Books you can hear sound again, IU Spotify

Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming company, announced on the 11th that it will provide Kakao Entertainment (Kakao Entertainment) content to Spotify around the world, including Korea.

The two companies, Spotify and Kakao Entertainment, announced on the 11th that they have completed discussions on the renewal of global licensing.

Earlier, on the 1st, Spotify stopped servicing Kakao Entertainment’s music sources.

At the time, Spotify explained, “We have been working in all directions for more than a year and a half to continuously provide Kakao artists’ music to fans around the world and more than 345 million users in 170 countries, but we have not reached an agreement.”

Experts analyzed that this event represents the “inevitable future of the content market.”

Spotify, the world’s #1 streaming platform, officially launched its service in Korea on the 2nd.

According to the “2019 Global Music Streaming Subscriber Survey 2019” released by global market research firm Statista in April of last year, Spotify had the highest market share with 35%. Apple Music (19%), Amazon Music (15%), and Tencent (11%) followed.

However, on the 1st, all music services distributed by Kakao Entertainment on Spotify around the world, including in Korea, were suddenly stopped.

During the stop the song was included songs of famous domestic singers such as Epik High, IU.

Kakao Entertainment explained, “The overseas contract has expired in accordance with Spotify’s policy that overseas and domestic contracts must be carried out at the same time.”

However, Spotify said, “The overseas licensing contract has nothing to do with the launch of the Korean service,” and said that Kakao Entertainment will not provide the sound source.

As a result, criticism has risen over whether Kakao Entertainment has delayed negotiations with rival Spotify due to concerns about the location of its streaming platform Melon.

Kakao Entertainment, which owns the largest music streaming platform in Korea, Melon, is the largest music distribution company in Korea, dominating 37.5% of the domestic music distribution market as of last year.

Hundreds of posts were also posted on Twitter with the hashtag’Kakao M Out’. “I don’t know the intention of the negotiation breakdown, but the point of the tweets is that it hurts fans and consumers.”

Representatively, Tablo of Epik High said, “Because of the disagreement between Kakao M and Spotify, the album’Epik High Is Here’ was not heard all over the world regardless of our intentions.” “Why are artists and fans suffering from suffering?” he criticized.

Konkuk University’s business administration professor Yoo Yoo Yoo-geun said that this situation shows “the future of the inevitable content market.” It is explained that the conflict is inevitable as foreign companies are entering not only music service but also various content fields.

Professor Ham said, “Because there are cases where Netflix and YouTube dominate the domestic online video service (OTT) market, there may be a perception that domestic companies are trying to fight back as a group.” Rather, I recommend a proposal that focuses on win-win and cooperation.”

He continued, “The content business is basically a field that becomes more meaningful when you draw the big picture together rather than alone. If you focus on creating customer value and recognize it as a partner who can make the big picture together rather than your competitors, you can create a better market. I will be able to make it,” he explained.

Professor Ham also said, “Because other Korean music has to go abroad like K-pop, it is also important to open the door to incoming music.”