Korean pop songs or K-pop are extremely popular around the world. However, its global success has been largely unexpected after so many years of hardships. Understanding the key to its success can thus produce meaningful lessons which can be applied to the music industries of other countries for their own take-off.

In this lecture, Prof. Jimmyn Parc (Sciences Po Paris & Seoul National University) will address some of these important issues. In an era of rapid technological advancement during the 1990s and early 2000s, Korean entertainment companies understood well about the evolution that was taking place in the music industry. This included transformations from analogue to digital, from albums to songs, from ‘possess’ to ‘access’, from audio to visual, and from end products to promotional products. Rather than resist such changes, Korean entertainment companies actively embraced them, and, with the evolution of digitization, they have been innovative in the way that have adapted to the new trends of the market. This has significantly enhanced the viability of the Korean music industry and K-pop in the global market.

Through a webcast programme given by leading specialists, the series ‘Global Studies of East Asia’, organized by the Official Master’s Degree in Global Studies of East Asia of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and by Casa Asia, in collaboration with the group GREGAL Research Center (UAB), analyses the social, cultural, political, economic and environmental dynamics that emerge from East Asia and influence the rest of the world, turning this area into the most dynamic engine of globalization.

The Official Master’s Degree in Global Studies of East Asia (UAB) is a pioneering master’s degree in the training of professionals who are experts in socio-economic, political-cultural and environmental interactions with East Asia, and offers interdisciplinary training, connected to the international professional environment.

Welcome Remarks:
Rafael Bueno, Politics, Society and Educational Programme Director, Casa Asia

Presented by:
Prof. Blai Guarné, Official Master’s Degree in Global Studies of East Asia, UAB

Moderated by:
Prof. Ester Torres Simón, Spanish Association of East Asian Studies, AEEAO

Delivered by:
Prof. Jimmyn Parc, Sciences Po Paris & Seoul National University

Prof. Jimmyn Parc is a visiting lecturer at Sciences Po Paris and a researcher at the Institute of Communication Research, Seoul National University, in Korea. He received a Ph.D. in international studies (with focus on international business and strategy) from the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), Seoul National University, and another Ph.D. in economic history from University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). He has published numerous academic articles and conducted a number of research projects related to the competitiveness of organizations, industries and countries. His current research focuses on the film and music industries that are faced with a changing business and trade environment as well as new challenges from digitization.

The webcast will be delivered in English.

Next webcasts of the series ‘Global Studies of East Asia’:

Thursday 6th of May from 7.00pm to 8.30pm
“China in Latin America: the new Asian superpower in Southern Countries”
Delivered by Daniel Méndez Morán, ZaiChina

Thursday 27th of May from 7.00pm to 8.30pm
“Remaking Kurosawa: Scaling up Kakushi Toride no Sant-Akunin (The Hidden Fortress)?”
Delivered by Dolors P. Martinez, University of Oxford

Thursday 10th of June from 7.00pm to 8.30pm
“Mapping Environmental Conflicts: A Global Overview and the East Asian Story”
Delivered by Joan Liu, China Agricultural University & ICTA-UAB

Thursday 1st of July from 7.00pm to 8.30pm
“Global Governance, a ‘Gaggle of Gs’ and Japan”
Delivered by Hugo Dobson, University of Sheffield

Coordinators of the series:
David Saurí and Blai Guarné, Official Master’s Degree in Global Studies of East Asia (UAB) Coordinators.

Follow this event on Youtube live on this page:

Webcast: «Climate Change, Energy and East Asia» (18th of March):