Tag: South Korea

South Korea’s Legendary Band JAURIM Curates 25 Years of Inspiration

August 7, 2022

Jaurim band standing in a room filled with pink balloons. they are in red clothing attire and are holding various objects like a sword, rabbit mask, and axe

This year, South Korea’s legendary band JAURIM, which led the popularization of band music in the nation and helped pioneer a new genre there, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its official debut. 

And to commemorate the impact of this iconic band, Spotify has invited the group to be the first contributor in our newest series, Kurated by [     ]. These playlists will be curated by K-culture’s finest creators and masters themselves to share their own stories and present their musical inspirations and tastes.

JAURIM is a natural choice for inaugural curator. After two and a half decades on the scene, JAURIM holds the title of the country’s longest existing and performing coed band. Today the iconic group continues to use its unique, authentic sound to tell stories as profound and mysterious as the band’s name—which translates to “purple rainforest” in English.

Consisting of three members (vocalist Yuna Kim, guitarist Sun-Kyu Lee, and bassist JinMan Kim), JAURIM has established its own genre and solidified a distinctive position in the South Korean music scene. Because of its uniquely wide spectrum of music and performance, the band serves as an inspiration to various fellow artists and creators both locally and globally. Most recently, BTS member and leader RM showed his love and respect for JAURIM, visiting the band’s celebratory “Happy 25th JAURIM” concert held in early July in Seoul.

Jaurim band standing in front of a gray backdrop with flowersThe band debuted in 1997 with the song “Hey, Hey, Hey” and has since made numerous hits that touch upon youth, people, and social issues. Some of its popular songs include “Beeswax Angel,” “I’m my fan,” and “Song of Ha Ha Ha,” with special track titles “Boxing Helena,” “Fanya,” and “Song of Ha ha ha,” respectively—named so by the band to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Not to forget “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One,” the original soundtrack of the K-drama series with the same title. The band dives deep into dark human emotions like angst and reflects on societal illnesses, but it also calls out for hope and love that speak across time and generations. 

JAURIM continues to connect with listeners worldwide through a variety of Spotify editorial playlists. Most recently, JAURIM’s “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One,” released in 2013 and currently featured in Spotify’s official partnership playlist of the K-drama, captured the hearts of many K-content fans and listeners around the globe thanks to the popularity of the K-drama.  

Commemorating the band’s 25 years, Spotify and JAURIM put together the exclusive playlist Kurated by [ JAURIM ]—to help fans and listeners around the world connect and feel even closer to the band. The band members chose 15 of their own representative songs and selected 10 additional tracks from other artists who have inspired them, including Sinéad O’Connor’s “Why Don’t You Do Right,” Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times,” Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy.” 

Check out the full playlist below.

Spotify’s Kurated by [     ] series aims to connect more Spotify listeners worldwide with artists of various South Korean music genres and with masters who have led various sectors of the Korean cultural and entertainment industry.

대한민국 밴드 음악의 거장 자우림, 25년간의 영감을 큐레이션하다.

August 7, 2022

Jaurim band standing in a room filled with pink balloons. they are in red clothing attire and are holding various objects like a sword, rabbit mask, and axe

한국 록 밴드 음악의 대중화를 이끈 자우림은 1997년 ‘Hey, Hey, Hey’를 시작으로 ‘밀랍천사’, ‘매직 카펫 라이드’, ‘팬이야’, ‘하하하쏭’, ‘스물다섯, 스물하나’  등 다채로운 콘셉트의 곡을 통해 청춘과 인간, 사회에 관한 주제를 꾸준히 다루며 대중에게 큰 사랑을 받아왔습니다. ‘자줏빛 비가 내리는 숲(紫雨林)’을 의미하는 밴드명만큼이나 신비롭고 몽환적이면서도 현실적인 이야기를 전하는 자우림, 이들이 올해 25주년을 맞이했습니다.

