‘KT’s music service company, Genie Music, has unveiled a beta version of a platform called ‘Genie Rilley’ on the 16th to help aspiring artists and the general public distribute and monetize their original music. Genie Rilley, a shortened form of ‘Genie Release,’ signifies ‘freely distributing original music for everyone.’ The strategy is to expand the audience of general music consumers who enjoy both music listening and creation, and to extend the cycle of creation and consumption.
Until now, non-singers had to go through a complex distribution process to release original music, but Genie Music explained that with Genie Rilley’s ‘all-in-one music distribution automation system,’ registering the necessary metadata for music distribution can be done easily and conveniently.
They transparently disclose settlement details and also support securing the fandom of creators. This can be seen as an attempt to attract more users to the platform. Seo In-wook, the CEO of Genie Music, stated, “The Genie Rilley platform can play a trigger role in leading music consumption patterns from listening to creation,” adding, “We will support AI creation tools and various other aspects to bring about changes in the music distribution ecosystem.”
In the recent domestic music market, YouTube Music continues its growth trend alone, while local companies are facing a decline in market share. According to the mobile index of the data platform company iGAWorks, YouTube Music maintained its position as the top player in the domestic music market with a monthly active user (MAU) of 7,345,753 last month, an increase of about 100,000 from the previous month. On the other hand, local music companies such as Melon (7,043,309), Genie Music (3,037,129), Flo (2,247,487), Vibe (627,421), and Bugs (369,110) all experienced a decline compared to the previous month.
Domestic companies attribute the expansion of YouTube Music’s market share to the ‘tying-selling’ effect. Google provides YouTube Music for free to subscribers of ‘YouTube Premium,’ which allows ad-free viewing of videos. With the Fair Trade Commission recently completing an investigation into Google Korea’s alleged tying-selling practices of YouTube Music, attention is now focused on the final sanctions and measures.