest record Shin Joong-Hyun was involved with.Some say it's the best Korean rock record ever made.Look at this video of somebody buying it off a website in Korea.The price is 2,200,000.00 South Korean Won.This is roughly equal to $2031.00 in US dollars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D031i4mwhw
 
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