보컬 김윤아, 기타리스트 이선규, 베이시스트 김진만으로 이뤄진 한국 최장수 혼성 3인조 밴드 자우림은 한 장르에 국한하지 않은 폭넓은 음악 스펙트럼을 기반으로 독보적인 음악 세계를 구축했으며, 지금의 K팝뿐만 아니라 국내외 다양한 아티스트와 창작자들에게 영감이자 뮤즈가 되어왔습니다. 일례로 지난 7월 초 서울 올림픽공원에서 열린 자우림 단독 콘서트 ‘해피 25TH 자우림(HAPPY 25th JAURIM)’에는 방탄소년단 RM이 다녀가 화제가 되기도 했습니다.

자우림은 다양한 스포티파이 플레이리스트를 통해 전 세계 청취자들을 계속해서 만나고 있습니다. 가장 최근에는, 2013년에 발표한 자우림의 ‘스물다섯, 스물하나’는 드라마의 스포티파이 공식 파트너십 플레이리스트를 통해 전 세계 리스너들과 한층 더 가까워지고 사랑받기도 했습니다.

스포티파이는 이처럼 올해 25주년을 맞이한 대한민국 밴드 음악의 아이콘 자우림과 함께, 25년의 발자취와 이들의 영감을 전 세계에 소개하는 ‘Kurated by [ JAURIM ]’ 플레이리스트 그리고 콘텐츠를 공개했습니다. 자우림 멤버들이 직접 큐레이팅한 25개 곡으로 구성된 해당 플레이리스트 중 15곡은 자우림이 직접 꼽은 밴드의 대표곡입니다. 나머지 10곡은 자우림에게 영감을 준 타 아티스트의 곡들로, 세 멤버가 공통으로 또는 각자 선정했습니다.

특히, 이번 25주년 기념 앨범 ‘HAPPY 25th JAURIM’ 수록곡 ‘Hey, Hey, Hey 25th’, ‘매직 카펫 라이드 25th’, ‘our song’ 등이 포함되어 신보에 대한 애정이 돋보이며, 보컬 김윤아에게 영감을 준 곡인 Sinéad O’Connor의 ‘Why Don’t You Do Right’을 비롯해 자우림 멤버 모두가 꼽은 Led Zeppelin의 ‘Good times bad times’, Queen의 ‘Don’t stop me now’, Pearl Jam의 ‘Jeremy’ 등 다양한 곡을 담고 있습니다. 

스포티파이의 ‘Kurated by [     ]’는 다채로운 장르의 아티스트를 비롯해 대한민국의 다양한 문화산업 분야를 이끌어온 거장들을 더 많은 전 세계 스포티파이 청취자들과 연결하기 위해 마련되었습니다. 대한민국 문화의 아이콘으로 자리매김한 아티스트 및 창작자들이 직접 큐레이션한 Kurated by [   ] 플레이리스트를 통해 이들의 영감과 발자취를 돌아봅니다.

Through Breakups and Heartbreaks, TOMORROW X TOGETHER Shares All the Feels in Its New Spotify Enhanced Album

May 9, 2022

K-Pop fans, Spotify has a treat for you. Today, South Korean boy band TOMORROW X TOGETHER is releasing its fourth mini album, minisode 2: Thursday’s Child, and Spotify listeners have access to an exclusive enhanced version of the album.

This new five-track album follows the story of the boy who fell in love in the band’s previous album series, The Chaos Chapter. In minisode 2: Thursday’s Child that boy experiences a breakup with his first love. Fans will experience three themes (hate, end, mess) as they listen to the group’s tracks, which feature a mix of hardcore rock, hip-hop, and R&B.

The enhanced album, available only on Spotify, includes never-before-seen content. Fans have access to new videos, storylines (which are personal written commentaries from the band on each track), and audio liners, where the band members give insight into the songs. The enhanced album also features videos of the individual members of the group talking about the fun they had and the memories they shared while creating the new music.

the playlist cover art for tomorrow x together's enhanced album which depicts TXT in red and black on a beige background

“We are thrilled to present this new, immersive content to MOA and all listeners on Spotify,” said TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s leader, SOOBIN. “We put tremendous effort into making our new album and collaborating with Spotify, so we hope you enjoy the special behind-the-scenes experience and feel a deeper connection through our exclusive, personally curated content.”

For the Record chatted with members of TOMORROW X TOGETHER to learn more about their new album.

What can fans expect in the new album, minisode 2: Thursday’s Child? 

