Rethinking Transmedia Storytelling in Participatory Digital Media: What makes PSY's "Gangnam Style" so successful?

This study examines some issues regarding transmedia storytelling in the context of Korean Pop (K-pop). Focusing on the recent success of "Gangnam Style" by PSY, a Korean pop-singer which has been widely distributed primarily through YouTube, this study will investigate the diffusion and reception process of the "Gangnam Style" music video as Hallyu (Korean Wave) content. Particularly, this study analyzes a variety of "Gangnam Style" meme videos which have also been diffused through YouTube. This study suggests that meme videos are significant content as well as objects of study that are mainly distributed, received and produced by contemporary popular music fans and thus help us understand what fan-based transmedia storytelling is like and how it works in online popular musicindustries which are increasingly influenced by digital media technologies such as YouTube and Twitter. We conclude this study by discussing the implications of the success of "Gangnam Style" content including the meme videos in thinking about the meanings and strategies of transmedia storytelling in the seemingly expanding popular music (particularly K-pop) industries in Korea and beyond. © Medwell Journals, 2016.This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2013S1A3A2052725)