During the last month and a half, the career of the Kevin Woo K-Pop veteran has skyrocketed thanks to the unexpected global takeover of Netflix Netflix HUPOP KPOP DEMON.
Woo was in K-Pop for a large part of his life, starting with the group of boys U-Kiss in 2008 before starting a solo career in 2018, but he has the biggest moment in his career today, after having provided the singing voice for one of the characters in the film, Mystery Saja. Demon hunters Attracted him more than 100,000 new online subscribers, he says, and the songs of the soundtrack on which they alone have pushed the number of Woo’s monthly listening to Spotify from just over 10,000 a few months ago to more than 28 million.
“I loved the songs and I knew they were great, but we didn’t know it was going to be something like that,” said Woo THR.
Now Woo seeks to transform this unexpected moment of virality in a wider moment for the rest of his career, and he hopes to do it through a new application of engagement for all-terrain fans called Openwav.
Last week, Woo sold about 2,500 tickets on OpenWav for a popup event in downtown La Chronometré in Kcon, where he cosplate as Saja mystery and welcomed a flashmob at the Demon hunters Follow “Soda Pop” with more than 2,000 fans present. He started selling them in the application about a week earlier (most of them were free, with the exception of around 100 VIP tickets of $ 50) and via OpenWav, he also designed, listed and sold around 3,000 parts of goods in limited edition within three days of the event. The whole experience has enabled him to “five healthy figures” in return, according to an application representative.
As Woo says, it is a more realistic alternative to rely on streaming income, which remains derisory for all, except for the biggest acts of the company.
“It is really difficult to make a living right next to the music; many musicians have jostles aside just to pay their rent, it is incredibly difficult to monetize right next to the streams,” says Wooo The Hollywood Reporter On zoom. “But there is a base of fans that I have already built, and it’s time for me to take possession of my music and my events. Openwav was ready to collaborate with me for that.”
OpenWAV was co-founded by the long-standing entrepreneur of music Jaeson Ma, co-founder of the 88rise label. Openwav was officially launched in June and rapper Wyclef Jean is director of music. The application received support from Warner Music Group, Connect Ventures and Goodwater Capital supported by CAA, among others.
MA has created OpenWAV hoping that it can give a lower break to the streaming economy, qualifying the current dynamics of “broken”. Rather than competing with the 100,000 songs downloaded every day on Spotify in the hope of obtaining hundreds of millions of flows, tells me that the most sustainable option is to find “a thousand of real”, those who will buy not only on music but with markets and tickets. MA is one of the many that focuses more on these so-called “superfans” because industry has identified that as a potential field of growth now that streaming becomes more and more saturated.
“Kevin is the perfect artist to show this thesis, that a thousand fans can mean a lasting career to build,” said Ma. “In March, we made a beta drop, Kevin had less than 10,000 monthly listeners. He may have had 100 superfans on OpenWav. Two drops from Merch made more than $ 20,000 in sales. It takes a million flows for a few thousand dollars, and that is before what you pay for distribution, to your management. Do the calculation. “
OpenWav takes a drop in revenues by 20% on service, while artists keep the rest. My compare OpenWav in WeChat, the Chinese super-apple where its users can do everything, since sending messages to pay their bills. Fans’ commitment, says MA, is fragmented, and he hopes to attract fans in a place where they can listen to music, speak directly with the artist and buy products will allow artists to build and monetize from their fans base.
“There is no other place where you can do all of this in a single space, and it can be overwhelming for artists to manage fans on so many different platforms,” he said.
The largest sale argument for artists could be for Merch. MA spent last year and a half to obtain partnerships with factories abroad to develop a dropshipping platform where artists can sell goods without making stocks. In the application, artists can design a basic model for shirts, phone cases and more, enumez them in their openwav stores just after, and the goods are made on order and shipped factories.
Woo himself calls this model “an emergency testimony” who has just been an independent artist. “I have this momentum with this film in my career and I am able to act immediately, and I think Jaeson and Openwav have understood it.”
My hopes that OpenWAV can allow artists to keep their independence and control their careers, saying that “the message we continue to say to independent artists is that you can have your music, your masters, your data and it starts with the possession of the link with your fans.”
It is a philosophy that Woo kisses.
“The strategy I have now is always me being the first plan and the captain of my own ship and taking what I need to broadcast my music,” explains Woo. “I don’t think I will never come back to a traditional label, where they have full ownership of my career. I feel like I need to have full speech and control, and things like this help. ”
