Berklee College of Music

Sing with Me: Reborn

CE Reflective Paper

Supervisor: Pete Dyson

Seo Hyun Kim

Valencia Campus, Spain
July 2019

1. Summary
I have chosen an operational project, where I produced a total of six recordings in
order to test the global audience on international release strategy. As a result, I was able to
produce an EP in three languages (Korean, English, Spanish) and three genres (Piano Trio,
Rock, and Remix). As an artist, I have tested the role language plays in a song, and which
language is the most popular one for a release; as a songwriter, I tested the genre to see if my
song will transcend different genres, and test if these new genres will bring new hype into my
music. The ultimate goal was to form a pre-release international strategy as a K-Indie artist,
provide tools for other emerging artists in Korea who need global strategy, and solidify my
hybrid identity as an artist and a business professional.
In order to form my international release strategy, I have conducted a survey on 200
people from three main global music markets – English-speaking countries such as US, UK,
and Canada; Spanish-speaking countries such as Spain and Latin America; and Korea. I have
compiled their nationality, language skills and genre preference, in order to see if those factors
play a significant role in their choice of favorite version for my songs in varying languages and
genres. In addition, I have gathered data on their demographics and email for future marketing
purpose.
In MIDEM 2019, a group of K-pop panels in a session called “The Year K-Pop Broke
in USA” highlighted multilingual release as a new niche trend, mentioning a successful case
of one of the panel members WENGIE as a pioneer for multilingual songs as her key strategy.
According to IFPI’s survey in 2018, Pop, Rock, and EDM were the top three genres of the
world ; There have been successful cases of string players whose covers expanded the original
song’s target audience, in the case of The Legend of Zelda’s cover by Lindsey Sterling and
One Republic-Secret’s cover by Piano Guys. I base my choice of multi-languages and multigenres for testing global audience upon these examples.
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2. Results
The project aligned with my original plan in that I was able to produce a total of six
recordings, with three different languages and three different genres. The project did not align
with my original plan in that I had to shift my post-release market test strategy to pre-release
market test strategy, in the fact that my original intention was to release the recordings first and
test the market later. As I did not have a market release strategy, I have changed my focus to
test the market first before releasing the recordings. In the end, my change of plan in market
analysis actually resulted in strengthening my global release strategy for the future.
Originally, I planned to release my song in five different stages and test the real market
with data from streaming platforms. However, I changed my plan to surveying the audience
before the release. This modification had two benefits. First, instead of my original plan of
releasing in five stages, I modified the plan to release all tracks at once, which will draw more
attention globally. During the MIDEM conference of “How K-pop Broke in the USA,” the
panel mentioned that unlike other global singles, EPs and albums, K-Pop has a strategy of
releasing everything at once. Although BIGBANG’s strategy was releasing a single per few
weeks regularly, their release strategy is outdated; the current trend in K-Pop is releasing
everything at once, including tracks, music videos, and merchandises. Part of the competitive
advantage of Netflix is its ability to let the viewers binge-watch all episodes at once, with the
exception of few current shows. Second, by conducting a survey before releasing this EP in the
market, I could see a quantitative data on people’s preference of languages and genres, and
also gain qualitative feedbacks for future developments of my songs.
In addition, my assumption before the survey was that more people would prefer the
languages they speak and genre they prefer. However, from the survey result, it was interesting
to see that two of the three main markets, those from English-speaking countries and those
from Spanish-speaking countries, chose versions that were different from their main languages.
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Also, regarding genre, although currently the most popular genre is Pop, Rock, and EDM, and
people chose their generally preferred genre, surprisingly the result was different from the
assumed genre, as most people chose Piano Trio as their preferred version, which is not
globally the most popular genre and mostly not people’s genre preference choice.
3. Process
For the recordings, a total of 28 people in 11 recording sessions collaborated throughout
the year for the recording of EP across all programs, ranging from SFTV, MPTI, CPPD, GEMB,
undergraduate students, and a faculty. For the analysis, a total of 200 people were surveyed
during a period of about two weeks, from all across the world.

#PRODUCTION TAKES TIME
I have started this project even before the fall semester started, when I started rerecording bass for multi-language tracks. Although I started early, I came to realize that
production takes immense amount of time and effort, and also requires collaborative effort and
skills to coordinate with a diverse group of people. In order to complete the production of my
songs, I “lived” in the lab until 2 am every single day, getting “kicked out” of the school at its
last hour. Producing six tracks really required immense amount of time, even to the point of
physically reaching the limit several times. This understanding of production process and time
frame will help me immensely in the future, as I know from experience what to expect from
the producers and can plan the release accordingly.

