In 2014, Spotify launched our first K-Pop playlist, K-Pop Daebak, On the platform. Since that day, we have served as a global stage and partner for Korean artists and helped them bring their music to the world. We doubled this commitment in 2015 with the launch of our Hub K-Pop, allowing us to present more Korean music, including K-Pop, hip-hop, indie, OST et R&B– to fans all over the world.
Then, in February, Spotify launched in South Korea, creating an opportunity to amplify Korean musicians and bring their music to listeners like never before. And that opportunity widened even further when, just 50 days later, Spotify became available in over 80 additional markets for a total of 178.
For memory caught up David to park, Managing Director of Spotify Korea, to learn more about why now is the time to launch in South Korea, his own experience supporting content creators, and Spotify’s mission to connect artists with fans in Korea and around the world.
It’s been 50 days since Spotify launched in South Korea. What early reactions can you share?
We take into account feedback from listeners and artists, constantly working to improve and innovate our service. From the artist community, we’ve generally received a warm welcome and positive feedback that our launch has activated the local music streaming market. We hope that more listeners can connect with a more diverse range of artists and musical genres, both in Korea and around the world. Our field team is deeply committed to it.
From listeners, we continue to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback on our unparalleled personalization and discovery technologies. They see a very high level of music-related editorial input fueled by data and the depth of our algorithmic machine learning. We are already seeing how listeners discover new artists and music, broaden their listening range and experience. We believe in Spotify as more than a listening platform, but as a tool that brings you the world of audio.
Tell us about your career path before Spotify. How did that prepare you for your current role?
I have worked at the intersection of content media and IT / technology throughout my career, recently setting up a startup and building a company in Korea for a global company. One of the highlights of my career has definitely been nurturing and nurturing the community and ecosystem of video makers in the APAC region. Helping Korean designers build their presence not only in Korea, but around the world, through the support of tools and data, has been one of the key experiences that has helped me prepare for this role. There was one fact that prevailed in the various roles I had taken on: this content is king.
Spotify has been eager to serve as a K-Pop bridge to the world for years before its launch. Can you talk about the timing of this launch? Why was now the right time?
Although Spotify has been very active in serving the Korean music streaming market, it is a very mature, unique and complex market. With that, we had to invest a tremendous amount of time, resources and research years before launch. In each country we enter, we must take into account the specificities of the market and align with the local industry.
Overall, building a solid foundation for our long-term vision in Korea has taken time, and we are taking a step-by-step and hyper-sophisticated approach taking into account the specifics of the market and all relevant stakeholders. . Our goal is to democratize audio and music in the long term, and helping accelerate the growth of the entire music distribution ecosystem in Korea, for the benefit of creators, labels, distributors and fans. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
How will Spotify support Korean artists, both during the launch and in the future?
We now hope to take Korean music and the worldwide popularity of artists to another level. Just recently we have seen a variety of different artists, such as ROSE, DPR IAN, SHINee, Epik High, GENERAL HA, and more in the top 10 of the world’s top Spotify charts. The Korean music industry has been the epicenter of new cultural and music trends for many years, and it is important for us to integrate even further into this single market, to forge closer relationships with even more artists and labels and connect them with fans around the world. An example is our Spotify for artists master classes, which we have proactively organized for labels and artists so that they can better leverage our data and tools alongside the advice and support of our music team. We want to empower them to connect with an even larger audience, both local and global.
What is Spotify’s ultimate vision and goal in Korea?
Our ultimate goal is to provide the best audio experience for our listeners in Korea and to continue to connect artists and fans on a scale that has never existed before. For listeners, we are committed to creating an environment in which they can enjoy a personalized experience tailored to their lifestyle, as well as new and diverse content from around the world.
We see ourselves as a catalyst for further growth in the market, with the discovery of new artists and music being a key force. We take pride in this and are actively refining our algorithms to allow even more fan discoveries of new artists every month. We are also convinced that the Korean music market has ample opportunity to develop further, as the audio and music consumption habits of listeners are gradually transformed. The change has already started. It is only a matter of time and we are working hard to speed things up. As CEO, Daniel Ek, mentioned at Broadcast on, ” It’s just the beginning. “
Ready to discover music and playlists on your own? Check Out David’s Best Working Playlists –Beats Lo-Fi, Lo-Fi Cafe, and Lo-Fi House—Or one of her new favorite playlists, In K-Indie. ” Recently, you are is a new gem that I discovered through him. There are so many musical talents like yours in Korea that need to be heard both in Korea and around the world. “
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