SOOBIN: Through this new EP, we showcase a side of ourselves that we’ve never shown before. We tried to express how one could be corrupted and changed by his first heartbreak. The lead single “Good Boy Gone Bad” has some fantastic choreography that’s sure to make a lasting impression in your minds, so be sure to check it out!

In what ways does the enhanced album share more about the intent behind your new music for fans and new listeners worldwide?

SOOBIN: I hope our fans, MOA [Moments of Alwaysness], will be able to dive deeper into the EP as they listen to the behind-the-scenes stories and the episodes that we reveal for the first time.

YEONJUN: We all had a great time discussing the album in such depth. In the process, I’ve definitely grown more attached to every song.

BEOMGYU: We had a heart-to-heart talk on each of the tracks from the album, and I hope our MOA will love it too. Also, I really enjoyed thinking back to the emotions I had while working on and recording each song. 

TAEHYUN: It’s some great content. We go into detail about how each member tackled the recording process. Listening to how each song came to be definitely makes me appreciate them more. 

HUENINGKAI: I have so much love for this EP, especially with all the effort and passion we all put into it. It’s our first unit track, so the producer and YEONJUN and I talked a lot about how we want this track to feel. I hope our intentions are delivered to you successfully. 

What messages do you want people to take from your music? 

SOOBIN: Through music, we always strive to give voice to what many people feel and experience throughout their lives. We pursue music that many people can empathize with and relate to. We would like to be remembered as artists who are not confined by genre. We want to become artists who linger on in your minds even as time goes by. 

What figures have most influenced your music and your artwork? 

SOOBIN: I watched a lot of shows that deal with love and heartbreak. I took these works as inspiration to delve into and understand these emotions with more depth.

HUENINGKAI: Since I was a child, I have admired my dad. And I have been inspired by many artists, like Bruno Mars and Christopher, since I was a trainee.

YEONJUN: For this album, I was inspired by Post Malone’s music.

BEOMGYU: I referenced some TV shows as well, but I also think all people go through heartbreak or farewell in one form or another, whatever that may be. While working on this album, I tried to think back and put myself in those shoes.

TAEHYUN: I was inspired by The Weeknd’s albums and by a friend who had recently been through a breakup. 

As you look to TOMORROW (the future), what are your goals as a group TOGETHER?

As a group, we still want to meet and enjoy being with MOA from all over the world.

 

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Start streaming TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s minisode 2: Thursday’s Child, the enhanced album, below:

 

Spotify Celebrates K-Pop With a Relaunch of Its Flagship Playlist, Now Called ‘K-Pop ON! (온)’

March 2, 2022

It’s been one year since Spotify debuted in South Korea and almost eight years since the launch of our flagship playlist, K-Pop Daebak. Since its unveiling in 2014, the playlist has racked up billions of streams for Korean artists and has expanded their reach around the world. As K-Pop continues to dominate the charts, Spotify is building on this momentum with a complete relaunch of its K-Pop Daebak playlist, now called K-Pop ON! (온). 

K-Pop is more than a music genre—it’s a cultural hub for fandoms, superstars, fashion moments, and more. With K-Pop ON! (온), Spotify is creating a destination that gives fans and artists even stronger ways to connect with each other. That’s the reason for the new playlist name and the addition of the Korean word “온,” which means “100” or “whole.” When combined with the English word “on,” the playlist’s name embodies the idea that K-Pop is always on 100 for the whole world. And that couldn’t be more true; every day, K-Pop brings new songs, styles, and trends to the world. With K-Pop On! (온), fans aren’t just tuning in to a playlist, they’re immersing themselves in a worldwide phenomenon. 

Since 2018, K-Pop streams on Spotify have increased by 107% in the United States and 230% globally, resulting in almost 8 billion streams per month around the world. The love of the genre is truly global, with the U.S., Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Malaysia, Canada, Singapore, and the U.K. rounding out the list of the top countries that stream K-Pop. The music has taken over the Spotify platform. In fact, in the last 90 days, there have been over 4.7 million searches for the term “K-Pop” on Spotify. 

