Tencent invests in PSY’s record label to bring more K-pop to China

China’s about to be hit with a lot more K-pop songs, videos, and concerts. The country’s biggest social media company, Tencent, today announced it has invested in Korean record label YG Entertainment – that’s the studio behind imaginary horse riding enthusiast Psy.

Psy in action in his best-known song. Image credit: Gifrific.

Psy’s huge hit, Gangnam Style, is far off in pop culture history at this point – 2012 – but Korean pop music is still huge. The deal will result in more K-pop on Tencent’s streaming video and music sites – and in more of the nation’s stars flying over to China to perform concerts.

There’s a “huge appetite in China for popular Korean entertainment such as music, concerts, and variety shows,” said Tencent today in a statement. The company, which makes the popular WeChat messaging app, invested US$30 million in YG, while a Chinese concert ticketing company called Weiying Technology threw in more cash to make a US$85 million funding total.

Tencent and Weiying are already firm friends. If a WeChat user in China clicks on the “movie tickets” section within WeChat Wallet, he or she is directed to Weiying’s store. It also has music concert and sporting event tickets.

YG, founded in 1996, is already one of Korea’s top studios and is worth US$587 million, according to its listing on the Korea Exchange. Louis Vuitton invested US$80 million in the label back in 2014.