A tight unit with a riotous party spirit, K-pop collective are bringing their culture to the masses

Balming Tiger are a many-headed beast. Formed in 2018, this 11-strong K-pop collective boasts a rotating cast of rappers, vocalists, writers, producers and cinematographers. Despite the mass of personalities involved, they’re a tight unit. In interviews they deliver neat slogans about their mission to bring Korean culture to the masses, like executives readying themselves for a product launch.

But there’s a riotous spirit underpinning that professionalism. Last year’s debut album, January Never Dies , is a collection of blissfully tongue-in-cheek songs that examine day-to-day life in Seoul, harnessing the rough edges of heavy metal with a pop sheen and exuberantly rapped verses. Kamehameha is a homage to chaotic drinking sessions, its video starring office workers who loosen their ties to get sloshed on soju, only to endure hungover hell at the next day’s meetings. Perhaps the band’s ethos is most neatly summarised by Sexy Nukim (Sexy Feeling). Featuring BTS frontman and Balming Tiger fan RM, it’s a call for listeners to ditch materialism and harness their inner self-confidence.

January Never Dies is out now. Balming Tiger play Heaven, London WC2 on 2 July

Coldplay become act to headline most times with their fifth top slot, while Shania Twain is booked for the Sunday teatime ‘legend’ set as the lineup is announced

Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA will headline Glastonbury 2024, a diverse spread of A-list artists matched by a strong supporting lineup across the festival including Little Simz, LCD Soundsystem and Burna Boy, plus Shania Twain in the always-jubliant “legend” slot.

Much loved by Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis who once said they can “call in and do the milking any time” on his Worthy Farm site, Coldplay continue their longstanding relationship with the festival, becoming the first act to headline the Pyramid stage five times. They launched themselves into pop-rock’s big leagues with their first headline performance in 2002 when they had only released one album, and have since headlined in 2005, 2011 and 2016, as well as doing a livestreamed performance to an empty Pyramid stage field in lieu of a 2021 festival cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

From K-pop to K-beauty, via film and fashion, South Korea is punching way above its weight. The boyband BTS alone rakes in billions every year. Are there lessons for other countries?

How does this sound for a leisurely day of cultural immersion? Ablutions completed, apply a moisturising face mask infused with snail secretion against an audio backdrop of girl group Blackpink . For lunch, a bowl of bibimbap and a Bong Joon-ho film. In the evening, binge-watch zombie series All of Us Are Dead over spicy yangnyeom chicken and a bottle of strawberry soju . All this without setting foot inside their country of origin.

Not even the fact that the all-conquering boyband BTS have been called up for military service can dampen the global appetite for all things South Korean. K-pop now regularly tops the US and UK charts. Three years after Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched show ever, four years after Bong’s Parasite became the first non-English language film to win the best picture Oscar, with K-pop girl group Twice at No 1 on the US album chart, the Korean content juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down.

Back in August, users of Reddit and similar platforms lamented the sudden disappearance of two music piracy platforms.

Somewhat predictably, Jpopmix.com specialized in J-pop, a form of Japanese popular music that first gained popularity in the 1990s. Kpoptap, a sister site almost identical in appearance to Jpopmix, specialized in South Korean K-pop. Around August 20, both disappeared offline with only the latter leaving a message: “GOOD BYE!”

Sites can cease to exist for all kinds of reasons but the demise of Jpopmix (and most likely Kpoptap too) is now officially confirmed as the work of the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

Jpopmix Non-Responsive to Takedowns

RIAJ currently has around 65 members including Sony, Universal, and Warner, and is seen as the Japanese equivalent of the RIAA. An RIAJ statement notes that Jpopmix offered for download a catalog of music owned by its member companies, without obtaining any type of permission.

Goodbye Jpopmix

In partnership with global music group IFPI, RIAJ said the operator of Jpopmix was repeatedly asked to remove infringing music from their website. When those requests were ignored, the labels went to court in the United States where they obtained a DMCA subpoena to identify the site’s operator.

