Baek Byung-yeul
Baek Byung-yeul covers Korea’s cultural content with a focus on how music, performance and storytelling move across events, industries and borders. He is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea.
K-pop and live performance on global stages
Much of Baek’s recent work follows Korean pop acts and performers as they step onto global stages. He reports on K-pop girl group Le Sserafim returning to headline the closing performance at Blizzard’s BlizzCon in Anaheim, highlighting how a five-member Korean act anchors a major U.S. gaming community event. In that coverage he tracks dates, locations and programming details, treating music performances as key moments in Korea’s presence at international pop-culture gatherings.
He also writes about large-scale dance events, such as a global dance festival that brings “world beats” to Seoul, framing the city as a hub where international performers and audiences meet. This kind of story combines event logistics with attention to genre diversity, showing how live music and dance contribute to the wider cultural calendar. Beyond festivals, Baek covers musical theater, including Korean musicals on themes such as independence, and interviews composers about how they approach writing music for historically themed productions. His reporting spans concerts, festivals and stage musicals, giving a rounded view of how music is produced and performed in contemporary Korea.
Baek works across formats in this space, including video. He is credited on The Korea Times’ video coverage of film premieres involving figures such as actor Choi Moo-sung and director Na Hong-jin, bringing a visual dimension to his reporting on screen and performance culture. Together, these pieces position him as a reporter who treats music and performance not in isolation, but as the live front end of Korea’s broader cultural industries.
Books, comics and the content industry
Alongside music and performance, Baek maintains a steady focus on books, comics and the publishing market. In the K-LIT REVIEW series, he reviews works such as Susan Choi’s family saga “Flashlight,” engaging with narrative, theme and the place of translated literature in Korea’s reading culture. He writes about graphic narratives as well, covering how a book like “In Limbo” is recognized as Cartoon of the Month by the Korea Cartoonist Association, and explaining what that recognition means for the author and the local comics scene.
His profiles extend to prominent figures in the literary world. In one lifestyle books piece, he explores questions like “What is the recipe for success and what kind of life does a person who is highly acclaimed in their field lead?” in connection with scholar Jeannie Suk, using an individual career to anchor broader reflections on achievement and professional life. These stories show an interest in both the works themselves and the people behind them.
Baek’s coverage also reaches into the digital content economy. He reports on NAVER WEBTOON doubling down on its creator-led strategy, focusing on how a major platform invests in artists and the creator economy within Korea’s content industry. In commentary on the international publishing market, he notes that despite a record number of participants at a key event, there is a lack of attendees from major English-speaking markets, drawing attention to gaps in global engagement with Korean publishing. Taken together, these pieces show that he treats books and comics as part of a larger content ecosystem that includes platforms, rights, and international market dynamics.
Language, lifestyle and cultural soft power
Baek writes analytically about how Korean culture circulates through language and everyday lifestyle. In a Reporter’s Notebook titled “Korean language morphs from cultural curiosity into lifelong opportunity,” he examines how interest in learning Korean has shifted from a passing trend into a long-term commitment for many people, tying language learning to the influence of Korean media and culture. The piece reflects on motivations, learning paths and the wider significance of Korean language study, treating language as a channel of soft power.
He also covers consumer and lifestyle trends, such as the rise of Chinese lifestyle brands like Labubu and Chagee in the Korean market, explaining how these brands find traction with local consumers and what that says about cross-border cultural exchange. This work situates imported lifestyle products within Korea’s own cultural and commercial landscape. Together with his music and publishing coverage, these stories show Baek tracing how culture flows through products, habits and language, not just through marquee entertainment titles.
Reporting, criticism and opinion across formats
Baek moves between straight news reporting, criticism and opinion. Many of his pieces are event-driven news stories that detail who is performing, where, and under what banner, such as his coverage of Le Sserafim’s BlizzCon return or global dance festivals. He also writes critical reviews, including assessments of Korean screen content like “The Ultimate Duo,” where he evaluates whether a highly anticipated release lives up to expectations. Opinion pieces on Korean cultural productions show him stepping back from the news cycle to offer broader judgments on trends and quality.
These modes are complemented by his Reporter’s Notebook work on topics such as Korean language, which uses a more personal, observational style to examine long-term shifts in cultural behavior. His role in video coverage of film premieres and musical projects adds another format to his portfolio, extending his reporting beyond text. For a story rooted in music, live events, books, comics or language-driven cultural trends, Baek brings a mix of news sense, critical perspective and an understanding of how different cultural forms connect within Korea’s creative industries.
4 more music journalists.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling Murphy is the theatre reporter and critic at The Globe and Mail. She stands out for writing about theatre as both art and infrastructure, with coverage that links new Canadian stage work, awards culture, and pop-inflected criticism. She covers theatre, music, and pop culture in a detailed, conversational style, moving between reviews, reported features, and analysis of the systems that shape what gets produced. Her beat includes the Dora Awards, Toronto stages, new writing, intimate productions, and smaller venues, as well as controversy where artistic decisions meet politics and community response. Before The Globe, she was senior editor of Intermission Magazine, and her bylines include The New York Times, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, and the Baltimore Sun.
Alex Hudson
Alex Hudson is Editor-in-Chief of Exclaim! and leads coverage of music’s links to sports, literature, and technology, with a strong focus on Canadian artists. Hudson reports on how music intersects with other fields, not as a separate industry. Recent coverage has included Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer on how playing piano saved his career, Ottawa Bluesfest’s Canada-wide soccer watch party, Lakes of Canada’s Margaret Atwood-inspired album Transgressions, Hannah Mary McKinnon on The Beaches influencing her rock-themed novel, and Alexander Nilsson’s 1001 Albums Generator as a tool for broadening music discovery beyond algorithmic recommendations.
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz
Alexis Mikulski Ruiz is a commerce writer whose distinct focus is the buying and streaming side of music, entertainment and lifestyle, helping readers decide how to watch major events and what to purchase around them. She is an e-commerce specialist at Rolling Stone, covering products, platforms and deals tied to award shows, festivals, sports and everyday culture. Her beat blends music streaming guides with shopping and product recommendations across fashion, beauty, tech, food, wellness and drinks. She reports through experience-focused service journalism, using lists, comparison roundups and step-by-step guides to answer concrete questions about how to stream major cultural moments, where to shop and which products to choose. Her background includes commerce and lifestyle writing for consumer publications such as Esquire, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Women’s Wear Daily and Billboard.
Allie Gregory
Allie Gregory maps how audiences encounter new music by tracking the practical pathways of releases, tours, festivals, platforms and projects. She is a managing editor and news writer at Exclaim!, where she is a primary editorial contact for forthcoming releases and news tips and helps shape the outlet’s daily agenda around new music and its broader entertainment context. Her reporting centres on timely album and tour announcements, live logistics and festival programming across indie, metal, country, pop and adjacent film and streaming news. She writes direct, information-heavy pieces that foreground calendars, support acts, set times and programming structures, while also producing longer-form interviews, cultural stories and staff-pick recommendations that connect artists’ work, controversy and creative campaigns to how audiences encounter music and entertainment on the road, at festivals and on screens.