Students in Ho Chi Minh City Have Favor Whether in Korean Pop or Us – Uk?

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HCMC UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Research Paper
STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY
HAVE FAVOR WHETHER IN KOREAN POP OR US – UK?

Name: Phạm Thị Loan Trang
ID: 10DH70066
Instructor: Lý Thị Ngọc Hoa

APRIL, 2013
Instructor’s comment

Abstract
To many people in many cultures, music is an important part of their way of life.
The purpose of this research was to find out which factors lead people to choose the trend of music they love the most. This research might help Vietnam Pop has their own way in music industry. 100 students participated in this research. The subjects were surveyed by a questionnaire with 10 questions. Result showed that students in Ho Chi Minh city have favor in US-UK because of many positive reasons. This result might help music producers have their own way in producing music for Vietnam’s music industry. The research was carried out fluently because this topic related to everyone’s life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 1. Introduction including Literature Review 5 2. Methodology including Material 6 3. Findings and discussion 7 4. Conclusion 12 5. References 14 6. Questionnaire 15 7. Acknowledgement 17 Appendix

1. Introduction including Literature Review
Nowadays, K-pop (Korean Pop) and US-UK (USA and UK Pop) are the popular trends of music which attract teenagers the most. US-UK for a long time has become a great influence to people all over the world, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. It’s easy to understand that English is an international language and people can not deny US-UK’s pretty rhythm. However, when the Korean dramas have come to Vietnam, then, their OST (original soundtracks) have also become as popular as US-UK.
Small investigation has been made to find out whether students in Ho Chi Minh City have favor in K-pop or US-UK? However, that’s why I write this research report.
According to Jayson – a tourist from England, people listen to US-UK simply because they like the song. People enjoy K-pop, because they love the idols, K-pop is not selling music. It’s about selling idols – people that admirers (or fans) worship. Everyone has their favorite member who just looks especially hot, cute, sexy or delicious in the themed outfits for each new music video, which one must watch 20 times a day in order to elevate the view count to over 20 million in a week. Do not forget that most idols are not even good at singing. So obviously that is not why K-pop’s popularity has soared in recent years.
A student from Hutech university also commented that kids, in Korean showbiz, are trained, molded – effectively turned into K-pop stars, and noone bats an eye. There is very strong loyalty to the record label in South Korea. The record labels themselves – particularly the major ones are more than just a label, they are also ver strong brands. Korea is very strategic in its members of pop-groups, in order to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – i.e China. Most K-pop artists will release the same album in three different languages: Korean, Chinese and Japanese. Or, they will release completely different songs – in each language.
“The world still loves US-UK music. But why, exactly?”
It’s an age-old question from Maria Martinez – journalist, that: if music is pouring out of every corner of the globe, why is US-UK music so popular on the world stage? Especially in a borderless, digitally – liberated media environment? And even in countries deeply resent America, or whose cultures are radically different?
This is deeper than just music in the background ; US-UK pop culture and music are deeply seeped into this culture – consciously or otherwise. You can say that this is isolate, but American music and the celbrities attached to it – travel extremely well.

2. Methodology including Material
The research was performed in Ho Chi Minh city, began on February 28th, 2013 and finished on March 28th, 2013. The survey was carried out on 100 students (females and males) from universities (mainly in District 10 and District 5). The subjects were selected randomly in Ho Chi Minh city. The purpose of this study was to identify which factors that whether students like US-UK or Korean-pop. The instrument used in this research was questionnaire with 10 questions. A total of 100 copies of questionnaire were sent to 100 randomly chosen subjects. Each copy of questionnaire consisted two parts: the first part is for those who love US-UK and the second part is for those who love K-Pop. After collecting all the hand-outs answered by the subjects, all collected data were put into computer and analyzed by Microsoft Excel® software.

3. Findings and Discussion

Figure 3.1: Age group
Surprisingly, there were 90 researched subjects chose US-UK as their favorite music trend (Figure 3.2). Besides that, there were just 44 subjects chose K-Pop as their favorite music trend. The results were completed by almost the age group from 21 to 25 years old (78%, Figure 3.1), 13% subjects belongs to age group from 15 to 20 years old, and there was just 2% subjects from 26 to over 30 years old. The findings show that the votes for US-UK predominated over the votes for K-Pop.
When the subjects were asked why they didn’t choose K-Pop as their favorite trend of music, the majority commented that they simply don’t understand the language of Korean. Some participants frankly expressed that they dislike K-Pop. There are some reasons have been collected from the questionnaire such as: K-Pop is following the trend of music market, they spend too much attention on their appearances and they don’t have deeply meanings… etc.

Figure 3.2: Music trends students chose

Figure 3.3: The factors of US-UK students like most
The figure 3.3 shows some best criteria which were selected based by subjects. According to the result, rhythm (39%), lyrics (30%) and artists (16%) were 3 top criteria for subjects to choose or to rank US-UK. This reveals that the success and the influence of US-UK depends on its ability to satisfy these listed criteria.
The current study showed that US-UK was praised for many particular criteria. Firstly, the deep meanings of lyrics and attractive rhythm which were closely related to the daily life. Secondly, US-UK’s artists do not spend too much attention on their appearances, they just focused on their style of performance and the vocal they show on their music videos or the songs they sing. Thirdly, every music products were carefully invested before releasing.

