Q: What is it that you do?
PETER CHUN: I’m a relationship bridge for my Korean artists and the American market. I work with a lot of people in fashion and casting agents. A lot are unaware what Asian talents are out there. I get some calls with people asking for Asians for campaigns – usually female. They ask me who’s the hot person they should go for. I recommend a couple of artists and they’re sold. The press we’ve done, the fashion people we’re friends with, the fashion shows we’ve been to – there’s been a lot of different campaigns I’ve worked on. The most memorable [one] was the CK One campaign I worked on that was photographed by Mario Sorrenti. Taeyang became the face of the brand. CK One is iconic for us…
Q: This is such a relationship industry as we know. Tell me about how you leverage fashion and business together?
CHUN: There’s a lot of professionals but they don’t know how to vibe with creative people. When you’re speaking about creatives, there’s a few difficulties. I’m a businessman, but I have a lot of creative friends – most of my friends are creatives. Actually YG is who brought me into the company, like Teddy [YG’s creative director and producer], who I’ve known since childhood. I understand how to work with artists and I also know how to handle business. So essentially, since I speak English well, my job out here for YG is to be the bridge, speak the language here, understand the business here, and translate that back to Korea.
I’ve been around Teddy as an artist and Yang Hyung Suk, my boss, since the [late]-’90s. I would help Teddy by picking up artists from the airport and then showing them around New York.
Q: It’s difficult being an artist because you don’t know who to trust. How do you deal with that?
CHUN: It is true. A lot of artists are concerned with who they surround themselves with. At YG we are very careful. We don’t go out and fraternize with or socialize with a lot of other celebrities. It’s the culture of our record label. We also want to protect our younger artists so they focus on their craft. We make sure that they vibe with other writers and are writing and vibing with producers. It’s a very creative space. It’s not a fraternity environment at all. It’s not about going out and partying – it’s about focusing on the music. Our studio space, for instance, is only for our artists. It’s a creative space. They dim the lights, watch music videos, and get inspired, and that’s how they start doing their music. It’s not a place where you’re supposed to do. It’s a collaborative and creative area.
Q: How long do you stay in Korea?
CHUN: I stay 10% of my time in Korea. I love going there and going to the studios with my artists. I [went] for appearances with Taeyang when he was doing his CK One signing event. Also with networks like Fuse TV, I did five pieces on YG entertainment when out there. I also was there to do introductions like CL and MIA. I had a relationship with their management. They knew each other but I was there to introduce MIA’s manager to CL’s and was there for them to hang out. We had dinner and went to the studio, then we all went to the Ultra Music Festival where MIA went onstage and CL came up not planned, impromptu – freestyle. That was cool. When Justin Bieber was in Korea, we had G-Dragon do a special appearance. I’m there for media opportunities, relationships, signing events, or photo shoots.
Q: How did you get where you have?
CHUN: I always wanted to be in the music industry. Even as young kids, me and Teddy would listen to all of our favorite musicians like the rockers Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses. We always wanted to be musicians. I was very focused on studies. My parents expected me to focus on that but Teddy was more courageous and he went for the music thing.
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