As YouTube Turns Seven, Google Holds K-Pop-Themed Birthday Bash

People wait to enter the Korean Music Wave in Google concert co-organized by YouTube and MBC at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on Monday (top); All of the performers appear on stage at the end of the concert. /Yonhap

Some 20,000 American K-pop fans gathered at the Shoreline Amphitheatre near Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, on Monday evening to watch a concert dubbed "Korean Music Wave in Google". It was co-hosted by Google's YouTube and terrestrial Korean broadcaster MBC. The fans lined up for about 1 km to enter the venue.

Advertisement

A total of 22,000 tickets were sold out within an hour of going on sale on May 12. The audience enjoyed two and a half hours of performances by K-pop stars like Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls, TVXQ, BEAST, Super Junior, Kara, MBLAQ, Sistar and f(x).

The concert was held to celebrate YouTube's 7th anniversary, as well as feting Google's partnership with MBC since last year. Google initially planned to host the show at its main building, but it switched to a nearby outdoor stage as the audience numbers swelled.

Some 3,000 fans who were unable to get a seat stood and watched, while 2,000 Google employees with their families and friends joined thousands of other hangers-on in attending the show. YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and former and present executives joined them.

The event was broadcast live around the world via YouTube's official K-pop channel as well as its YouTube Presents channel, which provided similar coverage of concerts by world-famous singers like Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift and Rebecca Black.

"This is the first time that YouTube Presents has featured a K-pop concert", said an MBC staffer. "It proves the growing impact of the Korean Wave". A Google staffer said video clips of singers from Korea's three major entertainment companies -- SM, JYP and YG -- attracted 2.3 billion hits on YouTube, and K-pop is spreading rapidly in popularity.