K-Pop Songs Return to Spotify After New Deal With Kakao Entertainment

March 11, 2021

Hundreds of songs by K-pop artists from Kakao Entertainment (previously known as KakaoM) are returning to Spotify after the two companies finally settled on a new global licensing agreement.

Expired license: K-pop fans were left outraged after many of their favorite songs disappeared from the popular streaming platform on March 1, as NextShark previously reported.

The deal suspension between Kakao Entertainment and Spotify was reportedly due to Spotify’s policy that involves worldwide content deals spanning local and international services, according to Variety.
The artists affected by this suspension include Sistar, IU, Monsta X, Epik High, Zico and Apink.
Spotify claimed that it tried to renew its global licensing agreement with the Korean company over the past year and a half.

Reaching an agreement: With the new terms not much different from those originally discussed, Spotify can now make Kakao Entertainment’s content available in countries around the world — including South Korea — for the first time.

According to a statement from Kakao, “Kakao Entertainment Corp. (previously Kakao M) has entered into an agreement with Spotify and will sequentially provide its music content to Spotify for service in and beyond Korea.”
Kakao was reportedly forced to return to discussions with Spotify after some of the affected K-pop artists and their outraged fans took to social media to complain.
“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,” Spotify’s spokesperson said in a statement.

Feature Image via Apink

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