These searches include a wide array of artists and songs, ranging from big hits by top stars to deep cuts from emerging artists. Since the playlist’s original launch in 2014, BLACKPINK and BTS have been the most-streamed artists, while the most-streamed songs have been “DDU-DU DDU-DU” by BLACKPINK, “FANCY” by TWICE, “DALLA DALLA” by ITZY, “Kill This Love” by BLACKPINK, and “SOLO” by JENNIE (from BLACKPINK). 

 

 

Spotify couldn’t launch K-Pop ON! (온) without help from a few fan-favorite artists, so it’s rolling out star-studded billboards around the world to celebrate. Fans will find larger-than-life images of NMIXX in LA; BTS, aespa, and NMIXX in NYC; ATEEZ, Red Velvet, NCT DREAM, and more in South Korea; aespa, SEVENTEEN, BLACKPINK, and more in Indonesia; BTS, NMIXX, and IVE in Japan; and BTS, TWICE, and ENHYPEN in Toronto—with more exciting content to come, across the platform and on Spotify’s own channels. 

Want to join the millions of fans around the world singing and dancing along to K-Pop? Stream our newly minted K-Pop On! (온) playlist here.

한국 론칭 1주년, 스포티파이가 공개하는 데이터와 그간의 성과

February 14, 2022

스포티파이가 한국에서의 서비스 론칭 1주년을 맞아 지난 한 해 동안 스포티파이와 한국 아티스트들이 이뤄낸 주요 데이터와 성과를 발표했습니다. 

전 세계 리스너들이 보다 많은 대한민국 그리고 한국계 아티스트를 발견하고 깊이 연결될 수 있도록

데이터에 따르면, 지난 1년 동안 K팝 음원은 전 세계적으로 월평균 79억 7천만 회 이상 스트리밍된 것으로 나타났습니다. 이는 스포티파이의 한국 론칭 이전과 비교했을 때 약 27% 증가한 수치입니다. 나아가 전 세계 4억 6백만명 이상의 청취자를 보유한 스포티파이의 184개 국가 중 한국 아티스트를 새롭게 발견한 청취자가 가장 많은 상위 10개국은 미국, 브라질, 인도, 인도네시아, 멕시코, 독일, 영국, 필리핀, 일본, 프랑스 순으로 나타났습니다.  

앞서 언급한 데이터 비롯하여 지난 1년간 더 많은 아티스트들을 더 많은 전 세계 청취자들과 새롭고 깊이 있게 연결하기 위해, 스포티파이는 아래와 같이 다양한 방식으로 쉼 없이 달려왔습니다. 

또한, 폭넓은 한국 음악과 아티스트를 전 세계 청취자들에게 소개하는 ‘K팝 허브(K-Pop Hub)’는 스포티파이가 국내 론칭된 지 1년도 되지 않아 총 스트리밍 횟수 14억 3천만회를 달성, 이 역시 코리아팀의 론칭 전과 비교했을 때 19.5% 증가했습니다. 지난 1년간 인도, 인도네시아, 미국, 일본, 필리핀, 말레이시아, 태국, 브라질, 멕시코, 대만 순으로 K팝 허브에 가장 많이 접속한 것으로 나타났고, 전 세계적으로 K팝 허브에서 가장 많이 스트리밍된 상위 10개 플레이리스트는 K-Pop Daebak, TrenChill K-R&B, WOR K OUT, Women of K-Pop, Dalkom Cafe, Girl Krush, K-Pop Rising, KimBops!, Korean OSTs, 그리고 Best of Korean Soundtracks 순이었습니다. 

박상욱 스포티파이 코리아 매니징 디렉터는 “긴 여정의 초기단계에 있는 만큼, 앞으로도 한국의 아티스트, 창작자 및 업계 파트너들에게 신뢰받는 글로벌 파트너로서 함께 성장해갈 것“이라고 강조, “아티스트들에게는 전 세계 곳곳의 청취자들과 연결될 수 있는 기회를, 청취자들에게는 새로운 음악을 발견하고 일상 속 듣는 기쁨을 드리기 위해 스포티파이 코리아팀에서 항상 노력할 것”이라고 소감을 밝혔습니다.

