KOMCA: "OTT Council's Forced Claims Demanding Negotiations from Victims"

Statement Opposing the Proposal for Joint Negotiation of Music Copyright Royalties

Photo by Korea Music Copyright Association

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) expressed dissatisfaction with the joint consultation proposal from the Domestic Online Video Service (OTT) Music Copyright Countermeasure Council, which is in dispute over music copyright fee collection, stating that "it is no different from perpetrators uniting to negotiate compensation amounts and demanding this from the victims."

On the 27th, KOMCA stated in an official position, "It is questionable whether it is appropriate for some OTT operators who are illegally infringing copyrights to respond jointly under the name of a council."

KOMCA recently demanded domestic OTT operators pay copyright fees at about 2.5% of sales, citing the music copyright rates contracted with Netflix. They also sent a certified letter indicating that if negotiations fail, legal action could follow.

On the other hand, domestic OTT companies have insisted that copyright fees should be collected according to the 'Broadcasting Retransmission Service' regulations applied to broadcasters' streaming services, as there are currently no separate collection regulations for music copyrights used by OTTs. According to this regulation, the copyright fee OTT companies must pay is about 0.56% of sales, which is five times lower than KOMCA's demand.

Due to the significant gap between the two sides' positions and lack of progress in discussions, three domestic OTT companies?Wavve·Watcha·Tving?recently formed the 'OTT Music Copyright Countermeasure Council.' On the 21st, they sent an official letter to KOMCA requesting 'joint consultation on music copyrights.'

However, KOMCA stated, "OTT operators launching services without the copyright holders' permission and violating copyright law as they do now may face not only civil sanctions but also criminal penalties," and added, "Even if an agreement on copyright fees is reached with the council, there is no basis for it to be binding across all domestic OTTs."

They further said, "Some operators outside the OTT council are actively working to resolve this illegal situation, and the council could hinder their sincere efforts," adding, "As before, we will certainly continue consultations with individual operators who make progress based on concrete grounds."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.