Strong Health Is Lotto for My Life

- Don`t you think it may be too early to push for a mobile debut?

˝The Key is in the penetration of handsets. What is important for survival is to provide content that can satisfy the needs of new media. `Mobile art` must have its own language. Brining the existing singers for mobile debuts is like denying the value of mobile.

– Noeul (Glow) is not a completely mobile singer. She is only so in terms of distribution and retailing.

˝You are right. We have prepared a variety of content for Noeul and consumers can enjoy what they like. They will be able to become the second producer by using the content. By the end of June, we plan to introduce a new art called `mobile art.` ˝

As for the new type of art, he kept mum, saying, “It is a movie, a picture, music and art, which cannot be defined by the existing genres.”

Park Jin-young was initially offered to become a music content provider for JUNE business. He had studied about ‘mobile art` and new breeds of content since a year earlier and sent a business proposal based on his work. JUNE service operator then invited him as a content counselor. Park commands tens of billions of won in budget for this project.

Park was so eager to discuss the mobile entertainment. Even when we talked about something else, the subject just kept coming up.

- Let`s talk about music. The music entertainment is back to live performances again.

˝It is analog when singers perform on stage. The value of analog performances will only get reinforced as everything turn digital. Singers cannot be copied.˝

- What will be the future of CDs like in terms of distribution?

˝CDs as a means of distribution will be gone. Files are a lot easier to use than CDs. Preventing swapping of music files is therefore against the trends of the age. Swapping services, however, must be provided for fees for the sake of the foundation of the digital industry.

– How Big Is Your Business?

(He is a chief executive for the company, but still was able to answer the question about capitalization and sales revenues after making a phone call to a management team manager. JYP Entertainment targets some 9 billion won in sales this year, which excludes mobile telecom service revenues expected to top the 9 billion target.) ˝I am only paid 6 million won in monthly salary and that is all. We offer incentives to managers but I am only interested in music.˝

Having been married since 1999, he said, ˝My girlfriend (he calls his wife this way) and I agreed not to have baby to get devoted to music.˝ There are 21 star wanna-bes JYP is training. They go through hard trainings for singing and dancing based on the manual and the stage-by-stage schedule set by Park. The manual is a secret weapon of the company and cannot be taken out of the company.

Those who have gone through 2 to 3 years of stage-by-stage training will then be able to maker their debuts after getting an approval from Five-Men Committee. Singers like Rain, Start and Glow all went through this process.

˝I sometimes feel afraid of a downfall to come some day, but there is nothing I can do about it except working hard,˝ said Park. ˝I have not slept more than five hours for the last 10 years. Strong health is a Lotto for my life.˝

Yub Huh heo@donga.com