Created in South Korea, K-pop is one of the few musical genres to rival American entertainment: its stars are breaking records for views and listens on streaming platforms, perform to sold-out crowds all around the world, and bank billions. It’s a key market for Korean soft power, and one in which Frenchie Thomas Sommer (E10), co-founder of production company SG Entertainment, decided to carve out a place of his own. Here’s his story. 

ESSEC Alumni: How and why did you transition from mobile marketing to K-pop? 

Thomas Sommer: I enjoyed working in mobile marketing when the sector was just starting out, because it made me feel like a pioneer in a fledgling industry. When it naturally matured, I started looking for a new challenge. Moving to South Korea to start a career in entertainment gave me that feeling of being an explorer again, all while working in a sector where managing people is the most important thing, which is what’s meaningful to me.

EA: Could you explain K-pop to our readers who are unfamiliar with the genre?

T. Sommer: The South Korean entertainment industry works radically differently to what you see in the West. In it, various players (including the Korean government!) operate within a structured, integrated, and centralised system that can churn out hits on an industrial scale. From the recruitment of “trainees” to the forming of “idol” groups, it all works like a well-oiled machine. The advantage of this is that this powerful machine can very quickly adapt to the latest trends to optimise the product’s market fit. The disadvantage? The model tends to limit artistic creativity because it leaves very little room for trial and error.

EA: Are there any equivalents to K-pop elsewhere in the world, or in other times? 

T. Sommer: K-pop, in addition to being a musical genre, is a holistic production system unique to South Korea, and one that hasn’t been reproduced elsewhere. It’s tempting to compare the K-pop boy groups to the Western boy bands of the 1990s. But that would mean ignoring one fundamental difference due to the underlying cultural and philosophical differences between East and West: in K-pop, it’s the relationship between band members that defines the group’s identity, rather than their individual personalities.

EA: What place does K-pop occupy in the Korean entertainment landscape? And in the world? 

T. Sommer: K-pop currently forms a major part of Korean cultural identity and soft power, and as such it is heavily promoted and supported abroad by the government, alongside other cultural products like dramas and webtoons. In Korea, the “idols” are seen as gods and have a special place in society. They are often invited on to TV, feature in a wide range of ads, and often become actors.

EA: How important is K-pop to the economy?

T. Sommer: In Korea, K-pop directly contributes $5bn to GDP. Internationally, K-pop may not rival major players like Warner and Universal, but the smash success of groups like BTS and BlackPink make a major contribution to the country’s reputation and soft power. 

EA: How are you positioned in this market with SG Entertainment? 

T. Sommer: We set ourselves the goal of building a bridge between East and West, by combining the communitarian Korean model of training and production, with our Western tradition of artistic creativity based on expressing artists’ individuality. The aim? To create a new musical trend, with a more mature sound. We are also driven by the ambition to work with European luxury brands. To that end, we are currently building our first girl band – Alpha Ray – that we plan to launch in early 2023. Furthermore, we have a few secondary activities like our webtoon, K-pop Company Insider, that offers a romantic take on how our company was formed. To get to know us better, you can also watch our YouTube documentary directed by Pape San at our suggestion, which has already amassed 540,000 views.

EA: What effect has Covid had on the K-pop industry?

T. Sommer: Just as it did for the music industry all over the world, Covid-19 stripped the K-pop industry of its most lucrative business: concert tours. This shortfall was partly compensated for though the organisation of online concerts, and a recentring of income sources to focus on activities linked to the reputation of the artists, and brand representation contracts in particular. Examples include partnerships between the members of BlackPink and the Chanel, Dior and Céline brands.

EA: And what about your work? 

T. Sommer: We have the agility of a start-up. This meant that we were able to quickly integrate this new situation into our business model, and we will be able to outlast any extended restrictions linked to the pandemic.

EA: What welcome did you receive as foreign producers in this industry with a distinct cultural imprint?

T. Sommer: Our initial plans may have worried a few people in the beginning, but we proved ourselves in the end, even if there’s still a long road ahead of us! Furthermore, many K-pop producers are foreigners, and some of the production (particularly on a creative level) is often outsourced to New York, Los Angeles, and Stockholm.

EA: Does being French mean you can offer a fresh take on things or make new suggestions?

T. Sommer: Our cultural baggage and Western philosophy, and that of France in particular, affords a perspective that’s radically different from local players, which is one of our strengths. However, we need to be aware of the customs and values of the system in which we work so that we don’t make any faux-pas or errors of judgement despite our best intentions.

EA: Do you think the “offstage” K-pop model is exportable? Why? 

T. Sommer: K-pop’s structural model is difficult to export in its current state, particularly to the West, because it’s based on a communitarian Confucian mentality that’s unique to Korea. The individual sacrifices demanded of future idols, in particular, seem difficult to reconcile with our values of individual integrity and respect for others. However, our company was founded to build a bridge between the two philosophies so that K-pop can move more easily between cultures.

EA: What are your ambitions for SG Entertainment? 

T. Sommer: We are focusing initially on our band, Alpha Ray, but we are also planning to produce solo artists and, later, a boy band. We also want to move into other entertainment media as time goes by: web dramas, series, feature-length productions, etc.

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni 

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