You may remember that, at the end of last week, I posted a survey on UnitedKPop for readers to complete as part of my 10,000 word dissertation reasearch project.
The response I received was absolutely amazing, with around 100 participants!
Some of you mentioned that you would be interested in seeing the results for yourselves, so I thought I would try to summarise some of them.
As you can imagine, summarising 100 people’s responses to these questions (some of which required quite detailed answers) is a big task and I probably will not do it the justice it deserves.
Nonetheless, here we go!
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1. When did you first hear about the K-Pop genre? (Year and Month)
– All respondents first encountered K-Pop at varying months between 2005-2012.
2. From what source did you hear about the genre?
– Most people cited YouTube as their main source, with friends telling them about the genre coming a close second.
3. How important would you say social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are in your engagement with the genre? (1 = Not at all, 4 = Extremely)
– The majority answered with 4. (Extremely important).
4. What is your main source of information about K-Pop artists?
– Most said K-Pop news sites (some even cited UnitedKPop specifically – hooray!)
5. How connected do you feel to your favourite K-Pop artists through social networking sites? (1 = Not at all, 4 = Extremely)
– Most answered with 3. (Quite connected).
6. What sources do you use to watch music videos of your favourite K-Pop artists?
– A vast majority answered with YouTube/Google Video.
7. Has your interest in K-Pop influenced other areas of your life?
– This question had so many varied answers. Most mentioned that their knowledge of wider South Korean and Asian Culture has increased since they have liked K-Pop.
Many also said that they have begun to learn the Korean language and had been given the chance to meet new friends from it.
Some even added comments saying that their dreams and ambitions have been added to and that their field of study and career paths have been influenced by K-Pop!
8. Do you purchase K-Pop merchandise? If so, what sort?
– The most popular purchases are CDs, MP3s and posters!
9. If you do purchase K-Pop merchandise, by what means?
– Almost 100% said they purchase their K-Pop merch online, but about 1/3 said they would also buy it at K-Pop events. A few mentioned that they get theirs when actually visiting Asia (lucky people!)
10. How do you get information about fan gatherings in the UK? (e.g. K-Pop themed club nights).
– The vast majority answered with Facebook.
11. Do you actively create/run anything K-Pop-related?
– About half of the participants said that they do not actively create anything K-Pop related, but the ones who do provided some very varied answers.
Their activities ranged from writing K-Pop fanfictions and blogs to running their own K-Pop news sites and making their own accessories and creating dance covers.
12. Do you want K-Pop to be a part of the UK mainstream? Why?
– The answer choices for this question were a simple “Yes” or “No”, but I left a comment space for participants to explain their choice.
This question split fans almost directly down the middle. The majority only slighty tipping into the favour of “No”.
Personally, this result initially surprised me given many K-Pop fans’ annoyance at the lack of depth in K-Pop coverage since PSY’s global success last year. However, when looking at the comments it seems that most participants would only want K-Pop to become mainstream in the UK so the genre would be easier for them to access.
Many also expressed that this would lead to more UK K-Pop concerts in the future, which is something that they obviously would like to see more of!
The participants that presumably answered “No” cited their reasons as wanting to keep K-Pop as something more special and unique for them, which would be lost if it became mainstream.
13. Do you think K-Pop offers you anything that Western music does not? If yes, what?
– Another “Yes”, “No” and comment box question. The vast majority answered “Yes”.
Among the many suggestions of what K-Pop offers its fans was: complex choreography, interesting MVs with a high production value, a wider perspective of fashion and idols that are talented in many areas and participate in fun variety shows.
A few answers also included good-looking/hot boys and T.O.P which really made me laugh.
14. Do you feel as though you are part of a community as a K-Pop fan? If so, would you say it was a local, national or global community?
– Again, another “Yes”, “No” and comment question. The majority answered with “Yes” and suggested that it was a global community.
Many also suggested that they felt that the K-Pop fandom is more of a family and that they feel very comfortable as part of it. Which I think is lovely! 😀
15. Lastly, what do you think the future holds for the existence of the K-Pop genre in the United Kingdom?
– For the final and quite big question, I simply left a large comment box.
Of course, all these detailed answers are very difficult to cover so briefly, however the outlook for the future of K-Pop seems very varied from UK fans’ point of view.
Some thought it may become mainstream in th United Kingdom, but many said that it would never get that far.
It seems clear that fans see (and hope for) a bright future for the genre here, with more K-Pop events and concerts being held and, perhaps, slightly easier modes of access, but this is only on a niche level.
Many suggested that the music will always be seen as something “foreign” to most UK listeners and that the language barrier would not be able to be successfully broken down. Participants also said that, even if K-Pop artists subverted the language barrier by producing English songs, that their love for the genre would suffer as a result and that it would lose some of its magic.
Once again, I would like to thank every person that took the time to take this survey. You have all helped me so much with my dissertation research and made me a very proud K-Pop fan!
SO, what do you guys think of these results?
Surprising or expected?
[Source: Holly Smith’s personal research using smartsurvey.co.uk].
