Top 1% enjoys oligopoly in music royalties

By Lim Jeong-yeo

Published : Oct. 25, 2017 - 14:20

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Top 1 percent of the Korean music performers’ society are appropriating more than 78 percent of the music royalties incurred by the collective group.

Data submitted for audit at the National Assembly showed that 97 percent of the members at the Korea Music Copyright Association, over 131,000 people, received an annual dividend of 130,000 won ($115), while some 1,400 who account for about 1.1 percent of the group, took 78 percent of the total royalty fee amounting to 112 billion won.

Stock photo of street musicians (Yonhap)

As for those registered at another prime musicians’ group called the Federation of Korean Music Performers, the upper 20 percent, about 1,400 in number, took 90 percent of the gains, which was 18.5 billion won.

From the 140,000 musicians registered at KMCA and FKMP, only 8,000 were with the Korean Artists Welfare Foundation.

Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, upon publishing the data, emphasized the need for the government and the music federation to step up efforts to bridge the income gap between musicians.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)

Top 1% enjoys oligopoly in music royalties

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