Now of course the other economic factor at play is not about the artists. It's actually more about the incredible number of people that are involved in bringing the music to market. The producers, songwriters, engineers, publicists, record labels, technicians, concert managers and promoters, equipment sellers, services and manufacturers, the list goes on. In fact for every single artist there could be as many as 20-30 other people behind the scenes, probably more. Add to that the fact that a lot of equipment is now predominantly manufactured in the region you can appreciate the size of the overall ecosystem and it's only set to get bigger.

The one thing that always intrigued me was that in the traditional music markets of Europe and North America trade shows are going from strength to strength arguably in an environment where artists 'cry poor'. Yet more gear is being shifted, more deals are being done and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why. Is it any coincidence that Behringer's recent rise in prominence is linked to shifting their manufacturing base to China? Leveraging manufacturing scales of economy is one factor, being closer to your key market is more significant I suspect.

Now that's all well and good but what is emerging here is the concept of both the old and the new worlds colliding. I am from the old world but because I live on the doorstep of the new world I would be foolish to ignore it, to attempt to shut it out. If I were an equipment manufacturer for example or a software developer I would also be foolish to ignore it. Having spoken to industry 'reps' over the last couple of years they clearly have chosen not to ignore it. How many pieces of music equipment are now manufactured and sold in SE Asia, how many plugins are bought by customers in this region? The numbers I think will surprise many.

The slick production that is evident in J-Pop and K-Pop means top, cutting edge gear is being used in abundance. The signature of software instruments is everywhere. This also leads to another possible conclusion and in many ways explains why certain products are released in the form that they are. The old argument of 'they didn't make it for me' leads to a view that when companies recognise a market that is four times the size of the one that you potentially operate in, it's likely they didn't make it for you. How many Roland Aira units for example do you realistically think will be sold across SE Asia compared to your region? When Korg release their just announced ARP Odyssey remake, most won't have to be shipped too far I suspect.

So what does this mean for you? If you are already riding the wave of this market you know that wave could well become a tsunami, it's just going to get bigger. If you are not in that market you could do well to at least examine it's potential. The marketing behind K-Pop and J-Pop has made no bones about the fact that it wants to expand.

As an industry it has developed a winning formula that has organically built a whole and very valuable and sustainable enterprise around itself. My advice, if music is your money your future may depend on at least an understanding of this market as it reaches out, love it or hate it, it can't be ignored. And finally, they don't seem to be that hung up on the whole analog versus digital thing either. They've got bigger things to think about.

More Examples of J and K-Pop