K-pop fans out there might’ve noticed that some of the songs on their playlists disappeared suddenly. This is because hundreds of k-pop songs disappeared from Spotify worldwide without any warning whatsoever.
But more surprising to learn, the artists themselves weren’t aware that their songs would be taken out of the music streaming platform.
One of the artists who spoke up about the sudden change is Epik High’s vocalist. But other artists who disappeared from Spotify include IU, Jessi, SEVENTEEN, MONSTA X, Apink, LOONA, MOMOLAND, BTOB, ASTRO, and MAMAMOO. The full list of artists that were removed from the streaming platform are listed in the tweet below:
Because South Korean entertainment company Kakao M and audio streaming provider Spotify failed to renew their global licensing deal, all of the songs that Kakao M distributes were removed from Spotify.
Both companies released their statements on the matter. Kakao M said in their statement that Spotify was the one who didn’t agree to renew their agreement while a spokesperson from Spotify said that the failure of their global licensing agreement with Kakao M had nothing to do with the launch of their service in Korea.
Because of this, artists are starting to change their distributors. HyunA and Jessi’s songs are now back on Spotify as they are now being distributed by PSY’s P NATION.
A downside to their return is that their record of streams was lost. We still have to wait and see if that’s going to come back, or if other artists will return to Spotify either under a new distributor or a new licensing agreement between Spotify and Kakao M.
READ: K-Pop Fan Wars: Is It Really That Serious?
