Spotify launches specialist K-Pop exec recruitment drive – Music Business Worldwide

Spotify is ramping up its investment in executive K-Pop talent.

MBW has spotted a number of job ads looking for specialist K-Pop executives based in Seoul, Korea and in Singapore.

The recruitment drive for K-pop execs comes a year after the music streaming company arrived in South Korea, the home of K-Pop.

The first of these job ads is for a K-Pop Content Marketing Specialist based in Singapore and, according to the ad, the successful candidate will join “a newly created team focused on breaking through K-Pop and K-culture driving communities”.

This person will report to Spotify’s K-Pop Music Marketing Lead and will be responsible for “laying the ground-work for K-Pop music marketing operation and elevating Spotify’s role in a key global subculture”.

The successful applicant will have at least 3+ years’ experience in the digital media environment in a similar B2B marketing role and have a “deep understanding of the K-Pop/K-Culture landscape”.

Fluency in Korean language is also required to liaise with both K-Pop Labels and brands.

Also based in Singapore, Spotify is hiring for a K-Pop Brand/Music Marketing Lead to “help build and launch new marketing initiatives”.

According to the ad, this person requires “experience and passion for marketing and the music industry”. They must also have “a firm pulse on content and its cultural impact”.

In addition, they will need to “use new or emerging trends to identify new customer audiences to drive adoption of Spotify K-Pop via new content experiences”. Some of these content experiences include live shows, podcasts and activations.

Spotify is looking for an experienced exec for this role. They will need at least 14 years’ experience in Consumer Marketing, Brand Marketing, or Marketing Strategy. Proficiency in both Korean and English is also required.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, Spotify is hiring for a K-Pop Content Marketing Senior Producer.

This executive will need to have a good network and a knowledge of the “K-industry” creative production landscape a plus.

Spotify’s ad says that the successful candidate will “identify efficient ways to produce and source still and video content for TikTok, YouTube, IG, FB, Twitter, VLive etc”.

They will also need to “build and maintain a database of vendors, crews, and production resources, ensuring access to a diverse pool of capable resources including but not limited to editors, graphics artists, post houses, animators, sound mixers, shooters, directors etc”.

A minimum of 8+ years’ experience is required producing primarily audio content in the branded content, creative agency, radio/podcasting and/or editorial space.

A deep “understanding of and enthusiasm for K-pop music, culture, technology, design, audio and video content, and branding” is also needed for this role.

Spotify launched its flagship K-Pop playlist, K-Pop Daebak in 2014, some seven years prior to the service’s official launch in Korea.

The company says that the playlist has since “racked up billions of streams for Korean artists and has expanded their reach around the world”.

Last month, Spotify relaunched the playlist as K-Pop ON! (온).

Since 2018, Spotify reports that K-Pop streams on its platforms have increased by 107% in the United States and 230% globally, resulting in nearly 8 billion streams per month around the world.

In March 2021, four weeks after Spotify launched in South Korea, ‘hundreds’ of K-Pop songs were pulled from its global catalog due to an expired licensing deal with Korean distributor record label and publisher, Kakao M.

Spotify reached a licensing agreement with Kakao M later that month and reinstated the missing content.Music Business Worldwide