Guides
Music publishing in South Korea
How music publishing actually works in South Korea: who claims which rights, what the national copyright system does, and what it takes for a publisher to set up and collect.
Who claims which rights
Performance and mechanical: KOMCA for most repertoire, KOSCAP for its members' works. Sync: direct, customarily via the local publisher.
Copyright registration in South Korea
Copyright is automatic; the Korea Copyright Commission operates a voluntary registration system that strengthens evidence and is used for transfers.
Setting up to claim publishing rights
Foreign writers and publishers do not join KOMCA directly — repertoire flows in through reciprocal agreements between societies, or through a Korean sub-publisher who is a KOMCA member. For active exploitation in Korea (K-pop co-writes especially), a Korean sub-publisher or local entity that can hold KOMCA membership is the working answer; passive income from Korean use of your works arrives via your home society's reciprocal agreement.
The societies
KOMCA · KOSCAP — each linked page covers the society’s history and how registrations reach it.
Two free checks for your CWR file. Is the file correct? Every record, share and control total against the spec, each problem on its exact line. Do its writers match their registrations? Every writer cross-checked against public registration data, including works registered under another spelling or IPI. Nothing stored: check a file at cwrcheck.com.