Spotify removes K-Pop Songs distributed by Kakao M

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

News are coming out that Spotify has removed a huge chunk (if not all) songs by artists that are distributed by Kakao M. This affects acts like Mamamoo, Seventeen, Monsta X, Loona, Hyuna, IU and many more.

Spotify recently launched in Korea but without acts that were distributed by Kakao M since they own Melon, the countries biggest download and streaming platform. Now it appears that international fans are being affected by this as well.

artists that had their stuff on spotify deleted, a thread

wei
kim wooseok
the boyz
d1ce
bibi
minseo
iu
victon
pink fantasy
epik high
cherry bullet
oneus
e'last
cravity
giriboy
june
kim sunggyu
bae173
moonbyul
dpr live
wh3n
woo!ah!
hyolyn
code kunst
drippin
jannabi
jukjae

— ً (@lemonphobic) February 28, 2021

Not official statements have been released yet.

sources: @lemonphobic, @glocks4interns at r/kpop

Comments

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Me: I think today is a good day to update my Kpop workout playlist!
Spotify: Lol nope, stay fat bitch

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

TF!
WHAT are they doing?

[cosmicdaze.livejournal.com]

I’m sitting here waiting to see if I should begrudgingly switch back to Apple Music or if they’re going to take everything off of Apple Music, too.

According to Tablo’s tweet, artists weren’t notified so hopefully that will be grounds for reversing this.

Apparently a disagreement between our distributor Kakao M & Spotify has made our new album Epik High Is Here unavailable globally against our will. Regardless of who is at fault, why is it always the artists and the fans that suffer when businesses place greed over art?

— 에픽하이 타블로 | Tablo of Epik High (@blobyblo) February 28, 2021 (https://twitter.com/blobyblo/status/1366051073723494400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

[cosmicdaze.livejournal.com]

Also I really don’t want to pay for a monthly subscription for Melon so I can listen to kpop so 😐

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

this has ruined my day! i only use spotify and i listen to so many of these it's so petty to remove them internationally just cause theyre a new competitor there

kakao loses anyway because i'll only end up listening to them illegitimately now i wont switch to apple music for anything i'd rather just develop an entirely new taste in music lol i have too many playlists on spotify that i won't abandon

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

i assumed kakao m made spotify remove it but people are saying it might have been spotify being petty towards kakao? i guess hoping to be allowed to stream kakao artists in korea too or nowhere? i'm confused lol

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

It's KakaoM removing their artists from Spotify but refusing to let foreigners use Melon for me

— kas (@bluebirdwonnie) February 28, 2021 (https://twitter.com/bluebirdwonnie/status/1366061480291016704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

maybe this will be settled hopefully soon but really what on earth

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

It is really coming off as a big fuck you to us international fans. Korea doesn’t give a shit about a lot of these groups on that list (as the multiple soloists fare better in Korea), it’s international fans who show their support like streaming their music on Spotify :/ fans buy album just to show financial support they’re listening through streaming...

Edit — also the album is considered more like merchandise to me than anything else. I don’t really play the CDs, they sit in their case. I like the photobooks that come with it. If these albums were simply jewel cases like the ones I grew up with. Oh I definitely would never buy them.

[em-cavey.livejournal.com]

What the actual fuck???

I mean, I feel like whatever this is will get resolved before too long

But in the meantime WHAT THE FUCK

[dallinferno.livejournal.com]

Infinite's music is gone too :( Not all of it but a lot ..

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

idky i can still play IU and monsta X, but definitely gfriend, kard and some soloists like kim bum soo and some of yoon jongshin's songs can't be played anymore. it sucks tbh.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

It’s odd, like IU I can still play certain songs but the others are blocked off. I can click to be directed to the album but the option to see anymore albums on her profile page is gone

[reader17.livejournal.com]

I really use spotify (only because I really don't know how it works) On my phone it just plays what it wants even though I have selected a playlist for the song I want but it plays other songs I don't care about, but on my pc I can select what I want. So on my phone I just use youtube to listen to the music I want. But this is sad for the artists and everyone that uses Spotify to listen to the songs. Hopefully it gets resolved.

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

do you subscribed or a free account? you can't choose much on your phone if you don't pay.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

i really feel for these artists! most of them seem to be from smaller companies and/or having a big(ger) international fanbase so how will fans listen to their music now? or get discovered by new fans?

i also don't understand why spotify has removed these artists from spotify global?? then just do it for korean spotify

i only use spotify since i have a family plan, i don't want to switch to another platform or use multiple streaming apps at the same time :( really annoyed right now

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

‘i also don't understand why spotify has removed these artists from spotify global?? then just do it for korean spotify’

Right??? They want to have their issues internally whatever. But a lot of us aren’t in Korea sooooo why do we have to deal with it too

[coyote-revolver.livejournal.com]

I am pissed beyond belief. 2021 has been personally worse than 2020, and music is one of the few things that brightens my day.

Kakao M's petty asses showing themselves once again. A lot of my fav gg's music is gone. A lof of k-songs (that aren't kpop) that I discovered through Spotify are gone. XX is my fav Loona album, that is also gone.

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

yeah. i have a playlist with ballad songs from older soloists and some of the songs are deleted.

[ohlookshiny.livejournal.com]

yikes, what a mess! i know most prefer spotify but i'm glad right now that i switched to apple music a few years ago.