#COLLABORATION ACROSS PARTIES
I have collaborated with four recording engineers, five mixing and mastering engineers,
twelve musicians, two songwriters, a photographer and a designer. I have learned how to lead
and organize different sessions and was able to directly coordinate different number of sessions
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with Berklee students from all across the programs. This has led me to gain leadership and
coordinating skills, which can be used as I step into a professional world as a marketing
executive.
#INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING
Collaborative songwriting in different languages were not as easy as I thought it would
be. For instance, I met up with a songwriter Oscar de Lara once a week for more than a month
to complete the Spanish lyrics of Sing With Me. It was a lot of discussions between me, who is
an original Korean lyricist, and him, a songwriter for Spanish, as the lyrics should not be merely
a direct translation for the language and should convey the overall theme and meaning of the
song. We were discussing different words, atmosphere, and even visualizing potential music
video scenes to rewrite the song in Spanish. As a result, we included a line that says the
following, being able to come up with lyrics that imply Berklee students:

Mira como gozan en España hoy
Look how they are enjoying (life/moment) in Spain today
Los músicos del mundo
The musicians from the world
Esto si
This is
Qués vivir (Que es vivir)
Really living (it)
Ven a compartir
Come and share it

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I have also found that it is easier to cowrite a song in a different language if I am able
to speak the foreign language; for Spanish, it was much harder than English songwriting as I
was not able to understand most of the Spanish lyrics and therefore had to guess how it feels
in a context of a song. English songwriting was much faster and easier to collaborate with, and
it only took about a week or two to finish cowriting.

#PERFORMANCE TRANSFORMS INTO A RECORD
Throughout the year, I was in a K-pop Rock band called K LIVE. It was composed of
myself as a vocalist, and other talented undergrads as instrumentalists. We have performed at
four different events, ranging from Boundless Music Concert, a concert showcasing music
from around the world, K LIVE concert, the first all-Kpop Rock concert from Berklee Valencia,
Disrupcion Showcase, and Asian Music Night. Throughout these performances, we received
positive responses from the audience. Especially, the most popular song among different
groups of audience was Sing With Me.
This has inspired us to produce a live recording in Rock version. We have used AKSS
studio to record the whole band live simultaneously, to convey the live sound of a concert as
much as possible. I have learned that most of the live tours are all played with bands, which
means that Rock is still a significant genre to include in the recordings, as it is linked with live
events, which is growing more and more in the music market. Also, there were several Rock
versions of BTS that drew attention, which shows that transforming an original K-Pop into
Rock version is still a trend that is going on.

#SURVEYING 200 PEOPLE
I have surveyed all kinds of people - friends from back home, college graduates,
Berklee students and staff (ER, front desk, security, librarian, student affairs), as well as people
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I met from MIDEM, such as African-American rappers and Swedish Music Video producer. I
have also surveyed people from Spanish church and Korean church. I have also learned that I
gather much more information and deeper insights when I survey people directly and get their
responses face to face.
Also, there were types of people that 1) respond to the survey the moment I ask or send
it to them 2) do not respond to the survey at the moment but promise to complete and gets it
completed 3) say they will do the survey but never do, unless asked several times 4) don’t do
it even after asking several times 5) never read the request or responds.
This has also taught me about work ethics or styles I should have in the future - as an
organizer, I have found 1) or 2) types the easiest to work with, as I was able to incorporate the
result within expected time frame. I have also learned that I should avoid being 3) to 5) when
working as a professional.

4. Next Step
I have changed my plan of releasing a pure Korean version into mixing languages in
one track for an updated release. This was mainly from a number of qualitative comments I
have received from 200 survey respondents, who have commented that they would like to see
a mixture of different languages within a track. Thus, instead of releasing a pure Korean version
which has similar instrumental to my original release in 2015, I will mix Korean, Spanish, and
English in one track, so that it can be a “Korean-English-Spanish” version, which will be
recorded in the K-pop history as one of the very first Korean artists ever to do so.
In addition, as a reaction to my survey test, I plan to release an A Cappella version. A
number of survey respondents commented that more artists are releasing purely A Cappella
version without instrumentals together with their original songs, so that more DJs can easily
use them for producing remixes, which can bring more popularity of the original song itself. I
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am also interested in experimenting mixing of genres, and A Cappella version can provide a
liaison for testing several genres, as it can not only be mixed with EDM, but also with pop
instrumentals, string instruments, and any kinds of genre.
For mix-language version and A Cappella version, since they were from qualitative
feedbacks, in order to gain objective point of view, I will conduct another survey with the same
sample size of 200 respondents to see if releasing these tracks will enhance the overall
popularity of my EP.
Through this project, I gained interesting insights, which could then be used for
international release strategy, such as releasing six tracks all at once with promotion; track
ordering and choosing the main title for each target market; and formulating promotional
points for each track. Instead of releasing an EP and risking the recordings, I was able to
formulate a strategy that would strengthen the international release.
5. Contribution to the Discipline and Profession
#INTERNATIONAL RELEASE STRATEGY FOR K-INDIE ARTISTS
Coming from a diverse background of living in the US and Spain, I as a K-Indie artist
had a challenge of solidifying international release strategy that would not only benefit myself
but also other emerging artists from Korea looking for global strategy. With this project, I can
set an example of challenging myself for multilingual and multi-genre strategy, thereby
encouraging more emerging artists to engage in a unique strategy that solidifies their strengths
and pave a way to reach the global audience.
At Berklee, there have been other students who are doing similar projects, such as
Soo Wincci, an MPTI fellow releasing a song in several languages; Upatyaka Dutta, who will
also release her songs in different languages as part of her graduation project. Together, we
can pave the way of creating a niche genre for the music industry in the future.

