Psy Signs with Scooter Braun's Schoolboy Records

Soju Style: The world's hottest pop music manager shakes on a deal to represent Psy of Gangnam Style.

Korean rapper Psy was signed to Scooter Braun’s Schoolboy Records on Monday on the strength of “Gangnam Style”, a catchy dance tune that went viral on YouTube.

The deal puts Psy on the same label as Justin Bieber, Asher Roth and Carly Rae Jepsen. It also puts him under the management of Braun, Bieber’s manager, who founded Schoolboy Records in early 2012. The deal was commemorated in a video showing Psy and Braun shaking hands after downing a soju toast.

Thanks to Braun’s “special business relationship” with Island Records, Psy will enjoy the global distribution muscle that promotes the likes of not only Bieber but Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi and Jennifer Lopez, among others. In the Korean and Japanese markets Psy will remain under contract to his Korean management firm YG Entertainment.

Braun plans a remake of “Gangnam Style” for the US market. It will likely entail a translation of the lyrics and the involvement of some of Braun’s stable of artists as well as Psy himself. Bieber is said to be contemplating his own version of the viral hit, though that won’t come until after the US release of Psy’s remake, according to Braun. Britney Spears has expressed interest in licensing Psy’s famously whacky horse-riding dance.

Psy aka Park Jae-sang, 35, debuted as a rapper in 2002 but had struggled to find a place in a K-pop industry dominated by prettier, thinner people. He built a following by putting on shows in which he often parodied more famous singers, especially female ones. Park’s career went into hiatus in 2010. His comeback bid was the Gangnam Style music video, which he produced and posted on YouTube in July. It quickly went viral and has racked up over 100 million views as of early September.

Psy is currently in Los Angeles to iron out plans with Braun and Island Records and to attend Thursday’s MTV Video Music Awards at the invitation of organizers.

Scooter Braun, 31, entered the entertainment business by becoming Atlanta’s most successful party promoter while attending Emory University. He then moved over to music promotion. His first big score was single-handedly bootstrapping a million-dollar Pontiac endorsement deal for Ludacris with no prior experience in negotiating such deals. He then leveraged his contacts with rappers into a relationship with Island Records and its owner Universal Music Group, one of the world’s four major music distributors.

Braun’s biggest achievement as a manager and promoter has been discovering 13-year-old Justin Bieber on YouTube and turning him into the world’s top pop star. If his strategy with Bieber and his other artists is any indication, Braun will turn Psy into a chart fixture by engineering a series of collaborative efforts with the other artists in in his stable as well as other artists seeking of a fresh angle. At the moment the buzz surrounding Psy’s “Gangnam Style” makes him a hot commodity in the trend-driven pop music business. Braun will make the most hay to keep Psy’s horse galloping.