K-pop fan labor and an alternative creative industry: A case study of GOT7 Chinese fans

Korean popular music or K-pop has achieved popularity among global audiences. The uniqueness of K-pop fan culture has helped to shape the success of the K-pop industry. Through a case study of Chinese fan labor vis-à-vis K-pop male idol group GOT7, the author notes three types of K-pop fan labor: specialized labor, managerial labor, and unskilled labor. This research argues that fan labor transforms the K-pop industry into an alternative creative industry because fan labor as creative labor is an indispensable part of the K-pop industry. Fan labor is utilized to distinguish fans from non-fans, and to draw boundaries between the grateful, more enthusiastic fans and the casual self-proclaimed fans who do not contribute to fandom or their idols’ success. These Chinese K-pop fans comply with the K-pop industry’s commodification of culture, are exploited by the K-pop industry, and seek empowerment in the K-pop production and distribution process. This paper’s exploration of fan labor, based on the author’s participant observations and in-depth interviews, will thus contribute to studies on the creative industries, creative labor, fandom, and the transnational flows of popular culture.