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As K-Pop Sets Record Numbers and KCON L.A. Returns, Korean Agency Stocks Sink
As KCON L.A. returns, Korean pop remains a global force, but the quartet of talent firms that control it are losing the love of investors.
Multinational streamers, such as Apple TV+ — which is readying six-part series “K-Pop Idols” for a late August launch –– Rakuten Viki and KOCOWA are now battling with Disney+ to compete for Korean music content. But, back home in South Korea, the talent agencies that generated mania for idol groups like BTS and Blackpink and fed an appetite for other aspects of K-culture such as food and cosmetics are now under financial pressure. Expanding overseas performances, such as those by Blackpink at Coachella or Suga’s solo Agust D concert series, and growing album sales gave K-pop a 31% surge in foreign income to KRW1.24 billion ($890 million), according to data from the government-affiliated Korea Culture & Tourism Institute.
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