[blood-pressures.livejournal.com]

soo what are the alternatives for android users? I know apple music is availabile on play store but the reviews are... bad
i really hope they resolve this asap

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Youtube Music? Idk.
The thing is, I don't want to pay for a bunch of different platforms just because these messy companies can't stand each other. I listen to many podcasts and most of them are Spotify exclusive so I won't switch. If they can't resolve their problems I'll just go back to download albums illegally.

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

had to take out my old sd card with all that music i downloaded before 2018. i only use spotify so it's really inconvenient, i wonder what they're going to do about it

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

I’m not new to this, I saw this happen to Loona, Ladies Code, and Dreamcatcher. They got resolved eventually but it’s just another reminder that you literally don’t own anything you stream and it can be taken at any time....

I grew up with vidtomp3 (besides the other really obvious means of obtaining music lol 👀.) but that was my site, I filled my ipod with tons of songs ripped from YouTube. I don’t even know if it’s still around, but streaming whole appeal was not catching viruses left and right. I feel like that was the price to pay, to get the songs converted I risked catching a virus on my computer regularly since the website itself just looked sketchy with its weird ads all around lol. I have no desire to go back to that.

So I guess till it hopefully is resolved. I still (foolishly) pay for YouTube premium literally just because they let you play videos in the background. YouTube I hate you so much lol. If I finally come to my senses I can redownload vibbidi or another similar app for playing YouTube videos in the background. Apple Music is last resort, I just don’t care for its layout.

[micropia.livejournal.com]

I bought a new Huawei phone so it didn't come with Google services, now I use YouTube Vanced you can play videos in the background and don't get ads

[greasetastic-x.livejournal.com]

I dont really use spotify because back in the day they didnt have a lot of kpop and i just never moved over once it got access to more.

This is very unfortunate for artists

[peachdrug.livejournal.com]

lately i've been noticing that korean companies have been gatekeeping international fans' access... changing the melon and genie rules to strictly korean numbers, producing shows that are only available on kakao m's services, and now this... i don't get it when the industry is not strong enough to sustain on their own unlike US or Japan. especially during a pandemic when you can't tour or travel? it's like they're killing the industry from the inside due to greed

i'm sad because a lot of these are my fave artists (especially monsta X!!!). how is bighit label going to deal with seventeen now that they're under their wing?

the good thing is that it's still available on apple music, but i don't know if i want to use two streaming services.

anyway here's to the return of k2nblog!!!

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

“ i don't get it when the industry is not strong enough to sustain on their own unlike US or Japan. especially during a pandemic when you can't tour or travel? it's like they're killing the industry from the inside due to greed”

That’s a great point

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

wow some agencies entire rosters are gone except for japanese releases. SF9 is now a jpop group according to what's available on spotify :/

I rly hope agencies raise some hell on this one and get this reversed.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

i'm crying over sf9, astro and apink (and others!) missing from my playlist :(

but i feel like this is a stupid move from kakao m's side. i looked up the company after reading that they had apparently invested hugely in fnc entertainment in fall 2020. apparently, kakao m holds a lot of subsidiary music labels, including starship (monsta x & more) and play m (apink & more). they must lose money over missing out on spotify streams and global exposure, right?

at the same time, i have 0 knowledge of business and music management so...

[nefertitii.livejournal.com]

extremely annoying. but im sure it will be resolved; hopefully sooner rather than later. these artists and their companies will be rightfully pissed too. for example seventeen is relying heavily on i-fans at the moment, i doubt the companies will let this shit slide.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

yeah i can't imagine companies not doing anything about this. perhaps this means that companies will switch to other distributors that can ensure their artists' distribution both on korean and international platforms. spotify is too big of a platform to not have your music on

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

True for part of iu disco but not mamamoo
Loona is only partially affected
This is bullshit tbh, especially for people who pay for spotify

People will just dl illegally, this is not a smart move

[pinklunacy.livejournal.com]

My main Kpop playlist is so fucking huge that I didn't realize some songs were missing at first but there's actually a big chunk of that playlist gone ;_; One of my favourite songs from last year is missing. It sucks especially for that one song because it got me through some super tough times last year ;_;

[nefertitii.livejournal.com]

you can choose to show the songs that have been removed. theyll be greyed out but you'll get a better overview of whats gone.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I've read that Kakao M is behind this as Spotify moving in SK threatens Melon... Either ways it really sucks. Half of my kpop songs are gone :( I have a lot of physical albums so I won't miss it too much but omg I hope it get resolved soon. I only use Spotify since the death of my ipod (lol I know) and I don't want to switch somewhere else. It's also awful that artists weren't notified.

[popchyk.livejournal.com]

I noticed this when I tried to listen to some Oneus song today, but I thought it was just them/their company at first. I could still listen to Seventeen, but then I noticed that for them it's just the new songs.
Some groups are now deleted completely and for some you can only listen to the recent stuff...
Here I was, thinking I'll completely move to using spotify and then this happens...

[evilcoc0nut.livejournal.com]

The way this completely benefits all the big companies since they now have a wider reach without competition from smaller artists. Really dumb. It'd be one thing if KM removed only for Korean accts but to do it internationally is just REALLY REALLY DUMB.

[8thr3four.livejournal.com]

If they don't resolve this, people will go back to old ways of obtaining music.