Derek Thompson outlined the economics of Gangnam Style, the Korean music sensation that we’ve covered before, and which has recently been embroiled in controversy:

• With over 900 million views the upbeat video is the most viewed video in the entire history of YouTube. Yet this has made Psy, the artist behind it, just $870,000.
• This comes out to a measly 0.1 cents per viewing of the video.
• The video has made almost three times as much money from downloads of the song by individuals across the world.
• However, the real revenue driver for Psy is the $4.6 million he has made so far from endorsements and commercials.

Read more about the relatively hard times for musicians these days over here.

Source: The Atlantic