User:Ariel Qi/sandbox

Performances
Artists commonly pre-record performances and appear live on the show for interviews and the ending of the show, where the week's winning artist is announced. For all music shows, a group must wait one week before their song is nominated for first place.

They also use music programs to promote. 'Debut stage' is the term used for artists who perform on the shows for the first time, usually serving as their first live performance when they debut as an artist. On the other hand, a 'comeback stage' is the term used for the first performance of the artist on the shows with their new songs and the start of a new promotional cycle, after the end of their debut cycle.

Fans are also allowed to attend pre-recordings and live shows to support the artists for free if they apply for tickets on each of the show's websites, with the condition that they don't record or take photos during the recording. Fans who disobey these rules will be banned from the show, along with fellow fans who came to support the group.

Effects and Impacts
Korean music programs are not only for broadcasting purposes. It not only promotes idol groups and their music, and also largely help with the promotion of the K-pop culture, not only within the fandom and local industry but also around the whole world. The programs serve to be important publicity to keep artists' popularity and a platform which help promote the Hallyu (Korean wave) to other countries.

Equal Opportunity
South Korea has about 30-40 new idol groups are created every year. , equalized publicity and exposure to the public are hardly possible in such a market. In this kind of circumstance, music programs provide a useful and efficient platform for idol groups to get back to the public's sights whenever they have new songs released, in short, equal opportunities. What people can expect from this opportunity is that every group can promote the group as well as the song equally.

Voting System
A crucial aspect of each music program in South Korea is that every program has a voting system, winning the first place among that week’s performers can also be a good publicity. What's worth mentioning here is that every program has different ways to count the votes, so idol groups can have the different level of possibilities winning in different programs. Such system prevents single group winning all the time. For instance, the combination of M! Countdown’s votes is combining Digital Single Sales (45%), "Album Sales (15%), Social Media Points (YouTube official music video views + SNS buzz) (20%), "Global Fan Votes (global fan votes through Mwave, Mnet Japan and Mnet America + SMS Votes) (10%), and "Mnet Broadcast Points (10%). And Music Bank’s is like Digital Music Charts (65%), Album Sales (5%), Number of times broadcast on KBS TV only (20%), and Viewers Choice Charts (10%). With different weight put on different aspects, a group not winning in one program will have a chance to win in the other.

Fandom Consolidation
Music programs are actually very important channels of fan interactions and participation. Music programs give K-pop fans more chances to take actual actions and to interact with their supporting groups. In this way, fandoms can be further consolidated. As mentioned in the previous subsection, voting is one way for fans to play a role in the music industry. And the winning of the idol group makes it satisfying for the fans who vote daily. Besides voting, another important part of the music programs that can further increase fan participant is that fans are allowed to attend the recording or the live performances of their supporting idol groups. There are even detailed tutorials to guide fans about how to get into these programs： Such live house-like performances, which also like little concerts of the groups, give fans more opportunities to be closer to their idols. Hence the fandom can be kept.

International Impact
Finally, as broadcasting programs, Korean music programs do not only face local viewers, they also face to other countries' fans and viewers. For instance, every music program has its own Youtube account, which allows other people out of Korea to have a chance to view the artists' performance. The programs update regularly and upload videos of each performing groups. It offers a larger exposure to k-pop groups to other parts of the world. Hence the K-pop culture is enabled to spread out of Korea, through music performance, and visualize the culture through, for example, fashion statements and good looks.