K-POP INSIDER: How’s bringing BTS, SHINee, and other groups to South America

There’s no more doubt on how massive K-Pop has become. Plenty of shows all over the world have proven this. However, this process has been a special surprise for the culture in South-American region. With the past years’ groups from huge stars like SHINee, BTS, Super Junior to more rookie groups; even music shows like Music Bank have found a place where to share their talents and culture.

It’s been two weeks since Super Junior’s big show in Chile, and we had the amazing opportunity to interview Francisco Diaz-Valdes; the press director of NoiX Entertainment. This is the company responsible for bringing K-Pop to South-America. Following the K-POP Insider series, we spoke about the impact of K-Pop in Chilean culture; what to expect in the future and more interesting stuff!

We hope you like it.

1- Generally speaking about K-Pop and the boom it’s living, Do you think this boom is temporal or just the consolidation of the genre?

– We’ve been in the business for a few years now. In our opinion, it’s no longer a phenomenon like classic media qualify it. It’s a music style that came to stay and that year after year gives us more and better artists. In Chile, for example, groups like BTS and Super Junior have presented. Soon will come MonstaX and Got7, in back years we could still define it as a phenomenon but has proved to be a success all over the world.

2- Being Korea so different in culture and language, what do you think attracts the fans to venture into their music?

– Nowadays, people are looking for something different, and it’s not only that. They have the possibilities to have access to it. There’s no difference between hearing an Argentinian group and a Korean one even if they are a world apart. Social media and platforms like YouTube and Spotify contribute to making things easier. Besides that, young people are trying to highlight from the rest and take a different path for things like their fashion style.

3- How was BTS?

– BTS was massive. We were used to seeing shows of few thousand people.

– Interviewer: Bounded I dare to say.

– Right, they came to change the game and take kpop to a global level.

– Interviewer: In the opportunity, they presented in Chile all the tickets were sold in just a few hours.

– Yes, no one expected them to fill the Movistar Arena. Doing it twice was a big achievement.

4- Has traditional media changed their way to see K-Pop in the last years?

– Yes, we have done an enormous work with the press. We’ve provided materials and explained things to them. They are not guilty of not knowing about this, that’s why we are always teaching and helping with everything they need. For some people, they still are some Chinese guys (not being despective) who sing and dance.

5- About the difficulties in bringing a group to the country, what are the requirements for a group to present in Chile?

– The NoiX team, especially Gonzalo (NoiX CEO) knows a lot about this business. We are always speaking about the groups and trends but that’s not enough. It depends a lot on the artist’s availability and sometimes, fans don’t understand that. In the case of EXO, we’re the most interested in bringing them to the county but the chance hasn’t showed.

– Together with the fact that we are constantly going to Korea to speak with the representatives, we need to treat them as the stars that they are. Be respectful and giving them security about what we are gonna do. In our case, we try to replicate the shows as much as we can from Korea but some things can’t be done.

6- What can you tell us about the merchandising?

– Bringing the official merchandising is hard. There are taxes and shipping costs and we don’t want to sell ten times their price. Besides that, we try to acquire it through official channels so we can give trustability in the fans; and most especially the producers, because they commercialise the image of the idols and doing things without permission may close doors for us in the future.

7- Having the SM Global Audition as context, why look for talent in countries like Chile and Argentina?

– I do not have any official information, but I consider this as a really interesting market for them. There are big shows here and those generate a good profit and together with that, this is helping them to expand K-Pop in this part of the world.

8- What can we expect from NoiX’s future shows?

– As I told you earlier, we are always trying to make the fans feel like they are in a show in Korea. That’s really important for us, and why not improve it with our own style. Korean producers are amazed when they see the scenario we build for the idols.

– We also thought about the waiting line outside the Arena. Because we can’t have any person inside before the show, we made a zone where they can eat, dance and talk, and make a special day for them. About the Hi-Touch, we try to have the most that we can but lamentably that don’t rely on us.

9- Are you planning to expand to other countries?

– We’ve already made shows in a big part of the continent. We would like to go to countries like El Salvador, Bolivia, Colombia, but it’s not just going there and doing it. There’s a lot of work that need to be behind it, because they’re not artists who perform in small theatres.

– This time, Got7 will perform in DirecTV Arena in Buenos Aires and even though it’s a bit smaller than other places; this will give the fans a more intimate show. We would like to perfectly adjust to fans every time, but we can’t. They generally come with a big team of dancers, make-up artists, etc., and with a tight schedule, we can’t always do everything that we want.

10- To your consideration, will this year be the peak of K-Pop?

– Maybe not the peak, but surely a year where we will gather all the fruits of our work. The last Super Junior show was amazing. Got7 will be a big success because this group had been in an amazing year, and we hope to have another surprise for this year. Now is the moment of the big numbers even though in the past years, we’ve already hosted big shows like that of BTS.