The Decoupling within the Korean Music Streaming Industry: The Growth of YouTube Music and the Downturn of MelOn

초록

YouTube has assisted the Korean music industry by enabling the globalization of K-pop with a utilization of global audience and recommendation algorithms. YouTube and YouTube Music – a subsidiary service of itself – have not only become influential enough to represent the global media trend but have also been impeding local regions. Therefore, it is critical to understand the rise of YouTube Music and the downturn of local leader, MelOn. The purpose of this study is to investigate the unprecedented decoupling phenomenon in the Korean music streaming industry, exploring the factors that led to the lost momentum of local leader, MelOn, and the global player YouTube Music’s outperformance of MelOn. A mixed method, combining a business model and SWOT analysis, was conducted to discover the competitiveness of each service provider. The findings indicate that MelOn is inescapably losing consumers to the global giant owning competitiveness across multiple dimensions. The research holds practical implications to sustain the local music industry and provides an academic lens to analyze similar cases in other local industries threatened by global players.

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