Availability and High Pop

After reading High-Pop: An Introduction, I became much more aware of the integral part that marketing techniques and accessibility play in creating popular culture. Author Jim Collins explained how the manner in which products and people are marketed in combination with technology creates culture that is popular due to its availability. I was especially struck by Collins’ example of “opera stars…promoted like pop stars but singing the classical repertoire”(Collins 8). Classical music is a prime example of the elitist culture, which is seemingly completely contrary to popular culture. However, performers within the realm of a roped off culture can break into the mainstream with the right marketing techniques. Without a website, print stories, and music in digital format, any artist would have trouble succeeding in today’s market. However, by utilizing the available technology and putting products out in the public’s view, artists that would have been ignorantly passed over can reach out and develop a fanbase. In fact, classical music has been able to thrive online with the help of music download services like iTunes. Sales statistics have shown that classical music has been able to increasingly turn a profit because the Internet makes it more accessible.
(See http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/arts/music/28kozi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).Without high ticket prices and social stigmas, the Internet has make listening to classical music an equal opportunity pastime.

Additionally, I believe the example of classical music can be easily translated to the so-called “Korean wave”. Marketing and the Internet allow Korean artists to project their work out into the world and find audiences beyond their home country. The film Sopyonje made p’ansori performances more marketable, thanks to Im Kwon-Taek, who made a touching, well made film that found audiences across the world. By using a mainstream medium, film, to raise awareness about p’ansori and Korean traditions, Im Kwon-Taek successfully made those traditions more appealing to his audience. The example of the film Sopyonje makes me think that seemingly any tradition or product can be made popular with the right approach. I am much more aware that it may not be the products or ideas themselves, but rather the way they are marketed which determines their popularity, and the manner in which they are regarded by the masses, the elite, and the critics.