S4A의 확산, 더 다양하고 많은 한국 아티스트들이 국경 없는 음악 생태계 속 활로 개척할 수 있도록

론칭 이후 한국 아티스트 및 레이블에 대한 지원 역시 대폭 강화해왔습니다. 그 중 특히 아티스트 전용 플랫폼이자 혁신툴인 S4A의 확산과 교육을 통해, 아티스트들이 전 세계 청취자와 팬에 대한 깊은 이해를 바탕으로 보다 효율적으로 활동을 기획할 수 있도록 도움을 제공해왔습니다. 

S4A는 실시간 글로벌 청취 통계 분석과 다양한 리소스를 무료로 제공하는 만큼, 레이블과 아티스트에게는 유용한 데이터 및 툴로 작용합니다. 현지 뮤직팀에서 S4A의 확산을 위해 노력해온 결과, 1년도 채 안 되어 한국 아티스트의 S4A 가입률이 국내 론칭 전보다 42.4 증가한 것으로 나타났습니다. 또한, 각 수록곡을 시각적으로 표현하는 디지털 아트워크 개념의 캔버스(Canvas) 영상 기능을 이용한 한국 아티스트의 수 역시 254% 증가한 것으로 집계됐습니다.

One Year in South Korea and Local Artists Are Finding Fans Around the Globe

February 14, 2022

One year ago, Spotify made its debut in South Korea, and since then, even more listeners around the world have fallen in love with K-Pop music. So to celebrate the anniversary, Spotify is sharing data that shows how Korean artists have found a home—and global audience—on the platform. 

K-Pop’s borderless reach 

Spotify’s global K-Pop hub, which was unveiled last year at the South Korea launch, has become a one-stop destination for listeners to discover a wide range of Korean artists and music. In just one year, the monthly average K-Pop streams worldwide reached over 7.97 billion per month, a 27% increase compared to the year before. In the same time frame, traffic to the K-Pop Hub reached 1.43 billion, a 19.5% increase in comparison to the year before launch.

Across Spotify’s 184 markets, the top 10 countries whose listeners had discovered Korean artists during the last year were the United States, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Germany, UK, Philippines, Japan, and France. Listeners from these countries also went to the K-Pop hub in droves to discover new music. And among the playlists within the K-Pop hub, the top 10 most streamed globally were K-Pop Daebak, TrenChill K-R&B, WOR K OUT, Women of K-Pop, Dalkom Cafe, Girl Krush, K-Pop Rising, KimBops!, Korean OSTs, and Best of Korean Soundtracks.

Spotlight on artists 

Spotify also showed support for the Korean music industry with the launch of “Spotify for Artists,” a platform designed to help singers, producers, and musicians expand their reach. 

Spotify for Artists provides real-time stats and helpful resources for artists, and in the year since Spotify South Korea’s launch, the registration rate on Spotify for Artists by Korean artists grew by 42.4% when compared to pre-launch figures. Korean artists were also big fans of the “Canvas” feature, which lets artists experiment with their album artwork by creating short-form looping videos for each of their songs. The number of sign-ups for Canvas increased 254% compared to the year before. 

The best is yet to come 

“As a committed global partner to Korean artists, creators, industry partners, and more, we will continue to support the growth of the Korean music-streaming ecosystem and offer more opportunities for Korean artists to be connected with more listeners around the world,” said David Park, Managing Director of Spotify Korea. “This is just the beginning.”

To top off an exciting year, here’s a look at some of the achievements since Spotify launched in South Korea:  

Ready to stream with the masses? Discover the artists climbing the ranks on Spotify’s K-Pop Hub.

https://open.spotify.com/genre/kpop-page 

 

*All data is from Feb 1st 2021 to Feb 1st 2022, 1 year since launch in South Korea

5 Questions (and Answers) with David Sang Wook Park, Spotify Korea Managing Director

March 23, 2021

In 2014, Spotify debuted our first K-Pop playlist, K-Pop Daebak, on the platform. From that day on, we’ve served as a global stage and partner for Korean artists and helped them introduce their music to the world. We doubled down on that commitment in 2015 with the launch of our K-Pop hub, enabling us to further introduce Korean music—including K-Pop, hip-hop, indie, OST, and R&B—to fans globally. 