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#IN LINE WITH RECORD PRACTICUM
Many of what I have learned from the Record Practicum was utilized in this project.
I have learned how to choose certain target markets to test my music; I also spent many hours
in the studio and collaborated with musicians and engineers, learning how to manage and
lead a group of different sessions; I have engaged in developing my artwork and artist photos
that matches the overall theme of this EP, while making the EP jacket visible and fit to
thumbnail sizes of the Streaming Platforms. I have also learned the importance of marketing
and promotion and succeeded in reserving a promotional release in Korea.

#LYRICS WRITING
I have learned that if the lyrics need to be in different languages, they cannot merely
be directly “translated”; the lyrics need to be smooth and connotative lyrics that is not a
literal translation yet conveys the original lyrics’ vibes. I have also experienced the benefits
of collaborative songwriting, as nowadays it is a trend for several songwriters to develop one
song together.

#GENRE TEST AND PROFESSIONAL WORK
Testing my skills as a songwriter in trying out different genres can be translated into
my future job, which will be working as a marketing executive at Warner Music Asia.
Through this process, I would be able to distinguish which genres to choose and promote and
create marketing points for different artists. In a wider point of view, this can help me to have
a broader and more creative reception of marketing in general, as I start my work in the
marketing department.

6. Impact on the student completing the work
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#HYBRID IDENTITY AS AN ARTIST AND A BIZ PROFESSIONAL
This project was especially challenging in that it involved immense amount of
time as an artist, as well as a business professional. It required me to continuously switch back
and forth between the two identities, which was sometimes more challenging than I thought.
As a business professional, I had to be punctual, exact, be in leadership of collaborating with
different people, and be on top of schedule with clever strategies. I also needed the skill of
multitasking. As an artist, however, I had to really focus on my own work for long hours
without being able to juggle different tasks at the same time, as it involved enormous amount
of effort and concentration

Figure 1. The process of comping different vocal tracks

I have comped total of 20 vocal tracks. The above photo shows the amount and time
put into comping to make it sound the best. It involved extremely high level of concentration
and intensive work in long hours. This was testing my limit as an artist and a producer, amidst
my other responsibilities as a business student.

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Although I have started this project even before the first fall semester has started,
producing six successful recordings in a year was something tough and realistically very
challenging, given the fact that even the major artists whose main job is to only record and
produce music, sometimes take a year or two to release an EP. This is why I started early and
worked on my CE even before most CE jobs were announced, planning a year ahead, but even
so there was a risk of not being able to finish the production on time, as I had to produce
everything with schoolwork and job searching. I had several hours of lab time every day for
the past three months. At the same time, I had to go to conferences, attend all business seminars,
and excel in business classes. It was one of the most challenging moments of my life. However,
it was one of the best moments of my life that led to my hybrid identity as an artist and a
business professional.

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Bibliography
“Case Study: George Ezra,” and “Case Study: J Balvin.” Global Music Report 2019. IFPI,
June 1, 2019. https://www.ifpi.org/downloads/GMR2019.pdf.
David, Amber. Melanie Fontana, Danny, Lee. Michel, Schulz. “Lindgren.” Wengie. The Year
K-pop Broke in the USA in 2019. Cannes, France: MIDEM, 2019.
Kish. “Sing With Me.” Track 1 on Sing With Me. Swim & Shine, 2015. Spotify streaming
audio. 320kbps.
“Share of total music album consumption* in the United States in 2018, by genre.” Statistica.
January 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/310746/share-music-album-salesus-genre/.
Sterling, Lindsey. “Zelda Medley - Lindsey Stirling.” posted by Lindsey Sterling. November
27, 2011, Accessed June 14, 2019. YouTube Video, 4:08,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3KUyPKbR7Q.
The Piano Guys. “Beethoven's 5 Secrets - OneRepublic - The Piano Guys.” posted by
ThePianoGuys. February 9, 2012. Accessed June 14, 2019. YouTube Video, 5:07,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0.
“The World’s Favorite Music Genres.” IFPI 2018, Statista.
https://www.statista.com/chart/15763/most-popular-music-genres-worldwide/.

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