Spotify reach licensing agreement with K-Pop label Kakao

Spotify has confirmed that it has reached a licensing agreement with Kakao Entertainment following a public dispute that took place earlier this month.

On March 1st, Spotify released a statement confirming that hundreds of K-Pop tracks distributed by Kakeo M had been removed from its service globally.

“Despite our best efforts, the existing licensing deal we had with KakaoM (which covered all countries other than South Korea) has come to an end,” a statement read at the time. “The fact that we have not yet reached agreement on a new global deal is unfortunate for their artists, as well as for fans and listeners worldwide.”

The tension was sparked after Kakao launched its own streaming service in Korea, and subsequently removed the rights to hundreds of songs by its artist after a licensing deal between the two companies expired.

Kakeo M distributes a significant share of K-pop music, with 37.5 per cent of the songs featured on 2020’s Top 400 Yearly Song Chart belonging to the company.

In a joint statement, Spotify and Kakao Entertainment has confirmed that an agreement between the two companies has been reached. As Variety reports, the reconsidered deal between Kakao and Spotify was accelerated by protests by fans of the label’s artists on social media.

“We are pleased that Kakao Entertainment’s content and artists are back on Spotify, allowing our 345M+ global listeners across 170 countries to once again enjoy the music they love,” a Spotify spokesperson said in a statement.

“Spotify’s mission has always been to connect artists to their fans all over the world and to give listeners access to all of the world’s music.

“We are delighted that our Korean listeners will now also be able to enjoy this local music alongside our 70 million+ songs and 4 billion+ playlists. We remain committed to making a positive impact on Korea’s music streaming ecosystem through our partnerships with artists, labels, and local rights holders.”

A Kakao statement adds: “Kakao Entertainment Corp.has entered into an agreement with Spotify and will sequentially provide its music content to Spotify for service in and beyond Korea.

“Through its diverse partnerships around the world including Spotify, Kakao Entertainment hopes that music lovers around the world can easily access its artists’ and music content to enjoy K-pop.

“Kakao Entertainment remains committed to the Korean music ecosystem and its growth and will continue protecting the rights of artists, labels and local rights holders going forward.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.