Korean pop music can dance past boy-band blues

YG Entertainment

13/03/2019 02:52

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Robyn Mak
    HONG KONG, March 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A prostitution
scandal rocked hit group Big Bang and sparked a stock selloff
for agencies in the $5 bln industry. It's a reminder of how
tricky star-driven investments can be. As streaming services
like Spotify help export K-pop, though, the companies can hit
high notes again.
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    On Twitter https://twitter.com/mak_robyn
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - South Korean pop-band member Lee Seung-hyun, who goes by
the stage name Seungri, said on March 11 that he would leave the
entertainment industry following local media reports that the
28-year-old was charged with providing prostitutes to foreign
investors in his private club.
    - Shares of YG Entertainment, Lee's talent agency, fell 14
percent to 37,150 won on March 11. Shares of rival SM
Entertainment also fell 10.5 percent to 40,550 won on the same
day.  
    - South Korea's music industry revenue topped 2.9 trillion
won ($2.6 billion) in the first half of 2018, according to data
from the government agency, the Korea Creative Content Agency.
    - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  MAK/   
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K-pop Big Bang member says to retire after alleged sex bribery
case goes viral     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N20Y21A
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 (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Sharon Lam)
 ((robyn.mak@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
robyn.mak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))