VOL.74/2024.09

Publishing Industry

Facilitation of Sub-rights and Their Markets

Plays, Films, Merchandising Goods, Etc.

2021.09.06

As Korea’s soft power expands, more people in the world are taking an interest in Korean culture. The best leaders of Korea’s soft power are BTS, director Bong Joon-Ho who has presented various movies including “Parasite,” and actress Youn Yuh-Jung’s achievement through the movie “Minari.” The values of Korean pop culture are growing, and many people worldwide are sharing Korean culture. Such a phenomenon implies that the opportunities and spaces for sharing Korean culture worldwide develop simultaneously at a rapid pace. It was, therefore, a natural result that people began to pay more attention to Korean publishing content – the source of the OSMU (once source, multi-use) – in addition to the phenomenon. All this means that it has become a reality that the number of different usage cases of sub-rights based on Korean publication content is increasing in the industry.

Just ten years ago, it was not common for Korean literature to be a part of everyday life in the US, UK, and European publishing markets. Korean culture was even unheard of on the world stage... Korean literature? You say. However, public interest in Korean culture and literature increased dramatically after 2010, and this trend was well reflected in the global publishing market. A number of Korean writers have won world-renowned literary prizes. The content of Korean publishing, including literature, has enjoyed great commercial success in various publishing markets around the world. A natural mix of unique, fresh, and serious topics, combined with artistic perfectness, has been the charming feature of Korean publishing content, appealing to global consumers.
Public promotion of source content and the resulting commercial success have each led to increased interest in various sub-rights of the content. It’s a very natural phenomenon too. All content owners interested in advancing abroad should quickly respond to market demands, catching such a flow in the world market. Compared with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, where sub-rights have been actively used in every industry, Korea may be a late starter. Thus, there have been instances where they have failed to respond promptly to detailed requests from foreign markets. But now they’ve gotten a lot better, and there are even companies making pre-emptive sales of content products that could sell well on world markets.

As the copyrights of TV dramas, movies, and performances (plays, operas, musicals, etc.) based on Korean literature have been exported for the past several years, Korean publishing content’s usage and roles face a new chapter in the global cultural content industry. Major export cases of video copyrights sold to the US and UK include Shin Kyung-Sook’s Please Look After Mom (Changbi), and I’ll Be Right There (Munhakdongne), Seo Mi-Ae’s The Only Child (Elixir), Kim Un-Su’s The Plotters (Munhakdongne), and Pyun Hye-Young’s The Hole (Munji Books). Also, regardless of size, Hwang Sun-Mi’s The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly (SAKYEJUL PUBLISHING LTD.) was also performed as a musical in the US. On top of these, video copyrights of various other Korean literature adaptations, including video content for children, are presumed to be produced into a new type of content in the global market. There have already been signals from other countries showing an interest in the acquisition of video copyrights. The key point is that there are more opinions in the Korean industry that when there are suggestions from the global market – not limited to certain countries or languages, including Korea – regarding the exclusive use of video copyrights, there should be serious considerations. However, it is clear that it is meaningful to see a variety of Korean content marketed in foreign countries and languages.

Recently, Korea’s web content, such as web novels and webtoons, particularly in the genres of fantasy and romance, is rising as major content in overseas publishing markets as well as Korea. Thanks to its nature, web content has been trending upwards, steadily increasing its market power in the middle of the pandemic. Several TV dramas and films based on web novels or webtoons have already been produced and released in Korea, and more are likely to come in the future. One notable thing here is that more businesses hope to manufacture merchandising products, releasing Korean web content to foreign countries. In addition, there are already goods produced and sold alongside their original products (paper books/e-books) in shops on and offline. It is expected that if the copyright holder of the content makes movements meeting various overseas demands, more various, added-value merchandise goods of the content’s characters will expand further into on- and offline markets. As foreign publishers make suggestions on this aspect, it seems to be a matter of time for Korean publishing content to make its way into the center of the world commodity market.

Written by Joseph Lee (President of KL Management)