'Gangnam Style' And Copyright Laws - How The Most Popular Video Of All Time Changed The Definition Of Intellectual Property

Over the weekend there was a seminar in Bangkok, Thailand that discussed the "Gangnam Style" phenomenon. Academics from across Asia came together to discuss the cultural and legal implications of the video's popularity.

Scholars noted that recently countries like South Korea and Japan have been relaxing their policies that deal with content control, making pop culture more easily accessible to the rest of the world. With Psy's hit song as the back drop, they explained how there has been a shift in how media is experienced and shared.

The conference pointed out that, in particular, the widespread love of K-Pop has to do, in large part, with access to social media sites and applications (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as well as the reduction of copyright law enforcement.

It was mentioned that South Korean music companies used to heavily monitor the use of their material online - tracing and removing images and videos uploaded by fans to blogs and social media websites. However, for one reason or another, this practice has largely been discontinued and pictures and video clips are readily available and freely shared among internet users.

Japan still had strict intellectual property laws, but even they are starting to turn around, particularly within southeast Asian countries where fan culture is booming. As long as the media is being used for entertainment purposes and not for profit, most companies are letting it slide.

The seminar went into the possible reasons and implications of this. One possibility is that the record labels simply got tired of maintaining their materials on the internet, especially with such a wide-ranging scope. Another option is that they are focusing on other methods for generating profits such as live shows or endorsements. But perhaps most likely, as was the case with Psy, sharing content on the internet is free promotion for the artists.

The curious case of "Gangnam Style" brings up a good point about the role the internet plays in marketing. The international following of K-Pop in general has been, in large part, due to the internet's ability to span time and space in order to reach its fan all over the world.