Netflix agrees to pay Korean music royalties

Netflix has agreed to pay five years of music royalties it owed to Korea, the country's largest music copyright body said Tuesday. 

The global streaming platform signed a licensing contract with the Korea Music Copyright Association (Komca) that agrees to pay for songs used in shows and films on Netflix from 2021 to 2025. 

Komca licenses the work of Korean songwriters, composers and lyricists. The association also collects and distributes the royalties. 

A previous deal with Netflix signed in 2018 covered usage from 2016 through 2020. Subsequent deals were delayed due to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's amendment to royalty rules. 

The Culture Ministry set a music royalty rate for streaming platforms for the first time in December 2020. The rate, which started at 1.5 percent of sales, climbed to 1.9 percent by 2026. Domestic streaming platforms Tving, Wavve and Watcha sued to overturn the deal and lost. 

"Collecting royalties from streaming services is something I stressed as a core task for the association before I even took office," said Komca Chairman Lee Si-ha.

Komca will monitor Netflix's usage and will continue to work with Korean and overseas streaming platforms to negotiate licensing fees. 

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]