Woosung Details Moving From K-Pop Star To Hands-On Independent Artist: ‘It Is Not Easy’

While the K-pop industry is increasingly developing worldwide superstars, it’s also developing artists taking complete control of their creative and professional pursuits. Take Woosung, the Los Angeles–raised vocalist and guitarist who began his music career as a member of Korean rock-pop group The Rose and is now balancing his own, fully independent solo career.

Woosung recently released his Genre album under his own indie label, Woolfpack, distributed via online retailers, with three accompanying music videos and artist features. While Genre stands out for the range of sounds and styles (from the vibe-y pop-rock of “Lazy” to the notes of trap and West Coast hip-hop in CWS”), it also is significant for being put out by the artist himself—literally; it was Woosung who hit the upload button.

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In the three years between his 2019 solo album WOLF that was released and promoted in Korea with The Rose’s label J&STAR Company, Woosung has not only developed a record label to pursue music but a team that includes top names in management, publicity, legal and more. The indie grind is aligned him alongside like-minded artists with an opening slot on the 29-date North American tour for Epik High, Korea’s legendary hip-hop trio that also left mega K-pop corporations to go about things independently.

Looking back from WOLF to today, a humble Woosung points to simply “more experience and a better knowledge of how things are done.” But the rising rock star is showing how showing up to take care of one’s business can lead to major opportunities, not to mention the rewarding experience of being able to take care of those around him.

Jeff Benjamin: Genre was released through your own independent label, Woolfpack. I’d like to learn more about the process since I haven’t seen it done much in this K-pop world.

Woosung: Woolfpack is a company I made and currently all my solo work is through Woolfpack. We have partnered up with amazing teams like Infinitize for PR, Frapart Muse for management, and law firm CDAS for legal. We are slowly but surely building the team, and not in a huge rush to make a big roster at this moment.

Jeff Benjamin: What was the most unexpected part in running an independent company?

Woosung: I feel like everything is going as expected for now, but I believe we are always okay with the unexpected things coming our way as well. I guess the most surprising thing that I’ve been hearing about is the fact that I attend every meeting in person.

Jeff Benjamin: How is releasing with an online distribution platform? Are you the one actively uploading your music? Take us through the process.

Woosung: Yes, I do the uploading myself in terms of distribution. I gather all the tracks in .WAV format and the album cover in .JPG to upload. I always quadruple make sure all the information is correct before I press “Next” [Laughs]. The first time is always the hardest but I feel like now I am used to it.

Jeff Benjamin: At any point with The Rose or other companies did you get to learn more about the business aspects to eventually do this independently?

Woosung: I think throughout the years with The Rose, and just being in the music industry, we naturally became curious to how things worked and started learning how things were structured.

Jeff Benjamin: When it comes to your collaborators—like Reddy, BM and Ashley on Genre—how do your conversations happen? Is it as friends? Do you make the music first and then think about features?

Woosung: It is always different from artist to artist, but I feel like this album in particular I wanted it to be a very casual friendship kind of thing. For Reddy’s and Ashley’s features [on “Lazy” and “Oh,” respectively] I already had the whole song finished except for the parts I felt like they would fit best. For “CWS” with BM we started that from scratch together, I just brought him the main hook melody with a rough instrumental and finished it up together.

Jeff Benjamin: Does being independent give you more freedom with your artistic choices? There are some explicit lyrics on Genre which I love.

Woosung: Thank you, I guess on the music part I always felt like I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted—however, I do feel that since music is connected with different kinds of pipelines, that to have freedom in those deliverables, it does really change the experience and the final message of the music.

Jeff Benjamin: What’s the most rewarding part of being independent?

Woosung: Being able to take care of the people that are on my team, when I can.

Jeff Benjamin: What else does someone need to know about being independent in this space?

Woosung: I’m still learning as I go but if I were to give my thoughts on it, it would be that it is not easy. Most likely, you have to worry about so many other things aside from music. If you are not down for this and want to focus on just the music, then maybe this is not for you!

Jeff Benjamin: You’re opening up for another indie act, Epik High, on their current North America tour—I feel like this is a great fit.

Woosung: Just realizing that I’m performing again for audiences is a great feeling. But to support the legacy of artists like Epik High at the same time is really an honor.

Jeff Benjamin: Major congratulations on Genre, it’s really impressive. What else is coming for you?

Woosung: Thank you, thank you. Really warms my heart that people like it. What’s coming next: more music, performances, tours, collabs, The Rose and…more!