[PB 12.2 (2011) 147-165] Perfect Beat (print) ISSN 1038-2909 doi:10.1558/prbt.v12i2.147 Perfect Beat (online) ISSN 1836-0343 © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2012, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Shefield, S3 8AF.. Hyunjoon Shin The success of hopelessness: the evolution of Korean indie music* Hyunjoon Shin is a ‘Humanities Korea’ professor at the Institute for East Asian Studies (IEAS) at Sungkonghoe University. His research focuses on Korean popular culture and popular music, as well as inter-Asia cultural studies. Institute for East Asian Studies Sungkonghoe University Hang-dong 1-1, Guro-gu Seoul 152-716 Korea hyunjoon.shin@gmail.com Abstract K-pop has been the most commercially successful music genre in South Korea since the mid- 1990s, as noted by many Asian popular music scholars. By contrast, an underexplored topic is local indie popular music, which experienced a surge in popularity during the 2000s. This paper examines these indie scenes and Boongaboonga Records—a key organization that originated in the Gwanak region of Seoul, and later relocated to the Hongdae region, known as the hub for Korean indie music. It argues that the unique connection that the label and its indie bands have with these speciic locations tie into their collective ability to give voice to a young generation afected by political and social change. It also considers the new business model for the record label and how this has developed from these circumstances and the cultural space it inhabits. Keywords: Hongdae; indie music; Korean popular music industry; Seoul; space/place; youth Introduction Since 2007, there has been a signiicant increase in the popularity of local indie music in South Korea (hereafter ‘Korea’). This music stands in contrast to main- stream popular musics, namely K-pop, which have dominated the mainstream since the mid-1990s and found considerable success in neighbouring Asian coun- tries. Initially produced in the small clubs in the western end of Seoul, Korean indie music has now generated interest overseas with some indie bands partici- pating in music festivals and concerts in Japan (Despres 2010) and North America (Saria 2011), among other locations. At a local level, a growing number of music * This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant Fund by the Korean Government (MEST) (KRF-2007-361-AM0005).