An Analysis of Preference for Korean Pop Music By Applying Acoustic Signal Analysis Techniques

Recently K-Pop gained worldwide sensational popularity, no longer limited to the domestic pop music scene. One of the main causes can be that K-Pop mostly are "Hook Song" which has the "hook effect": a certain melody or/and rhythm is repeated up to 70 times in one song so that it hooks the ear of the listener. Also, visual effects by K-Pop dance group are supposed to contribute to gaining the popularity. In this paper, we propose a method which traces the changes of preference for Korean pop music according to the passing of time and investigates the causes using acoustic signal analysis. For this, experiments in acoustic signal analysis are performed on Korean pop music of from popular female singers in 1960s to those as of this date. Experimental results by applying acoustic signal processing techniques show that the periods discrimination is possible based on scientific evidences. Also, quantitative, objective and numerical data based on acoustic signal processing techniques are extracted compared with the pre-existing methods such as subjective and statistical data.