SM TOWN,Apgujeongdong

YG Entertainment

YG Entertainment  is a record label and talent agency founded by Yang Hyun-suk and based in Seoul, South Korea. It specializes in producing R&B and hip hop music. YG stands for Yang Goon and are also the initials of the chief executive officer, Yang Hyun-suk.^[2 Records release through YG Entertainment's distributor, Mnet Media. Avex Entertainment and YG Entertainment have recently formed a new project in Japan called YGEX.

Once the home of hip-hop groups Jinusean and 1TYM, its current roster of recording artists includes K-Pop idols such as Big Bang, 2NE1, PSY, Se7en, Epik High, Lee Hi and Gummy. Artists under the agency had grown to be the front runners and leaders of Hallyu and the Korean music itself around the world. Videos of YG Entertainment and its artists have cumulatively more than 3 billion views and are subscribed by over 5 million users in YouTube alone, making them the most viewed and subscribed artists and entertainment agency in Asia-Pacific.

Since the early 2010s, the record label and management agency has earned worldwide recognition after BIGBANG edged out Britney Spears to win Best Worldwide Act at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards, fuelling YG Entertainment's rise to one of the "big three" K-Pop record labels in South Korea alongside SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, both of which have strong market share and whose international operations have helped spread the Korean wave across the globe.
In 2012, YG Entertainment's share prices saw a year-over-year increase of more than 50% due to the increase in publicity following the numerous achievements of its music artists in recent years.^[5]

S.M. Entertainment

S.M. Entertainment  is an independent Korean record label, talent agency, producer, and publisher of pop music, founded by Lee Soo-man in South Korea. Initially, "SM" was an abbreviation of the agency founder's name, but now stands for "Star Museum." Its current CEO is Kim Young-min. The label is one of the "big three" record companies of Korea along with YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment because of strong market share and international operations. SM is credited for starting and leading the Hallyu Wave throughout Asia and internationally.

Once the home to the original Korean Idol groups like H.O.T., S.E.S., and Shinhwa, its current roster of recording artists include Kangta, BoA, TVXQ, TRAX, The Grace, Super Junior, Zhang Liyin, Girls' Generation, J-Min, Shinee, f(x), and EXO, all of whom enjoy great success both domestically and internationally. It is also home to actors like Go Ara, Kim Min-jong, Lee Yeon-hee and Kim Ian. SM Entertainment also co-publishes Avex Trax releases for Japanese artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and Koda Kumi, as well as Johnny's Entertainment acts like Arashi and KAT-TUN.
In 2012, the company's market capitalization rose to ₩1.38 trillion (US$1.24 billion), reaching the status of a mega-corporation.

PSY`s "Gangnam Style"

PSY, PSY also spelled Psy, original name Park Jae-Sang   (born December 31, 1977, Seoul, South Korea), South Korean singer and rapper. Although he was originally known in his country as a controversial and satirical hip-hop artist, he achieved international fame in 2012 with the music video to his humorous pop song “Gangnam Style,” which ultimately received a record-setting one billion views on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.
Park Jae-Sang was the son of a successful business executive and grew up in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam (or Kangnam) district south of the Han River. He became interested in music as a teenager but, ostensibly as preparation to follow in his father’s footsteps, went to the United States in 1996 to study English before beginning business studies at Boston University in 1997. An admittedly indifferent student there, he transferred after a semester to the Berklee College of Music (also in Boston). He left without graduating and returned to South Korea in 2000 to pursue a music career. Taking the stage name PSY—a reference to his concept of himself as slightly “psycho”—he made his debut as a hip-hop artist in 2001 with the album PSY from the PSYcho World! Like many of his subsequent releases, it drew controversy because of its raw lyrics. The following year, after an arrest and brief detention for marijuana possession, PSY released the albums Ssa 2 (“Cheap 2”) (which, after a legal challenge based on its “inappropriate content,” was restricted to sale to adults) and 3PSY. He had a hit with “Champion,” a single from the latter.

PSY performed his mandatory national military service from 2003 to 2005. After his discharge he released Ssa Jip (“Cheap House”) in 2006 and began gaining more popularity with his appearances on television game and talk shows. His career was interrupted, however, after officials determined that PSY had neglected his duties while in the military (he had held concerts and performed on television). He was required to serve another term, which lasted from December 2007 to July 2009. Afterward he signed with one of South Korea’s largest talent agencies, YG Entertainment, on whose record label he released his next album, PSY Five in 2010.

In July 2012 PSY released his sixth studio recording, PSY 6 Part I, which contained the single “Gangnam Style,” a lighthearted dance song that mocked the pretensions of people wishing to be associated with that area of Seoul. The video for the single featured a deadpan PSY performing a distinctive comic “horse-riding” dance at various incongruously unstylish locations, including a horse stable and a parking garage. Although other, more-mainstream South Korean acts such as Girls’ Generation, Rain, and Big Bang had achieved international success, none of them had broken through to the level of becoming household names. PSY’s song, however, quickly and unexpectedly caught on with a wide audience. Internet users popularized the YouTube video throughout the summer and fall of 2012 via multiple social media platforms, including Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. It ultimately became the most-watched video in YouTube history to that point, and sales of the single and the album took off as well.

With “Gangnam Style” a viral video sensation and the song topping international music charts (peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100), PSY spent the second half of 2012 traveling around the world making public appearances and giving live performances. He signed a record deal with the U.S. label School Boy Records in September.

Lorraine Murray