Who could have predicted the extent of Gangnam Style's success?
Ten years ago, the immediate and international success of the title of the South Korean rapper Psy largely contributed to the revolution of streaming that few people had imagined.
On July 15, 2012, his delirious clip was released.
Mocking Seoul's wealthy Gangnam district.
In a few weeks it reaches the whole world and accumulates a billion views on Youtube in six months.
From mainstream American television to an English football stadium to the White House, the iconic “horseback” dance has given rise to a plethora of parodies and emulators.
Barack Obama, US President at the time, said that his daughters had taught him “
a very good Gangnam Style
”.
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The title demonstrated to the music industry the power of influence of online platforms and social media, especially for non-Western artists who do not perform in English.
“
Traditional marketing and advertising manuals have been thrown out the window
,” said Bernie Cho, president of Seoul-based creative agency DFSB and an expert in the South Korean music industry.
The music streaming revolution
A few months after its release, Gangnam Style had reached the record for the most watched video on YouTube, a position it kept for more than three years.
As of June 21 this year, it has been viewed over 4.5 billion times.
The buzz generated by the title, and viral phenomena such as Harlem Shake, in 2013 prompted Billboard to transform the way it achieves its rankings, which then adds streams on YouTube and other platforms to the traditional figures of record sales and of radio streams.
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But
Gangnam Style
also rocked South Korea, overnight becoming the country's biggest cultural export and a source of national pride.
Prior to 2012, K-pop groups that attempted to break into international markets had regional success in Asia.
Without, however, succeeding in imposing itself on lucrative Western markets such as the United States.
Psy "
proved to everyone that instead of a Korean version of a Western or international pop star, what the world wanted was something very authentic, original, unique
", said DFSB's Bernie Cho.
In 2012, the streaming industry was still in its infancy, providing less than 7% of music revenue worldwide, according to music industry federation IFPI.
But the incredible success of
Gangnam Style
has helped pave the way for artists everywhere to not only release their music but also earn online ad revenue and get called up for gigs.
Ten years later, streaming is the main source of revenue for the global music industry - 65% in 2021, according to IFPI - with content available online via subscription services, YouTube and or short video apps. like TikTok.