ABSTRACT
Performances abroad enhance the image of a group or a genre in Korea. In recent years, this has been most vividly seen in K-pop, where press reports at home are far more significant than any potential revenue earned abroad. This was the case with the singer Rain's performances at Madison Square Gardens in New York in 2006, where the Korean press reported capacity crowds, 1 and more recently it has remained key to the large showcases of artists put on by Korea's major music agencies – SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment and CUBE Entertainment. It was most memorably seen with Psy's ‘Gangnam Style’, where although much of the storyline of the 2012 song was about failure, its success abroad – May 2014 saw YouTube views pass the two billion mark – guaranteed Psy a place at the inauguration of South Korea's new president, Park Geun Hye.
