Silent Christmas: Koreans forgoing Christmas songs

Copyright law, religious pluralism, dwindling role of churches all contributing to bleak Christmas season

By Park Ji-won

The streets in Seoul's bustling downtown area were like no other Christmas season, Thursday. They were calm and silent, making it difficult for people to feel that Christmas is just a week away. No Christmas carols or songs could be heard, as there were few stores playing them.

The bleak Christmas season nowadays is a stark contrast to the lively holiday atmosphere here in the 1990s, when Christmas songs used to fill the air in almost every corner of the capital around this time of year. In stores, Christmas trees with electric lights were lit with carols being played loudly, and colorful Christmas decorations were easy to spot. Back then, the Christmas spirit was in full swing in most big cities.

Koreans celebrating Christmas silently without carols is something odd for those who are familiar with the religious demographics of the country.

This year's Gallup survey of 1,500 Koreans, conducted between March 18 and April 7, found that Korea is religiously diverse, with Protestants topping the demographics with 17 percent, followed by Buddhists (16 percent) and Catholics (6 percent). With 23 percent of people affiliated with either the Protestant or Catholic church, the survey showed that nearly four out of 10 Koreans have a good reason to celebrate Christmas the way many in Western countries do. Some shop owners blame a strengthened copyright law as the reason why they were not playing Christmas songs in their shops this season.

Under the current law, cafes, restaurants, gyms and other shops, which are 50 square meters or larger, are required to pay royalties to copyright owners if they play copyrighted Christmas songs. If they violate the law, they are liable to be fined.

Although the same law stipulates that shops smaller than 50 square meters are exempt, many owners are unaware of the details of the regulation. So, many of them choose to forgo Christmas songs and carols to stay out of trouble.

"I was thinking of playing songs in my cafe in December while setting up the Christmas tree. But like other cafe owners, I was worried about possible copyright infringement," an owner who asked to be identified only by her surname Cho told The Korea Times. "The other day I was advised by my acquaintances to be careful about the copyright issue, as one cafe owner we know was caught violating the law. So I just play random, un-copyrighted YouTube music, instead of Christmas songs."

The high-profile legal dispute between the retail chain, Lotte HIMART, and the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) over Christmas songs in the mid-2010s is a chilling reminder for small shop owners about the consequences of copyright infringement.

In August 2016, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the KOMCA, ordering Lotte HIMART to pay 940 million won to the association of music creators for violating the copyright law. The retail chain ended up in the legal battle after having played copyrighted Christmas songs for two years without paying royalties.

While the law remains a stumbling block to shop owners wanting to play Christmas songs, some say they were afraid of the possible backlash of customers who are affiliated with other religions or who have no religious affiliation at all. "My business will suffer the consequences if some of our customers feel disturbed by Christmas songs or carols," one shop owner said asking for anonymity.

Changing trends in music consumption are also playing a part in Koreans forgoing Christmas songs, according to culture critic Kim Hern-sik.

"In the 1980s and 1990s, there were not many things for younger people to spend their spare time on. Back then, Christmas was a sort of special cultural event, so they celebrated it with songs and carols," he said.

The pop music industry has diversified from the late 1990s, when the first generation of K-pop singers began to debut. Thanks to them, Kim said, popular culture has diversified and enabled younger people to consume various types of music.

"Another trend that has contributed to the loss in popularity of Christmas songs is individualism. Younger people are increasingly becoming individualistic and consume music of their own," he said.

Meanwhile, Song Jae-ryong, a sociology professor at Kyung-hee University, explained that Christmas songs filling the air during the Christmas season in the 1980s and 1990s were a reflection of the impact of Westernization in Korea.

"Christmas has become less important since the 2000s, as Koreans have paid more attention to our own values and traditions. This trend actually began in the 1990s," he said. "After the liberation of Korea in 1945 from Japan's colonial rule, people actively sought to modernize the nation and Westernization became part of life."

Song said that the role of churches also played a part to help Koreans celebrate Christmas, as churches began to thrive from the 1970s with some of them becoming megachurches, boasting enormous congregations.

The sociologist further said that creating the Christmas spirit was also partly driven by commercial reasons, as some businesses, such as those in the music industry, actively promoted Christmas songs in order to sell albums.

Some observe that in Korea, celebrating Christmas with carols, however, was popular mostly in the 1980s and 1990s.

"I don't recall hearing much Christmas music on the streets when I first came to live in Korea in 1977," Suzanne Crowder Han, the director of the Council on International Educational Exchange, said. "For my first year in Korea, shops were not well lit, there were no neon signs; many shop windows were lit by a single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, so there were naturally no Christmas decorations. Contrast that with all the beautiful decorations we see in Seoul now. As Korea has grown and developed and become wealthy, traditions have changed."