While initially facing stiff competition from established local platforms, Spotify has experienced remarkable growth in South Korea since its 2021 market entry, doubling its monthly active users from 1.42 million in April 2023 to 3.29 million by April 2025. This dramatic expansion followed the October 2024 launch of Spotify’s ad-supported free tier, which greatly accelerated user acquisition in the world’s sixth-largest music market.
The Swedish streaming giant has steadily narrowed the gap with Melon, South Korea’s second-ranked streaming platform, which saw its user base decline from 7.14 million to 6.01 million during the same period. Industry analysts point to ongoing partnership discussions with Naver, whose membership program boasts over 10 million paying subscribers, as a potential catalyst for further growth. The shift demonstrates how user experience and interface significantly influence South Korean consumers’ platform choices.
Foreign platforms now control 56% of South Korea’s music streaming users, with Spotify and YouTube Music leading this international dominance. This shift represents a seismic change in a market historically controlled by domestic services.
Despite the foreign platform surge, Korean musical sovereignty remains strong—77% of South Korea’s Spotify Top 200 tracks feature Korean artists, ranking the country 7th globally for domestic artist representation.
South Korea’s projected streaming revenue of US$1.32 billion in 2025 underscores the strategic importance of this market. Since Spotify aired its first K-Pop playlist in 2014, K-Pop listenership on the platform has increased over 2,000%, creating a symbiotic relationship where Korean artists gain global exposure through Spotify’s 320 million worldwide users. Independent Korean artists have particularly benefited from royalty structures that provide sustainable income streams while reaching international audiences. The platform’s success has inspired many Korean musicians to develop diverse income streams beyond traditional performance revenue.
The streaming landscape reveals intriguing listening patterns: BTS solo members have more Top 200 presence in South Korea than all American artists combined, who hold only about 16% of chart presence. Spotify’s exclusive RADAR Korea playlist has proven instrumental in promoting emerging local artists to both domestic and international audiences.
This cultural loyalty, combined with Spotify’s vast library of 60 million tracks and 4 billion playlists, has created a dynamic ecosystem where global platforms facilitate both local artist discovery and international exposure, fundamentally transforming South Korea’s digital music consumption patterns while respecting its strong cultural preferences.
