Yohani's video is now inching towards 50 million views. Even in these dark times, that's a reminder of the talent and selling potential of our music. Unfortunately, no Government has paid proper attention to the arts field since independence. The usual excuse is that they have to focus on sectors that actually generate revenue. But this is where we can learn from South Korea.
In the 1990s, South Korea established a Cultural Industry Policy to invest in music, movies, TV dramas and literature, and this policy has been continued by all governments after that. The result was that in 2019, revenue from the export of Korean cultural products such as K-pop and movies came up to US$ 12.3 billion. Gangnam Style, BTS and Parasite are a few well known beneficiaries of this policy. For comparison, Sri Lanka's overall export revenue in 2019 was $ 16.4 billion.
A similar policy in Sri Lanka won't bring immediate results, but we are in this economic mess because governments have focused on short term policies. This kind of long term strategy will benefit the youth especially, while generating significant export revenue to boost our foreign reserves. We probably can't match South Korea's success, but South Asia itself has a market of over 1.5 billion people. If we can penetrate that market then anything is possible.
Our long term strategizing & policy-making is one of the worst in the world. In every field, not just arts & crafts.
Every govt (except for a few exceptions here and there) have always looked for projects with short term goals, where they can quickly put something out with their name plastered on it, instead of investing in things that can provide the country long-term benefits.
Sigh! Sri Lanka, the tragedy of Asia!
