Between strong and weak copyright: their impacts on the Korean music industry

ABSTRACTA common perception is that a strong copyright regime protects cultural diversity and creativity; thus, it should be well developed, implemented, and respected. However, this belief may be different for certain industries or countries. In other words, strong copyright may not bring about a positive impact as expected whereas weak copyright can bring about positive impacts contrary to one’s expectations, which is different from the conventional belief on copyright. This paper explores this issue with the Korea music industry. Although this industry has recently enjoyed global popularity with K-pop, it was lesser-developed as it endured many difficulties over several decades. By comparing and analyzing these two contrasting periods, the case of the Korean music industry demonstrates that both weak and strong copyright has helped with its development. This interesting case can provide meaningful implications regarding the practice and development of copyright and its impact on the growth of the music industry, particularly in the era of digitization.KEYWORDS: K-popKorean music industrycopyrightweak copyrightdigitization AcknowledgmentsThe author of this article would like to express his gratitude to Ute Röschenthaler (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) and Alexander Peukert (Goethe University Frankfurt) for their constructive comments and efforts to open a wonderful workshop on copyright, where this paper was presented.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. Article 1, Chapter I of the law states as follows: This law aims to protect the authors of scholarly or artistic works, with the purpose of promoting the advancement of national [Korean] culture.2. Article 46, Chapter II of the law states as follows: With regard to the copyright of foreigners, except for provisions in treaties, the provisions of this law apply. However, in cases where there are no treaty provisions regarding copyright protection, the protection under this law shall be granted to the first publisher of the work within the country.3. Neighboring rights, also known as related rights or rights neighboring to copyright, were created for those who are not technically authors such as performing artists, producers of phonograms, and those involved in radio and television broadcasting. The scope can be different by country.4. See the section ‘Crucial changes in the history of Korea’s copyright law.’Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the University of Malaya [IF057-2021], and it was financially supported in part by the Institute of Communication Research, Seoul National University.Notes on contributorsJimmyn ParcJimmyn Parc is an associate professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia and a researcher at the Institute of Communication Research, Seoul National University, Korea.