“In response to this situation, we obtained an information disclosure order in the United States against CloudFlare, the content delivery network (CDN) used by the website, with the aim of identifying the site administrator in order to pursue liability for illegal activities,” RIAJ reveals.

Site Shut Down, Warning For Similar Sites

The Japanese music industry group hasn’t revealed whether the information obtained from Cloudflare led to direct contact with Jpopmix’s operator, and the subsequent shutdown of the site. That leaves open the possibility that the platform was voluntarily closed once its owner learned of the subpoena in the United States.

Whatever the mechanism, the RIAJ got the result it was looking for; the fact that Jpopmix’s sister site folded too can be chalked up as a bonus. It’s clear, however, that the RIAJ intends to keep up the pressure on pirate site operators, whether they operate locally or overseas.

“Our association plans to continue to hold the operators responsible and take legal action against similar illegal sites,” the RIAJ continues.

Users Warned About Downloading Pirated Music

An interesting aspect of enforcement activity against pirate sites is how threats are characterized in public. Few, if indeed any countries claim that they have a local problem with pirate sites, so most find themselves pointing overseas to the perceived source of the problem.

The RIAJ says that while Jpopmix was also operating from a server outside Japan, the platform targeted the local market which accounted for 80% of its traffic. While downloading from an illegal source is technically an offense in many countries due to the creation of an unlicensed copy, it’s been a criminal offense in Japan for over a decade .

In a warning to both operators and users of unlicensed download sites, the RIAJ sets out the law while also appealing for people to do the right thing.

“If you knowingly download music that has been uploaded illegally, even for personal listening purposes, you may be subject to criminal penalties. Furthermore, illegal actors are depriving artists and record companies who spend a huge amount of time and effort to produce music for which compensation should be received, which could lead to the decline of music culture itself,” the industry group notes.

“In order to contribute to the development of music culture, our association will continue to work on illegal countermeasures to eradicate pirated sites.”

Current RIAJ members

(Full Members)

Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd.
Jvckenwood Victor Entertainment Corp.
King Record Co., Ltd.
Teichiku Entertainment, Inc.
Universal Music Llc
Nippon Crown Co., Ltd.
Tokuma Japan Communications Co,.
Sony Music Labels Inc.
Pony Canyon Inc.
Warner Music Japan Inc.
Vap Inc.
B Zone, Inc.
Avex Entertainment Inc.
For Life Music Entertainment, Inc.
Yamaha Music Communications Co., Ltd.
Dreamusic Inc.
Yoshimoto Music Co., Ltd.
Bandai Namco Music Live Inc.
Associate Members
Nbcuniversal Entertainment Japan Llc
Pryaid Records Inc.
Johnny’S Entertainment Inc.
Ld&K Inc.
Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
J Storm Inc.
Venus Records Inc.
Hats Unlimited Co., Ltd.
Naxos Japan, Inc.
A-Sketch Inc.
Village Again Association Co., Ltd.
Space Shower Networks Inc.
Warner Bros. Japan Llc
Rambling Records Inc.
Toho Co., Ltd.
Sdr Inc.
Kiss Entertainment Inc.
Croix Co.,Ltd.
P-Vine, Inc.
Toy’S Factory Inc.
Gifted Co., Ltd
Tanipromotion Co.,Ltd.

(Supporting Members)

Aniplex Inc.
T-Toc Records.
Ward Records, Inc.
Free Board Co., Ltd.
Holiday Japan Co., Ltd.
Tv Asahi Music Co., Ltd.
Nppdevelop Co., Ltd.
A-Force Entertainment. Inc.
Kino Music Co., Ltd
Spro Entertainment Inc.
Johnny’S Music Company Inc.
Be Bee Next Co., Ltd.
Ldh Japan Inc.
Ment Recording Inc.
Tv Tokyo Music, Inc.
King International Inc.
Bellwood Records Co., Ltd.
Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Inc.
Sony Music Solutions Inc.
Avex Digital Inc.
Flyingdog, Inc.
Sony Music Artists Inc.
Columbia Marketing Co.,Ltd.
Avex Pictures Inc.
JIJIINC.

Total members: 65 (RIAJ data, April 2023)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

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