Spotify removes hundreds of K-pop songs globally, unable to reach an agreement with Kakao M

[pools]

Original article:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/hundreds-k-pop-releases-removed-spotify-worldwide-2890528

Spotify launched in South Korea on February 1, 2021, but did so without music from artists with licensing deals under Kakao M, including IU, Zico and more.

Now, releases distributed by the Korean label have been removed from Spotify around the world. Kakao M distributes a large share of Korean popular music, with 37.5 percent of the songs featured on the 2020 Top 400 Yearly Song Chart from Gaon Music Chart under the company.

Also on BBC.

Kakao M claiming it was Spotify removing it:

https://www.soompi.com/article/1456...-was-the-one-to-end-their-licensing-agreement

[...] later that same morning, Kakao M countered with its own statement, in which it claimed that Spotify had been the one who chose not to renew their agreement, even after a request on Kakao M’s part.

While this is clearly over compensation, Spotify needs to rectify this asap. From their own news release, K-pop is a huge part of why people use their service:

Between January 2014 and January 2020, K-pop's share of listening on Spotify increased by more than 1,800%.

Since Spotify released its first K-Pop flagship playlist, K-Pop Daebak, in 2014 (and then a massive hub dedicated to the genre in 2015), there have been more than 41 billion K-Pop streams on Spotify. From rising artists to international collaborations, there’s something for both new and old K-Pop lovers on the platform.

Top-streamed K-Pop artists on Spotify include BTS, BLACKPINK, EXO, TWICE, and Red Velvet. In 2019, BTS was the first group from Asia to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify. And, as of February 2020, the boy band reached a new milestone: more than 8 billion streams (8 billion streams!) on the platform.

If a resolution can't be reached I think Spotify will be in trouble long-term as whatever service picks it up will siphon a significant chunk of users.

 

[johnisto]

@pools I think this is a bigger blow on the kpop industry more than anything else. Spotify will lose some users but they still contain a huge library of artists, especially western artists who are some of the most popular artists globally and domestically. It’ll still be a hit but probably not enough to really destabilize them.

However, it’s a bigger issue for the kpop industry. I believe Melon is only available in Korea and you need a Korean ID or phone number or something to even make an account. So it’s a process for foreigners to even get started there. Also who knows if this removal may start occurring in other streaming services. I think limiting their music availability internationally will ultimately hurt the artists more than these streaming companies.

 

[aldericus]

@johnisto Ran into this with jpop. A lot of the music I was into was pulled from youtube by the publisher. You could only buy cds straight from japan or buy japanese itunes cards and order music through them. It's actually how I ended up into kpop. Kpop was just way easier to access. (My favorite jpop singer only became available for streaming last year. I've loved her work for over 15 years. Everytime something would get uploaded they would issue a takedown notice. )

 

[jaxxie]

@aldericus Yep. Japan has always been wildly anti-piracy and they go HARD searching everything for deletion. I remember a Japanese friend of mine actually got visibly angry with me when I told them I pirated some music, like I had personally betrayed them. Weird stuff. Good business for physical media in Japan, terrible for the global market.

 

[awentz148]

@aldericus Yeah, this one hurt a lot back then when I was looking for specific artists on YT. Finding out that I’d essentially need to pirate releases didn’t sit well with me; I essentially just pivoted to more accessible genres.

 

[hadasah]

@johnisto Agree - the idea that this hurts Spotify is a pretty wild conclusion. Spotify has cornered the market in offerings and will always have low attrition for years to come.

Spotify will remain the market leader until the organization becomes bloated and increases its share of revenue from artists. Until then, it will continue to grow as global market leader.

 

[thatguync]

@johnisto Spotify, like Netflix, are the default option in their markets and gigants in their own right. This will hurt Kpop more then it ever hurts Spotify, limit the market for new Kpop artists to reach a western audience. Much like not being on Netflix is by default losing a big market, other services compete but I'll only pay for a month and watch on HBO/Disney/whatever but keep Netflix forever.

 

[nhwarmbythefire]

@pools Purely anecdotal and personal experience but I did ask my teenage daughter about it. She has a premium Spotify account and so do a lot of her friends. They are willing to pay for Spotify because it had good KPop access.

She mentioned that no one she knows will cancel their Spotify account.

I doubt this will really have any impact on existing subscriber base. But it may reduce Spotify's attractiveness to new subscribers.

 

[pools]

@nhwarmbythefire Thanks for the anecdotal feedback! That is useful.

 

[nhwarmbythefire]

@pools BTW - she was very aware of the licensing issue which surprised me. One comment she said is that some popular kpop playlists did get shortened by over 50%.

 

[israelp]

@nhwarmbythefire They have recently expanded into Korea as well. I think removing a lot of the Kpop content will make it tough to compete for new users there

 

[whereismysalvation]

@nhwarmbythefire I am a 20 year old and my BF lets me use his got me my own premium Spotify account through the dual-account program and I use it solely for foreign music such as Kpop or Jrock.

Without certain songs (that they have now taken off, such as my favorites:

please don’t by K. Will and much of Monsta X’s discography such as beautiful and all in),

I won’t be using the service any longer. I know Korean natives, I can just ask to use their Melon accounts.

 

[whyme01]

@whereismysalvation Congrats on being in the minority of Spotify users....?

 

[whereismysalvation]

@whyme01 Was there a point in your comment? I am pointing out that some current Spotify users (like myself) that primarily listen to K-pop do have the agency to stop using the service, as opposed to the experience mentioned in the comment I replied to. Or are you just trying to be a jerk?

 

[whyme01]

@whereismysalvation Was there a point in your comment? While OP to your initial comment did include an anecdote, his/her larger assumption was that this change from Spotify likely wouldn't impact their current subscriber base much given that many use it for music outside of the k-pop genre.

Of course you and others have the ability to go elsewhere for music if your favorites aren't there to listen to. So, I ask again...what was your point? Just to say while she may keep her account, you're cancelling yours? Ok, well said.

 

[whereismysalvation]

@whyme01 Yeah, the point in my comment was that many single-use subscribers, such as myself, only use streaming services such as Spotify as a way to listen to foreign music such as K-pop and J-rock and will stop paying for the service if it stops streaming certain artists.

Although it won’t largely impact their current subscriber base as a whole, my point was that it will probably largely impact their K-POP subscriber base to some extent.

 

[wackwife23]

@pools actually how many people sub spotify purely for kpop?

 

[resjudicata]

@wackwife23 I think that's a bad question because people don't subscribe to spotify to listen to a specific band/genre, they subscribe for the convienence of listening to their favourite bands which can span different genres. That is the reason why people choose to subscribe to spotify over amazon music, the diversity of genres is important.

 

[pools]

@wackwife23 I'm not sure, there's no way to know the exact number.

I think it's kind of the same question as "how many people sub Netflix purely for The Office"?

 

[hamster_on_coffee]

@pools How many people actually left Netflix because they removed The Office? Probably not enough to make a significant impact on Netflix subscriptions.