The K-Pop Export Story
In less than a decade, K-pop has outgrown its nice to become one of the biggest commercial forces in the global live music industry
Feature By Lisa Henderson | 18 August 2026
![K-Popband ATEEZ kondigt hun grootste Europese tournee tot nu toe aan. De popsterren doen maar liefst twaalf Europese steden aan en brengen hun ATEEZ WORLD TOUR [TOWARDS THE LIGHT : WILL TO POWER] op 3 februari 2025 naar Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. | Foto © Charles Batenburg](https://www.iqmagazine.com/wp-content/smush-webp/2026/07/Ateez_Ziggo-Dome-2025_2-1-scaled.jpg.webp)
Hearing the sound of 34,000 screaming fans bundled into New York’s Citi Field, the CEO of Powerhouse, C.S. Hah, realised that K-pop had out-grown its niche. It was 6 October 2018, and BTS, in the midst of their Love Yourself World Tour were performing the first stadium concert by a K-pop act in the Western Hemisphere.
“As I looked around the fully packed house, I realised that K-pop is no longer a business that an independent promoter could handle,” recalls Hah,…
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