There is a very interesting article over at the Hankyoreh’s website about the state of online music in Korea, in particular the bum deal that the artists receive from most music portals.
The lede comes from the recent death of Lee Jin-won, the singer behind Moonlight Nymph (aka, Moonlight Come From Behind Grand Slam), which the Hankyoreh relates to his money problems. I did not know the singer, and I think he had not performed in about a year, or at least quite some time. But it is sad news, regardless.
The main problem mentioned in the article is the very low rates artists receive for their music here. In the rare instances where someone actually pays for a download (what a radical thought, I know), Korean portals typically charge 500 won, less than half of what iTunes charges. And then, the portals share much less of the money than Apple does, around 55 percent. Then there is 13.5 percent that goes to various rights groups (some of whom are extremely dodgy in Korea, and do not distribute their money fairly, if at all). So in the end, the artist and production company get just around 200 won to share.
Of course, the music sales sites would point out that they have to compete with streaming websites and all sorts of illegal downloading, so have no choice but to pick a low price point. But I think that misses the point. It is in the portals’ interest to have a strong, flourishing local music scene, so more people want to listen to more music. It is in the portals’ interest to support that scene. By being so short-sighted, the portals are just hurting themselves … not to mention all the artists struggling to make a living.
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