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The hit that wasn't: why the success of 'Gangnam Style' never extended to Vevo

The hit that wasn't: why the success of 'Gangnam Style' never extended to Vevo

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Psy in Gangnam Style
Psy in Gangnam Style

Psy's "Gangnam Style" has officialy become the inescapable smash hit of 2012, and last month was officially anointed as the most popular video in YouTube's seven-year history. Yet if you were merely judging the song by it's success on Vevo — the website specifically created by record labels to be the premier destination for music videos — you'd have no clue of its pop culture significance. That's because, as the New York Times reports, Vevo lacks a licensing deal with the South Korean record company that first released "Gangnam Style." So even as the song soared up the iTunes sales charts and drew hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, it was nowhere to be found on the industry-backed site. Once Psy secured a record contract in the United States, "Gangnam Style" eventually found its way to Vevo. But it appears that was too late for the video to overtake other Vevo successes like Carly Rae Jepson's "Call Me Maybe."