CISAC visits largest online music service in Korea, MelOn, and LOEN Entertainment

South Korea has been a world leader in embracing the music streaming mode. The country’s leading digital music service, MelOn, was one of the world’s first streaming platform, preceding Spotify and many others.

On February 22nd, CISAC Director General Gadi Oron and CISAC Regional Director for Asia-Pacific Benjamin Ng visited LOEN Entertainment, the owner and operator of the MelOn service. They met with CEO and President Sean Park as well as MelOn Company Executive Vice President Jewook Lee. KOMCA Secretary General Giseob You, KOMCA International Team Head Jacqueline Snover and Chiwon In of MeLOn Business Strategy and Planning Team also joined.

16% of Korea’s population use streaming services, of which 60% use MelOn. The service operator LOEN also produces music content and organises the MelOn Awards. Recently the service has also expanded into selling tickets for live events through its music platform. The parent company of LOEN, Kakao, owns the leading messenger app in Korea, Kakaotalk.

At the meeting, there was a discussion for cooperation to tackle the issue of transfer of value. CISAC also offered help to support MeLOn for its expansion outside of Korea.