{"id":19880,"date":"2026-11-06T08:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T08:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=19880"},"modified":"2026-11-06T08:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T08:06:59","slug":"southeast-asia-needs-more-regulation-and-investments-for-its-cultural-industries-to-scale-says-pops-worldwide-ceo-esther-nguyen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=19880","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Asia needs more regulation and investments for its cultural industries to scale, says POPS Worldwide CEO Esther Nguyen"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Open your TikTok or Instagram app and you\u2019ll likely be greeted by short-form video content soundtracked by music from across the globe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial networks have really democratized music, in terms of release, promotion and marketing so that anyone anywhere in the world can consume it,\u201d said Esther Nguyen, CEO of Vietnam-headquartered entertainment firm POPS Worldwide, during the Fortune Southeast Asia 500 Summit in Vietnam on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

While listeners today embrace music from different genres and countries, Nguyen says there\u2019s still a way to go before Southeast Asia\u2019s music industry can scale globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a concerted effort, and South Korea has done it really well,\u201d Nguyen explained. \u201c[You\u2019ll need] government regulations and policies supporting IPs, legal infrastructure and frameworks, international export support, and investments and financial incentives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be a more robust investment community that are experts in entertainment and music,\u201d she added. \u201cL.A., New York and Tokyo, for example, [have] investors who are really well-versed in entertainment\u2026 an understanding of the industry really helps it to grow as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fragmented nature of Southeast Asian markets can also make scaling its music industry tough. \u201cWhile I have personally invested in certain entertainment assets, including large theme parks and music streaming platforms, I think the biggest challenge is the fragmentation in Southeast Asia,\u201d said Sujey Subramanian, the APAC head of asset manager ICG. \u201cOur typical minimum equity check is $50 million, and it\u2019s just hard to find assets of scale in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music, and more<\/p>\n

The panelists also discussed South Korea\u2019s rise to become an entertainment powerhouse, debating which parts of the country\u2019s playbook could be applicable to Southeast Asia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing that was exported from Korea was K-culture. We\u2019re talking about K-dramas and food, and then K-pop came up on the back of that,\u201d said Kenny Ong, the managing director of Sony Music for Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. \u201cFor Vietnam and any other Southeast Asian countries, we can\u2019t just push content, but [also] have to create demand for the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parallel offerings, such as merchandise and live experiences like meet-and-greets and concerts, are also bumping up profit margins for artists. \u201cPhysical music [products] are also growing [in popularity],\u201d Ong added. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about CDs, physical vinyls and box sets\u2026 In the past couple of years, they\u2019re growing [in the] double digits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Southeast Asia can also further capitalize on the rising popularity of concert-going by upgrading its physical infrastructure. \u201cWe need venues which can host different sizes of tours\u2026 It\u2019s not just venues which host 50,000 , we need mid-sized venues that hold 4,000 to 5,000, and smaller venues holding around 2,000, in order for artists in each country to grow and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the panelists were optimistic about the direction in which Southeast Asia\u2019s music industry is headed. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot, especially in the past year, of the [Vietnamese] government really trying to clean up pirated sites and go after bad actors. We saw an eight-year IP case finally get fast-forwarded and be heard, and we got a positive result,\u201d Nguyen concluded. \u201cThat being said, the enforcement and interpretation of IP laws still needs some work, but at least it\u2019s going in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

#Southeast #Asia #regulation #investments #cultural #industries #scale #POPS #Worldwide #CEO #Esther #Nguyen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open your TikTok or Instagram app and you\u2019ll likely be greeted by short-form video content…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[2334,585,15485,9766,11268,50,4511,24209,15673,2133,2644,7590,22455,1657],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}