The organisers dropped the ball badly if they did because it means that they didn’t secure the licensing rights (or couldn’t come to an agreement with SM) in selling merchandise. They probably thought that nobody is crazy enough to buy plastic fans, trading cards and bright-pink towels lol. There was a lot on sale in SM Town Paris.

Of course not.

Google.

It would definitely increase exposure but is being backed by a huge non-music-industry company really the way to become big in America?

I guess the difference is that English is assumed to be a universal language whose importance precedes all other languages. The question is when does Mandarin take over, if it does at all, and will America be quick to adapt to that change?

Also, Onion, do you think SNSD and SM will actually be releasing a US single? I’ve heard rumors…?

If things go as planned.

His target market is tweens and I’m pretty sure you and I are not tweens. It’s going to have to take looking through the eyes of that demographic to see if they are “a flop” or not. More kids know about the Wonder Girls than before the movie was released so I would say that some ground was gained.

I guess the Japanese release is to try and claw back some of the money sunk into other endeavours in investment.

Idols are constantly working on English.

Production of the song is likely to fall into the hands of the state-side team. SM will probably be listed as executive producers as usual.

I’d love to see what they have in store for us. How long has this album taken?

I joke about how homogenous Koreans are by nature and by force, where people not only have a very tight set of shared values but they also follow the trend to stay trendy. That’s why it’s relatively easy to predict something about them (not necessarily with definite certainty on the final outcome but definitely on the probable possibilities).

I don’t think the same could be said for America but there definitely do seem to be some differences in their preferences. And even then, the people we know about are people who seek out K-Pop and like the things that make it different from the pop culture in their own country… so even that is a biased sample.

Interscope and Universal seem to think so.

That will be up to the American record labels to make them look unique.

I agree with everything you say… but let me play devil’s advocate for a moment: wouldn’t having 3.4 million Asians be enough? Of course on a relative level, it is not as high as the state of California… but all you need to sell out your average K-Pop concert is around 15,000 people.

15,000 people is 0.44% of the 3.4 million.

Learning English takes time. Probably too much time.

Would you like me to apologise on their behalf?
I knew there was a BBC World and WorldWide Service but I didn’t even know there was a BBC America lol

False. It was always on the cards. Interscope’s approach was just a catalyst.

I think I said that SNSD’s international and national promotions are too much for SM to handle on its own without someone as big as Universal to hold their hand.

SM is growing. Fast. At least on paper and in money terms.
Their infrastructure and manpower is still just as restricted.