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If you are from #Korea #한국 and you're wondering why a powerful talent like #Elisia is trying to debut in the #Kpop industry, there are a lot of reasons and some of it are the following based on my own observations.

(in no particular order)

1. No opportunities.
2. The idol industry is still in its infancy, even though it has been around for more than 10 years.
3. It is very hard to promote talents.

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NOTE: This is my own analysis of the situation.

I. The P-pop industry

The Pilipino Pop (a.k.a. #Ppop) industry is focused on bands and solo singers. In the “solo singer” category, one has to have gone through an intensive proper singing lessons, or born with the talent in singing. One can probably say that this became unwritten criteria because Filipinos are generally great singers.

Let's face it. Before #Jpop and #Kpop became popular abroad, P-pop was already making waves, it just wasn't called “P-pop” (Pilipino Pop or Pilipino Popular Music). Also, the subclassification #OPM (Original Pilipino Music) was pushed in the 80s and became more used as a label for anything Filipino music (even though it was not “original”). There were also a lot of P-pop which topped the charts in #Japan and Korea; and many of those were also translated in Japanese and Korean languages.

This made the P-pop industry very competitive, to the point that, talent agencies will only give an opportunity to those who had proper singing lessons from reputable schools and/or well-established mentors. Then the 1997 economic crash and the dotCom bubble crash happened, many talent agencies closed, and investors after those only want to invest if there's a very high guarantee of success.

Talents like #Elisia, #GehleeDangca, and #AyaNatsumi (all from the Philippines) have no choice but to try to debut in the K-pop industry because there, they have a better chance (as compared here in the Philippines) to be recognised.

II. Projects and promotions.

The Philippine entertainment industry is dominated (if not controlled) by only two networks: GMA and ABS-CBN. If you are promoting in other local networks, it won't look good for the investors. The problem is, these two big networks almost always get what they want: exclusivity. And if you do sign to be exclusive to either of them, there is no guarantee they'll give you exposure and projects. After all, they already have a lot of talents under their own labels, and you are from a label they do not have a majority shares.

Even if a talent signed for the labels under these two networks, there is still no guarantee. They have far too many talents signed, but they can not produce enough projects for even half of them.

There are 110 million Filipinos in the Philippines, compare that to the 52 million Koreans in South Korea. Yet, there are far more talent agencies in Korea than the Philippines, and talents from different agencies can appear in any Korean network; which you rarely can do in the Philippines.

For example, talents from agencies not under GMA or ABS-CBN rarely appear in music shows produced by GMA and ABS-CBN unless they signed an exclusive deal with them. If you are a producer, and you want to produce a music show where anyone can be invited, they won't allow it. Or, if they'll allow it, the labels won't allow their talents to appear in the show (because they either signed an exclusive deal already, or planning to).

III. Conclusion

So, think about it. How can talented Filipinos have a chance in the P-pop industry if the industry itself is gatekeeping it? No wonder the Philippine idol industry is still in its infancy even after more than 10 years has passed.

Talented Filipinos, like Elisia (who is receiving the highest praises from the judges of #UniverseTicket and K-pop producers), are targeting the K-pop industry. They have a fighting chance there to achieve their dreams. Even the Korean contestants started to see how different Elisia is.

Let's not forget #GehleeDangca. Her group did not win in their match, so only two from her group can earn the “Unicorn Ticket” (judges pick who will advance to the next round/level automatically). Gehlee was the second choice from their group.

If these two are so talented, why have they not debuted in the P-pop industry?

Well… #Philippines #필리핀

P.S. To the respectable Senator who complained about Filipinos focusing too much on foreign entertainment instead of local, the problem is not that Filipinos don't like local, we do, the problem is the industry. Instead of complaining, create laws that will make the industry better (like eliminating the improper use of exclusive contracts).

@pinoy @kpop@chirp.social @kpop@a.gup.pe @philippines

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