Stars wanted: Agencies scouring the Web

Stars wanted: Agencies scouring the Web

Agencies are aiming to find fresh new talent through UCC, but industry insiders question how ‘fresh’ the idea actually is.

Agencies and companies seeking “stars” are increasingly conducting auditions that incorporate user-created videos. Not only is the posting of such videos being encouraged on the Internet, but there is also a growing number of mobile portals for such clips.
SBSi recently opened a mobile music portal channel called SBS Music Star. It features the broadcasting company’s music-related programs such as concerts, variety shows with musicians and talk shows featuring musicians. The service is interactive, and viewers can watch the programs by phone and take part in voting in polls or participating in talk show discussions by calling in.
This channel also has an open audition feature where mobile users can upload their clips to potentially be featured in a music program.
The Web-based video portal Mgoon formed an alliance with JYP Entertainment, an entertainment firm founded by the musician Park Jin-young.
Last week, the two companies announced that they are holding online-off-line auditions for wannabe musicians. Applicants to the entertainment firm don’t have to upload a video to the portal in order to audition, but they get extra points if they do.
The Gyeongju World Culture Expo, in which 30 countries participated, is also seeking young talent through online user-created content. It features visual and participative art such as music and dance, and includes a user-created content event in which anyone can upload their “talent” to the Internet.
Until Aug. 25, SK Telecom is holding auditions for preschool children. Seven children will be selected to become members of the group “Seven Princesses.” Seven Princesses is a child group that debuted in 2004 and garnered great popularity with their babyish voices. The group’s lineup has changed several times since then. Video clips can be uploaded to the Web site www.01star.co.kr.
Agencies are aiming to find fresh, new talent through this medium, but industry insiders question how “fresh” the idea actually is, because a lot of the star-making user-created videos were in fact put together by professionals, and the artists themselves did not just get suddenly swept up in Cinderella-type stories.
For instance, 17-year-old Xeno, a female singer who became popular after three videos of her singing circulated widely on the Internet, was not a student who just happened to upload a video on the Net. She had been training in singing and dancing for three years with a record label that had high hopes for her talent.

By Wohn Dong-hee
Staf Writer for JoongAng Daily

Pretty in pink: tech gadgets go girly

Japanese electronic entertainment device makers are targeting fashion-savvy Korean women with pink gadgets. Sony is launching a pink VAIO laptop for the first time in Korea, which has a glittery “nail-polished top” in ballerina pink. Nintendo is seeing sales figures rise with its pink Nintendo DS Lite, launched just a few months ago.
Sony Korea yesterday unveiled its VAIO CR series, a 14.1-inch laptop computer that comes in four different colors, including pastel pink. Although previous models of the VAIO have been available, only black and silver ones were sold in Korea, mainly catering to a tech-hungry male clientele.
Not anymore. Although men are still on Sony’s customer list, the company is going after the women this time, and it is not ashamed to say so. Not only is it marketing female-friendly catchphrases and holding woman-only promotional parties, but it also hopes new designs will communicate with the fairer sex.
It all begins on the outside, with a chrome frame around the laptop that Sony Korea spokesperson Simon Lee says was meant to feel like a clutch. For style-conscious women wanting to make a striking first impression, Lee says that emphasis was placed on making sure the computer literally shines. Other than the shiny chrome frame, there is also a shiny coating on the cover and a backlight that changes color according to what function one is using on the PC.
But being pretty isn’t just about being shiny on the outside. The keyboard of the new VAIO CR has a beautiful font unique among laptops, and the keys are placed close together so that women don’t get their fingernails caught in between. It also has a 1.3 megapixel camera and Intel’s Core 2 Duo Processor.
In a sense, the launching of the pink VAIO follows the success of Nintendo’s pink DS Lite. In Korea, the console game market takes up less than 5 percent of the entire game market because online games dominate. The success of the DS Lite was mainly attributed to women gamers. As of last month, only four months after its initial release in Korea, more than 270,000 consoles had been sold here.
“Women customers are showing more interest now that gadgets are becoming more colorful,” said a vendor at Technomart, an electronics mall in eastern Seoul. “But pink products sell at least two times more than other colors.”

By Wohn Dong-hee
Staff Writer for JoongAng Daily