[Courtesy of Spotify]
Blend, Spotify's service launched in September 2021, reflects the musical tastes of up to 10 listeners to create a playlist. Users can share their taste match scores that show how similar their preferences are with famous artists such as BTS and Dynamic Duo on social media.
Spotify said in a statement on October 24 that BLACKPINK members' favorite songs were included in the Blend service. The girl band has been tied up with preparation for a world tour that began on October 16 in Seoul. BLACKPINK will interact with global fans in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Pink Venom, Blackpink's global hit song that incorporated various genres including hip-hop and electronic dance music (EDM), has gained worldwide popularity since its release on August 19. The song entered on Billboard Hot 100 chart and topped the charts of major domestic online music streaming services.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
Related News
-
Girl band NewJeans to release dance videos in collaboration with Baby Shark
SEOUL -- NewJeans, a rookie girl group formed by a subsidiary label of the agency of K-pop superstar BTS, will collaborate with a South Korean educational entertainment company that created famous characters such as Baby Shark, to release dance content. The five-member group gained attention through its debut song, "Attention," released on August 1. As part of a project to mesmerize young fans through spectacular dance performances by K-pop idols and dance crews, NewJeans will release various content with Pinkfong Company's characters. "We hope the well-matched collaboration of Pinkfong, Baby Shark and NewJeans, which generated a new K-pop syndrome, will bring great joy to millennials and Gen Z as well as global fandom," an unnamed Pinkfong official said in a statement on October 6. Pinkfong has collaborated with various artists including CL and Aiki. The company aims to accelerate its market invasion in Japan through collaboration with Nonoka Murakata, a four-year-old Japanese singer who garnered attention for her outstanding performance at a nursery contest. The educational entertainment company is preparing to host a live performance in 2023 in Japan. Baby Shark depicts a story about a family of great white sharks with colorful visuals and a catchy melody. The original version, uploaded in late 2015, made a phenomenal hit worldwide and has tens of versions in many languages. The "Baby Shark Dance" video uploaded in 2016 is now one of the most-watched on YouTube. NewJeans was formed by ADOR under command of Min Hee-jin, a former SM Entertainment creative director who has planned concepts for famous girl groups such as Girls' Generation, f(x) and Red Velvet. NewJeans' debut song entered Billboard's global chart just nine days after its release and the weekly top song USA chart on Spotify, the world's most popular music streaming service, less than 50 days after NewJeans' debut. The girl band has also topped the chart of Melon, a major domestic online music service, with the debut song and the second title song called "Hype Boy."
-
Spotify launches service at home turf of K-pop with tailored music experience
SEOUL -- Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, launched its service in South Korea with a tailored music experience such as expertly curated and regularly updated music across a range of popular genres and personalized music recommendations and discovery features. Spotify's service is available from February 2. The Stockholm-based digital music service said in a statement that it would offer an innovative technology framework, everyday new music discovery, algorithmic recommendations personalized to each listener's music taste and the freedom to engage with Spotify across a wide range of devices and app integrations. "We're looking forward to working even closer with the entire Korean music industry to uncover more artists and connect them with fans in Korea and the world, while also continuously working on providing an ever-improving, unrivaled listening experience to Korean listeners," Spotify's chief freemium business officer Alex Norstrom was quoted as saying. With over 60 million tracks and over four billion playlists, Spotify has promised to help accelerate the growth of South Korea's entire music streaming ecosystem, describing South Korea as a market recognized as an epicenter for music, culture and tech innovation. Spotify's service comes amid growing competition among South Korean online music services which have attracted active users mainly with daily and weekly song charts refreshed in real-time. Playlists made exclusively for South Korea offer expertly curated and regularly updated music across a range of popular genres, Spotify said, adding that billions of creator and fan-built playlists were added to the mix, along with a playlist for any mood or moment. Spotify said its music recommendation engine allows local listeners to enjoy personalized discovery features with up to six individual playlists combining favorite tracks with new songs, a personalized playlist of new music based on most followed artists and updated every Friday, and a playlist based on unique listening habits. In South Korea, new listeners can try out seven days-free on their mobile phone with no credit card information and three months-free with credit card information, if subscribed before the end of June 2021. The premium individual service allows subscribers to play downloaded music without internet connection and enjoy music with no ad interruptions, while the two-person service offers two separate accounts all in a single bill. "By bringing in a world-class product and service tailored for Korean fans and artists, we will help boost the Korean music streaming ecosystem’s entire growth, benefiting listeners, fans, artists and more," said David Park, managing director for Spotify's service in South Korea. It's too early to analyze the impact of Spotify's service in South Korea, but the initial response was not so favorable with some consumers pointing to the lack of a K-pop library. "Spotify does not have many popular K-pop songs owned by local services such as Kakao M, Genie, and Bugs," said Deficiency," a user from South Korean tech community Clien. "I've tried using Spotify for the last few hours and its library of South Korean songs is very small. I think I'll go back to other services," said MF. More critical users predicted that it's not easy for Spotify to expand its influence in South Korea unless it provides full access to K-pop songs. However, fans who love foreign songs welcomed Spotify. "I only listen to foreign hip-hop songs. So I am happy as it is," said a Clien user nicknamed Noble Eater. Another user Weezer said: "I am totally satisfied because I don't listen to K-pop." Many speculate that the lack of a K-pop library is because domestic online music services exclusively own rights for songs released by certain entertainment agencies. The South Korean version of Apple Music also faces a similar problem. South Korea's online music service market has been led by Melon operated by Kakao M, and Genie operated by KT. Kakao M, the entertainment wing of South Korean web service giant Kakao, has a dozen singer and actor agencies. Melon, the country's largest music library, owns exclusive global distribution rights for songs of Kakao M artists. YouTube Music is the only foreign music service that provides content owned by Kakao M in South Korea. Other music services such as Genie and Bugs own exclusive rights for songs of selected artists. Their strategy is to attract huge groups of fans and provide an online playground via music platforms. Commonly, the selection of music fan communities depends on exclusive content offered by music services.
-
S. Korean hip-hop garners explosive popularity on Spotify
SEOUL -- South Korean hip-hop songs have garnered explosive popularity on Spotify, the world's most popular music streaming service, during a 12-month period between August 2021 and July 2022. A playlist comprised of South Korean hip-hop songs was streamed more than 20 million times. The number of song streams increased by 56 percent from five years ago. "K-Hip-Hop +82," which has just changed its name to "KrOWN," was mostly favored by Americans, followed by Taiwanese, Indonesians and Thai, Spotify said in a statement on September 1. The playlist has more than 430,000 followers. Hip-hop has become a mainstream culture in South Korea since the early 2010s when artists such as Mad Clown, BewhY and SUPERBEE received attention through "Show Me The Money", a cable TV hip-hop audition show series. In August 2021, AOMG, a hip-hop label founded by Korean-American rapper Jay Park, held a non-face-to-face extended reality (XR) concert for global hip-hop fans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. AOMG has the strongest lineup of artists in South Korea's thriving hip-hop scene. Park's single "Mommae" has garnered over 131 million views on YouTube since its release in 2015.