As foreign services and domestic platforms vie for position, competition in Korea’s music-streaming market is intensifying, and “expanding the listener experience” has emerged as a new keyword to break through the stalemate. Beyond in-app listening, platforms aim to secure listeners through in-house concerts, experiential events, and pop-ups for actual users.
On Oct. 10, 2025 KST, ‘The Moment: Live on Melon — 10CM & Soran & Daybreak’ was held at Chungmu Art Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Because three teams regarded as festival headliners appeared together, the show drew strong interest even before it was announced; the three acts filled roughly 90 minutes with representative songs that have been steadily loved by listeners, completing a heated performance.
With a capacity of about 1,000 seats, the event offered artists a chance to communicate more closely with listeners. During the joint segment at the end, members of Ten Centimeters, Soran, and Daybreak went up on stage together and moved through the audience to greet fans, further stoking the atmosphere with various fan-service moments.
Because the show was smaller than a typical festival, the focus on communication also led to high artist satisfaction. The members of Ten Centimeters, Soran, and Daybreak conveyed to this outlet, "Thanks to Melon, three teams that are now rarely able to share one stage were able to gather after a long time, present our respective sets, and even put on a joint performance. It was truly meaningful and enjoyable. We hope it becomes a long-lasting memory in fans’ hearts."
This concert, which brought together acts known as “festival powerhouses,” was part of ‘The Moment: Live on Melon’, a series of special performances for Melon VIP paid members as well as fan-meet events connecting fans and artists. Beyond this show, the project has featured a wide range of artists regardless of genre, including SUHO of EXO, WOODZ, pianist Sunwoo Ye Kwon, and musical actor Kai, meeting Melon listeners.
According to Melon, this is a strategy to strengthen platform competitiveness. In practice, Melon has been steadily raising its competitive edge by holding various offline events for paid members, such as the ‘Melon Spotlight’ fan meet-up and ‘The Moment: Live on Melon’. A Melon representative said, "We will offer the best experience to music fans by letting them encounter voices they usually hear only as audio in vivid live settings, thereby increasing service loyalty," and added that the company will further concentrate on expanding experiences for active users.
Deepening platform rivalry and “listener-participation” events as a differentiation alternative Spotify, which has been rapidly expanding its presence in Korea’s music-streaming market, has likewise focused on “expanding the listener experience” to enhance competitiveness. Representative examples are the ‘Speakeasy Live’ concerts presented this year by Silica Gel and DAY6.
These events select audiences by lottery from among music fans who have consistently listened to the artist on the platform, then stage an intimate performance and talk session in a small venue set up with a secret-music-bar concept. Spotify previously held separate ‘Speakeasy Live’ events with Silica Gel and DAY6, receiving an enthusiastic response from listeners. A key strength is the ability to meet artists—who are hard to see in solo shows—in a small venue and communicate with them in a private concert format.
In addition, Spotify has continually planned pop-ups for various artists and offline events inviting listeners selected by lottery before comebacks, in an effort to differentiate the platform.
Ultimately, the expansion of listener-participation events by music platforms is interpreted as a strategy for survival amid fierce domestic competition.
Currently, Korea’s music-platform market features intense rivalry among YouTube Music, which holds a commanding share, Melon—the leading domestic platform—and the later entrant Spotify. Looking closer, domestic services Bugs, Genie, FLO, VIBE, and Soribada are also locked in a tough battle for share. In particular, as YouTube Music accelerates its solo lead by leveraging its linkage with YouTube Premium, competition among the remaining platforms has grown even more heated.
In these challenging circumstances, it has become difficult to attract listeners with the basic service of “music streaming” alone, and platforms have turned their attention to listener-participation events tied to artists. Because most of these are essentially services provided for paid members, they are not expected to generate direct profits. However, the industry view is that conducting lotteries among users who have steadily used the platform aims to drive long-term increases in usage.
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