Music Business News: South Korea

Why we believe streaming subscription ARPU fell by around 8% globally for the record industry last year

MBW runs the numbers from the IFPI's must-read new Global Music Report covering 2020

Global recorded music revenues grew 7.4% to $21.6bn in 2020, in spite of the pandemic

Paid subscription streaming revenues increased by 18.5% last year

BTS label Big Hit Entertainment officially rebrands as HYBE

Big Hit’s record label will maintain its identity as a label called Big Hit Music, under HYBE

Big Hit Global CEO Lenzo Yoon on K-Pop, BTS, their fans and the future of the global entertainment industry

Big Hit Entertainment Global CEO Lenzo Yoon delivered a speech this week for SXSW Online

Spotify reinstates K-Pop tracks from Kakao Entertainment as companies reach global licensing deal

Content is also available in South Korea for the first time

BTS were the world’s biggest-selling recording artist last year. But for the first time ever, no British acts made the Top 10.

Universal Music Group acts claimed nine (and a bit) in the IFPI's Top 10 chart

‘The death of the artist’? Why Big Hit and BTS just raised the alarm on the record industry’s future.

Why Big Hit's recent investment is symptomatic of a wider, potentially worrying, trend for major record companies

Spotify pulls hundreds of K-Pop songs globally due to expired licensing deal with Kakao M

Expired deal with distributor and record label KakaoM results in tracks being pulled from streaming service