Then, this February, Spotify launched in South Korea, creating an opportunity to amplify Korean musicians and spread their music to listeners like never before. And that opportunity expanded even more when, just 50 days later, Spotify became available across 80+ more markets for a total of 178.

For the Record caught up with David Park, Spotify Korea Managing Director, to talk more about why now was the right time to launch in South Korea, his own background supporting content creators, and Spotify’s mission to connect artists to fans in Korea and across the world. 

It’s been 50 days since Spotify launched in South Korea. What are some initial reactions you can share?

We’re taking into account feedback both from listeners and artists, constantly working to improve and innovate our service. From the artist community, we have generally received a warm welcome and positive feedback that our launch has activated the local music streaming market. We’re hoping that more listeners will be able to connect with a more diverse range of artists and music genres, both in Korea and around the world. Our team on the ground is deeply committed to this. 

From listeners, we continue to get extremely positive feedback on our unmatched personalization and discovery technologies. They’re seeing a very high level of music-related editorial input, powered by data and the depth of our algorithmic machine learning. We already see how listeners are discovering new artists and music, expanding their listening range and experience.  We believe in Spotify as more than a listening platform, but as a tool that brings the world of audio to you.

Tell us about your professional background prior to Spotify. How did that prepare you for your current role?

I’ve worked in the intersection of content media and IT/tech throughout my career, most recently founding a startup and setting up a business in Korea for a global company. One of the highlights during my career was definitely fostering and nurturing the video creator community and ecosystem in the APAC region. Helping Korean creators boost their presence not just in Korea but around the world—through the support of tools and data—was one of the key experiences that helped set me up for this role. There was one fact prevalent throughout the different roles I had taken: that content is king.

Spotify has been avid in serving as K-Pop’s bridge to the world years before launch. Can you talk about the timing of this launch? Why was now the right time?

While Spotify’s been very active in serving Korea’s music streaming market, it is a highly mature, unique, and complex one. With that, we had to invest an immense amount of time, resources, and research years before the launch. In every country we enter, we have to take market specificities into consideration and align with the local industry. 

All in all, building up a strong foundation to our long-term vision in Korea took some time, and we’re taking a step-by-step, hyper-sophisticated approach by considering market specificities and all relevant stakeholders. Our focus is on democratizing audio and music in the long run, and helping to accelerate the growth of Korea’s entire music streaming ecosystem, benefitting creators, labels, distributors, and fans. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. 

How will Spotify support Korean artists, both through launch and going forward?

We’re now hoping to take Korean music and artists’ global popularity to another level. Just recently we saw a variety of different artists, such as ROSÉ, DPR IAN, SHINee, Epik High, CHUNG HA, and more landing in the top 10 of the global Spotify debut charts. Korea’s music industry has been the epicenter of new cultural trends and music for many years, and it’s important for us to embed even further into this unique market, forging closer relationships with even more artists and labels and connecting them with fans across the globe. An example is our Spotify for Artists master classes, which we’ve proactively held for labels and artists so that they can better leverage our data and tools alongside our music team’s guidance and support. We want to empower them to connect with even larger audiences—both local and global.

What’s Spotify’s ultimate vision and goal in Korea?

Our ultimate goal is to provide the best audio experience to our listeners in Korea, and to continue to connect artists and fans on a scale that has never before existed. For listeners, we are committed to creating an environment in which they can enjoy a personalized experience tailored for their lifestyle, as well as diverse new content from all over the world. 

We see ourselves as a catalyst for additional growth in the market, with discovery of new artists and music being a key strength. We’re proud of that and are actively refining our algorithms to enable even more fan discoveries of new artists each month. We’re also confident that there is ample room for Korea’s music market to grow further as listeners’ audio and music consumption habits transform gradually. The shift has already begun. It’s only a matter of time and we’re working hard to speed things up. As our CEO, Daniel Ek, mentioned at Stream On, “It’s just the beginning.”

Ready to discover music and playlists for yourself? Check out David’s top working playlists—Lo-Fi Beats, Lo-Fi Cafe, and Lo-Fi House—or one of his new favorite playlists, In The K-Indie. “Recently, youra is a new gem I discovered through it. There’s just so much musical talent like youra in Korea that needs to be heard both in Korea and globally.”

