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Despite notable growth, market remains lopsided in favor of platform operators, copyright group says
Korea’s digital music market has nearly doubled in size over the past four years, according to a new report released by the Korea Music Copyright Association on Thursday.
Based on research conducted by accounting firm EY Han Young, the market grew from $692 million in 2019 to nearly $1.32 billion in 2023, marking a 90.5 percent increase. The figures, which combine the value of streaming and digital downloads from major domestic music platforms, highlight a remarkable surge in a relatively short time.
Streaming has been the key driver of this growth, with the market jumping from $661 million to over $1.29 billion during the same period — an increase of 95.6 percent. This rapid expansion mirrors global trends, as streaming continues to outpace physical album sales across international markets.
KOMCA noted that Korea’s digital music market has now surpassed Japan’s, positioning Korea as a leading force in the Asian music industry. The association further predicted that the market will grow to nearly $1.7 billion by 2027.
Despite the robust growth, KOMCA emphasized that royalty distribution for copyright holders in Korea remains low.
According to the report, copyright holders receive just 10.5 percent of streaming revenue per track in Korea, compared to 12.3 percent in the US, 16 percent in the UK and 15 percent in Germany. On the other hand, streaming platforms in Korea claim the highest revenue share among major markets at 35 percent, whereas the US, UK, Germany, and Japan platforms retain about 22 to 30 percent.
KOMCA claimed that this disparity is due to the vertically integrated structure of Korean streaming platforms, which often control production, distribution and retail. Platform operators in Korea can take home more than 83 percent of streaming revenue per track, according to KOMCA.
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