Korean musicians, in general, and beyond the K-pop scene, are already making their way overseas which only was mainly dominated by K-pop. If there were any international efforts by K-Indie, it was mainly focused on the Asian market.  Everyone knows how Psy shot to fame overnight, or so it seems, from just being known as another rapper in YG’s table, which was a signal of some sort that the tides are changing a bit in Korean music.

Nowadays, it’s not just K-pop artists who are expanding globally.  Now, K-Indie is also beginning to expand significantly.  This expansion is meaningful because the last time something of this scale happened to K-Indie it was around the early 2000s, with the band GumX who was able to successfully advance into Japan.  The stable growth and accumulation of influence from K-pop has now paved the way for K-Indie.  This recent growth in K-Indie, bolstered by K-pop’s strength gives proof that Korean music is not just another branch of the Asian music.  Even if Korean music only makes up about a tenth of the Japanese pop  market, it is now fast becoming Asia’s biggest pop market.  And the time is now to strike and get gold.  With the momentum still ongoing, K-Indie should try and seize the opportunity. 

K-Indie does recognize this fact and therefore makes use of international music festivals such as SXSW wherein to showcase their work.  This is made even more possible by the formation of the SeoulSonic Project, which a collective organization that tries to help promote Korean indie acts.   With bands like The Geeks, Galaxy Express, Natty, Strikers, 13Steps, Yoon Do Hyun Band and Crying Nut, who were just before wishing to get a stage overseas and now get to play internationally, this really spells positively for Korean music.  The market is now wider, therefore opening doors for more musicians and more chances to promote.

K-Indie makes use of all opportunities available to them, recognizing that the boom is still in its early stages, and the time is now to make their presence felt globally.  As K-Indie artists embark on RV tours overseas, participate in songwriting compositions, showcase in large scale music events, they are testing the waters.   K-Indie artists want to achieve two different things, the first being to differentiate themselves from K-pop and second to gauge the international public’s reaction to their music and how much enthusiasm there exists for the genres they encompass.  The independent nature of K-indie allows for them to encompass many genres in music from jazz to punk rock.   Additionally, indie music in Korea is still also in its early stages of being hot, and due to that K-indie artists need to know how to prioritize whether to put local or international first.   As they are not backed by the financing music labels or big management companies, indie music needs resources and support from the government to continue their rapid growth into the mainstream.  If anything, the bravery of these K-Indie artists to venture into the deeper waters of international expansion is something to be admired.  Their success would spell a 360-degree penetration of Korean music into the international stage.