Figure 3.4: Forms students chose to watch and listen to US-UK
Figure 3.4 and figure 3.7 describe the rank for listening to both US-UK and K-Pop by watching video clips 3 times by watching liveshow. By many reasons that students rank on watching video clip can be showed. First, the price ticket for one live show of famous artists is very expensive and students can not afford it. Second, Vietnam’s music industry is still on the way of developing and it is rarely for some famous bands or artists all over the world to hold a liveshow.

Figure 3.5: Time students spent on listening to US-UK a week
The research recorded that 39% subjects usually listen to US-UK from 1 to 5 hours a week, while 43% subjects listen to K-Pop from 1 to 5 hours a week (figure 3.8).

Figure 3.6: The factors of K-Pop students like most
Contrary to US-UK’s factors of influence, lyric was not the criteria that support for K-Pop’s influence. Rhythm, artists and dance performance were 3 top criteria for students to rank K-Pop. There are several possible explanations for this result. Firstly, the rhythm of K-Pop is very young, joyful and ebullient. Secondly, although some subjects commented that they did not understand the language, the rhythm still touched people’s hearts by some famous artist whose vocals are really strong and beautiful.
According to the figure 3.7 and figure 3.4, almost students chose to watch and listen to music (both US-UK and K-Pop) through video clips (the reason has indicated in figure 3.4).

Figure 3.7: Forms students chose to watch and listen to K-Pop

Figure 3.8: Time students spent on listening to K-Pop a week

4. Conclusion:
In this investigation, the aim was to assess that students in Ho Chi Minh city have whether favor in K-Pop or US-UK. The results from this study indicated that US-UK’s age-old music still have a strong influence to the people from the past and last until 21st century. By its deep meanings of lyrics, attractive rhythms, as well as the artists’ style in expressing their ego in their own way.
The major age group is from 21 to 25 years old (figure 3.1). The votes for US-UK is twice K-Pop (figure 3.2). There were 78 subjects (39%) chose rhythm as a main criteria for the reason why they voted for US-UK. While US-UK’s dance performance did not make attention to students (6% from figure 3.3). Music videos was still a best choice for students’ affordability (77% from figure 3.4 and 74% from figure 3.7). Despite of failure of K-Pop, the K-Pop’s rhythm was a key criteria which made attention to students the most.
This study has shown that due to students’ timetable in studying, a reasonable time for students to spend on listening to music is from 1 to 5 hours a week (figure 3.5 and figure 3.8).
In conclusion, just like the quotes - " Real music is always revolutionary, for it cements the ranks of the people; it arouses them and leads them onward. " Dmitri Shostakovich showed that music is indispensable to people lives.
This research was just performed in District 10 and District 5. It is possible that the results can be different from other areas’ ones. However, we can no longer deny the truthly music.

References 1. Vai trò của âm nhạc trong cuộc sống of Mai Nguyen from danorgan.vn 2. Why K-Pop not US-UK? Of Lucas Grabeel from tumblr.com internet and other eletronic sources 1. The quotes of Dmitri Shostakovich - http://www.iwise.com/Dmitri_Shostakovich 2. The role of Music in our lives - http://danorgan.vn/tin/7/Vai-tro-cua-am-nhac-trong-cuoc-song.aspx 3. How to write a report research - http://www.klausdierks.com 4. wikipedia.org/wiki

QUESTIONNAIRE
PERSONAL INFORMATION (not required) Name: Gender: Occupation: Age:
RESEARCH INFORMATION:
*Required
1. Age group? * * 15 – 20 years old * 21 – 25 years old * 26 – 30 years old * over 30 years old
2. Which music trend(s) do you choose?*
(If you choose only US-UK, answer from question 3 to 6. If you choose only K-Pop, answer from question 7 to 10. If you choose both of them, answer all the questions except question 6 and 10.) * US-UK * K-Pop
3. Which factor(s) from US-UK you like most? * Lyrics * Rhythm * Music video * Dance Performance * Artists (vocal, appearance…)
4. Which form(s) do you choose to watch and listen to US-UK? * Live show * Music video
5. How many hours a week do you spend on listening to US-UK? * Less than 1 hour/week * From 1 – 5 hours/week * From 5 – 10 hours/week * More than 10 hours

6. The reason why you did not choose K-Pop?

7. Which factor(s) from K-Pop you like most? * Lyrics * Rhythm * Music video * Dance Performance * Artists (vocal, appearance…)
8. Which form(s) do you choose to watch and listen to K-Pop? * Live show * Music video
9. How many hours a week do you spend on listening to K-Pop? * Less than 1 hour/week * From 1 – 5 hours/week * From 5 – 10 hours/week * More than 10 hours

10. The reason why you did not choose US-UK? * *

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this research. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Ms. L.T. Ngoc Hoa from Huflit university has been taking time to guide me to do this research.

SINCERELY THANKS!