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Are you one of those who noticed that certain K-pop artists are no longer streamable on Spotify?
Starting today (March 1), Spotify announced that songs from K-pop artists under Kakao M will no longer be available on its platform as an agreement couldn’t be reached between the two, leaving fans distraught and shocked.
Kakao M is a Korean distributor that holds the license which allows the global streaming of songs by major K-pop artists such as IU, MONSTA X, SEVENTEEN, LOONA, MAMAMOO, THE BOYZ, GFRIEND, (G)I-DLE, and ASTRO.
According to a report by Soompi, a spokesperson for Spotify said that this was due to the expiration of its original licensing agreement with Kakao M.
“We have been working with Kakao M over the last year and a half to renew the global licensing agreement, so that their artists’ music would remain available to Spotify’s 345M+ listeners in nearly 170 markets around the world.”
Fans were enraged after learning that their favourite K-pop artists were wiped clean from Spotify. Tablo, the leader and producer of Epik High, said the fallout adversely affected the group and accused both parties of prioritising profits over art.
Twitter user @lemonphobic posted a full list of the artists affected by the issue, which included Cherry Bullet, Cravity, CL, Nu’est and many more.
Tons of international K-pop fans wasted no time in voicing out their frustrations on Twitter through a flurry of memes.
Sources: (Soompi)
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