‘Stream On,’ Q4 Earnings, and Our Launch in South Korea: Learn More on the ‘Spotify: For the Record’ Podcast

February 4, 2021

Our latest Spotify: For the Record episode dives into our biggest headlines of the week. Dustee Jenkins, Head of Global Communications, sits down with CEO Daniel Ek and CFO Paul Vogel to discuss yesterday’s fourth-quarter earnings results. The trio touches on the company’s outlook, our end-of-year Wrapped campaign, the continued rise in podcasts, and other Q4 highlights.

Dustee also queries Daniel about Spotify’s recently announced “Stream On” event. You can check out their full conversation in the episode, but in the meantime, find a brief behind-the-scenes preview of what will happen on February 22 below.

 

Finally, we travel from Stockholm to Seoul to discuss Spotify’s launch this week in the sixth-biggest music market in the world: South Korea. David Park, our Managing Director there, joins us as we talk about the magnitude of this expansion.

Ready to dig in? Check out the episode here.

Spotify Launches in South Korea

February 1, 2021

Today, Spotify is launching in the sixth-largest music market in the world: South Korea.* Koreans can now access over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists from around the world, as well as enjoy personalized music recommendations and discover new music. Music lovers in Korea can stream Spotify’s broad music catalogue, spanning everything from the country’s own K-Pop to Latin American reggaeton, European electronic, and beyond. 

Korea’s launch brings Spotify’s global footprint to 93 markets and is a critical next step in our global expansion journey. “We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and South Korea is rich in both,” says Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer, Spotify. “This launch presents a massive opportunity for us to not only further our mission of bringing new and quality content to more audiences, but also help local Korean artists tap into Spotify’s 320 million listeners worldwide. We hope to create more opportunities for Korean artists across all genres to be discovered by listeners around the world.”

Since we debuted our first K-Pop playlist in 2014, the share of K-Pop listening on Spotify has increased by more than 2,000%—but music in Korea spans far beyond K-Pop. As a part of today’s launch, we’re introducing a range of new playlists made exclusively for South Korea. These curated collections offer the latest music from our team of Korean music experts across some of the most popular genres. Get ready for:

Spotify Set to Launch in South Korea in the First Half of 2021

December 17, 2020

Since Spotify debuted our first K-Pop playlist in 2014, listeners have streamed more than 180 billion minutes of the genre and added K-Pop tracks to more than 120 million playlists. In the last six years, the share of K-Pop listening on Spotify has even increased by more than 2,000%—that’s a lot of excitement for all things K-Pop. So soon, we will be saying “Annyeong haseyo,” or “hello,” to the home of the genre as Spotify launches in South Korea in the first half of 2021. 

Launching in South Korea will give Korean listeners access to over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists, as well as enable Korean artists to reach their local music fans and Spotify’s 320 million listeners worldwide. It will also connect listeners in Korea to artists and music from around the world.

“We are excited about our upcoming launch in South Korea, a market recognized as an epicenter for music, culture and tech innovation,” says Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer of Spotify. “Spotify has been a partner to the Korean music industry for many years now. We are proud to have been a part of the K-pop global story, showcasing the genre on our platform and enabling its discovery all over the world, from Asia to the US, South America, Europe and the Middle East. We’re looking forward to working with our valued local partners to uncover more Korean artists, and to connect them with fans in South Korea and all over the world.”

As one of the fastest-growing major music markets in the world* and the sixth-largest music market globally,** South Korea is key for Spotify in our mission of giving a million artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it. Spotify wants to help accelerate the growth of Korea’s entire music streaming ecosystem, benefitting artists, labels, distributors and fans.

Today, our K-pop genre hub encompasses a wide range of Korean music, including K-pop, hip-hop, indie, OST, R&B and more, as well as “RADAR Korea,” a playlist uncovering fresh K-music finds as a part of Spotify’s global emerging artist program. The hub is localized in over 64 countries, including Russia, India, Brazil and the UAE.

Tune into K-Pop Daebak for some of the hottest K-Pop hits and look out for more information on the launch in the first half of 2021.

* According to IFPI 

** According to IFPI