China Reopens the Royalties Tap for K-pop

• KOMCA has obtained enforceable licensing rights to China's two largest streaming platforms.
• The agreement turns years of unmonetized K-pop consumption into trackable revenues.
• With this deal, China resurfaces as a strategic earnings driver as global streaming payouts tighten.

K-pop's royalty pipeline into China appears to be defrosting as the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), along with Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC), secures licensing deals with the country’s two leading streaming platforms, Tencent Music Entertainment Group and NetEase Cloud Music. Reciprocal licensing agreements between MCSC and KOMCA include specifications about retroactive royalty rights, correcting structural inadequacies in how Korean compositions were previously commercialized in China.

China’s Streaming Market Reopens K-pop Royalties

China is currently the world's fifth-largest recorded music market, with online music services fueling expansion. In the light of this growth, Tencent Music's full-year revenue in 2024 surpassed RMB 28.4 billion (~ $4.09B USD), up 2.3% year on year, driven by 121 million paid subscribers and a catalog of over 260M songs. NetEase Cloud Music's H1 2025 results, on the other hand, showed more collaborations with Korean labels and a growing user base, indicating increased K-pop engagement.

As noted by Korea JoongAng Daily, KOMCA, which paid out 423.5 billion won (~ $288M) to creators in 2024, had previously struggled to obtain Chinese royalties due to legal and platform factors. The new agreements, signed with the cooperation of China's National Copyright Administration and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), aim to improve reporting and payment flows that were previously delayed or inconsistent. This shift is further highlighted as a "meaningful turning point" by KOMCA president-elect Lee Si-ha, with industry sources reporting that new multiyear agreements are in the process of being negotiated.

Cultural Thaw Reshapes Korea–China Music Flows

The move comes at a time when greater Korea-China cultural ties are improving after nearly a decade of modest K-pop activity in China. Live concerts by Korean artists are set to resume, and cross-market collaborations are increasing, pointing to a wider synergy. Specific instances of such endeavors include Kakao's K-pop Artist Chart, KBS' media partnership with China Media Group, and CJ ENM's ONECEAD joint venture with Tencent and JYP China.

For creators, the China partnership comes amid broader royalty issues. KOMCA's internal investigation in 2025 indicated streaming services receive ~83% of revenue, leaving only ~10.5% for rights holders, much lower than global averages. This shows the endless global need for more equitable wage arrangements. From the lens of market impact, systematic Chinese royalty collection, supported by strong licensing procedures, has the potential to increase KOMCA's overseas earnings (which increased by almost 38% in 2024) and strengthen China's position as a significant source of revenue for K-pop rights holders.