'Real Voices' Behind PLAVE and IsegyeIdol… Why the Korea Music Performers Association Is Signing Up One After Another

A Rebellion by 'Real Main Characters' Beyond the Shadow… Vocalists Push for Their Rights in Full Swing

As virtual reality acts—virtual idols—have taken root as mainstream in the world of popular music, the actual vocal performers who had been hidden behind the avatars are stepping forward to secure proper neighboring rights.

the Korea Music Performers Association (hereafter, the Korea Music Performers Association) said Tuesday, the 23rd, that the real vocal performers of the five-member virtual boy group Vident, which launched its bid in the music scene last May, have recently completed official membership registration. The move is seen as an industry effort aimed not only at maintaining anonymity, but also at ensuring performers' legal rights and transparency in revenue distribution.

This rights-seeking push is already spreading across the industry. The real vocal performers of PLAVE and IsegyeIdol—often cited as the two pillars of the domestic virtual idol craze—also joined the Korea Music Performers Association early on to have their rights protected. In addition, the real main characters (actual vocal performers) of the girl group Huntrix and the boy group Jazaboyz appearing in Netflix's animated movie K-pop Demon Hunters also completed their sign-up process and joined the group.

The Korea Music Performers Association said it is analyzing that as "virtual content" has surged to emerge as a new growth engine driving the K-pop market, the issue of protecting the rights of actual performers who had been serving mainly as the shadow roles behind flashy characters has become a key agenda item. The point is that even for new types of artists created by advances in technology, rights protection should be applied with the same standards as those for traditional vocal performers.

Kim Seung-Min, executive vice president of the Korea Music Performers Association, said, "In the new-media era where artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality converge, we will further upgrade our rights protection and distribution system so that all music performers in every field can receive fair compensation for the sweat they put in."