PSY-GD-2NE1, YG Entertainment's Triple Threat

YG Entertainment and its prowess is growing every day. 

As Psy's "Gangnam Style" music video surpassed the 60 million views on YouTube, Big Bang G-Dragon's new single, "One of a Kind," was also released on August 25, now recording 6.4 million views in a matter of 3 days. 

Justin Bieber's management company recently reached out to Psy and took a meeting with him. 2NE1's Los Angeles concert featured a surprise performance with Will.i.am and interest from American companies. It is clear that YG is at the forefront of stepping out into the international markets. 

Big Bang, 2NE1, Psy, Se7en, Epik High, and Gummy all line the YG label and they were always influential but it was never at this height. Even with Big Bang and 2NE1 at the top of their respective piles, the label had not been at the center of this much attention until "Gangnam Style" blew up everywhere. As Psy is being catapulted to world star status, the synergy is exacting its power on YG and their international reach. 

As the Dokdo issue flares up again, YG is relieved from having to rely on the Japanese market for a large portion of their commercial success. Psy was originally scheduled to go into the Japanese market but as his song went viral, the doors to the American market opened first. He visited with some industry people in LA, after 10 days in the States and he came back with possibilities of good news. 

Before the land dispute got ugly, YG already completed their Big Bang World Tour in Japan as well as the "YG Family: concert, which drew a total of 300,000 people in Japan and earned about $49 million. 2NE1 still has the Japanese portion of their World Tour left but there is currently no news of any ticket cancellations or refunds. Big Bang will continue their world tour into North and South America as well as Europe. As Psy begins to circle the world, YG will score its most profitable year yet in 2012. 

This helped the YG stock prices for obvious reasons. It's been on an increasing trend since "Gangnam Style" debuted, having gone up approximately $165 million over the past two months. The reason being Psy's rise in status around the world. YG believes that the synergy to be expected from the Psy-Big Bang-2NE1 triangle will be immense and the recent success is because of this new power combination. 

Psy is not an idol singer. He's not like the other boy and girl groups that have been dominating the market recently. His world fame now will most likely affect the way that the Korean music industry sees itself as well. A professor at Sungshin Women's University said, "The Psy phenomenon has confirmed that the variety in K-Pop can be a key to success rather than the formulaic creation of idol groups." 

YG can also stand to benefit from the fame of "Gangnam Style" on merchandise. A German shopping mall has already started selling t-shirts with the "Gangnam Style" motif and though YG is not currently posing a problem, they should be gearing to take advantage of this opportunity and go into fashion with the recent increase in popularity as well.

Photo Credit: YG Entertainment

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Psy
G-Dragon
2NE1
YG Entertainment
Big Bang
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