Map of the Seoul: Aussie songwriters & producers head to first K-Pop SongHubs

After global stops in Los Angeles, Bali, London, Brooklyn and Berlin, SongHubs is heading to South Korea.

It will stage the inaugural K-Pop SongHubs between November 12 and 15 in Seoul’s renowned Gangnam-Gu district.

APRA AMCOS partnered with the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA).

The studio sessions are curated by LA-based producer, songwriter and APRA AMCOS ambassador Tushar Apte.

Apart from landing credits on releases by Demi Lovato, Zayn Malik and Nicki Minaj. Apte proved his K-Pop credentials by writing ‘Home’ from BTS’ recent US #1 album, Map of the Soul: Persona.

“It’s an exciting time to be collaborating in Asia and I’m grateful for the support and foresight of APRA AMCOS and KOMCA in putting this event together,” says Apte.

“I’m sure we’re going to see some amazing opportunities come out of this for Australian creatives as well as our international collaborators and label partners.”

While the typical SongHubs brief is for teams of three to complete one song each day, Apte will task teams to produce three songs per day that K-Pop labels MusicWorks, JYP, BigHit and SM will consider for their recording artists’ upcoming releases.

International collaborators include Apte’s fellow APRA AMCOS ambassador Nat Dunn (Marshmello, Charlie XCX), Hailey Collier (Selena Gomez, David Guetta), Will Sims (Girls Generation, Aloe Blacc) and top K-Pop producer and A&R Alex Wright.

Wright, who was the K-Pop expert on US TV show The World’s Best, says the success of K-Pop comes back to crafting songs that have international appeal.

“I’m looking forward to working with the songwriters and producers that Tushar has invited to Seoul and seeing the K-Pop creative community grow even more.”

Also Read: Past The Sheen & Into The Underbelly: A deep dive into the K-pop industry [long read]

The Australian contingent includes Melbourne songwriter Demi Louise, London-based songwriter and artist Hopium, K-Pop and J-Pop collaborator Tim Tan, Sydney electronic producer Mookhi, rising electro-pop artist Muki, and LA-based songwriter TIAAN (Tina Arena, BLEONA).

The K-Pop market is valued at US$5billion, and the genre’s artists are global superstars with an ever-growing fanbase in Australia.

BLACKPINK sold-out arena shows in Melbourne and Sydney in June, and BTS recently became the first K-Pop artist to achieve ARIA gold single accreditation, with four singles certified.

K-Pop SongHubs is the first major APRA AMCOS supported initiative to tap into Hallyu (the Korean cultural economy).

The Sydney-based South Korean government-funded Korean Cultural Centre has been a strong supporter of the growing K-Wave in Australia.

“Australia and Korea are coming up to their 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2021, and this collaboration between APRA AMCOS and KOMCA for the K-Pop SongHubs further demonstrates the strength between our two countries,” says Sojeong Park, director at the Korean Cultural Centre

“We are very excited for Australian songwriters and producers to have the opportunity to contribute to the exciting K-Pop industry, while also experiencing the beautiful culture that Korea has to offer.