Peermusic buys South Korean music publisher Music Cube - including works by K-Pop superstars BTS

Independent publisher peermusic has acquired the Seoul, South Korea-based independent music publisher Music Cube, adding 40,000 Korean copyrights to its global catalog.

The deal includes works recorded by K-Pop groups BTS (pictured), Red Velvet and AOA.

Korea will be the 30th country in peermusic’s worldwide network and Heesun Park will be the General Manager of peermusic Korea, reporting directly to Mary Megan Peer, Deputy CEO, peermusic.

As part of her role as Deputy CEO, Peer oversees peermusic’s Asian operations, including companies in Beijing, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and now Korea.

She led the opening of peermusic’s first office in mainland China in 2015, continuing peermusic’s history of global expansion by becoming the first global independent in mainland China.

She had previously established a successful joint-venture partnership in China, which made peermusic the first Western independent publishing company to directly sign Chinese writers.

Prior to this acquisition, peermusic and Music Cube had a 10-year partnership based on a reciprocal sub-publishing arrangement, which saw peermusic make a minority investment in the company.

Through that partnership, European and US-based peermusic writers have secured records with popular K-Pop groups including TWICE, EXO and Super Junior.

Peermusic’s production duo SOS (Sons of Sonix, comprised of Mikey Akin and Mo Samuels) recently wrote and produced With You from EXO’s latest album Don’t Mess Up My Tempo.

That album scored the band its fourth No. 1 on the World Albums chart, No. 1 on the Gaon album chart, and the band’s highest charting entry to date on the Billboard 200. peermusic is planning to send Sons of Sonix among other peermusic writers to Seoul in 2019 for more writing collaborations.

As Music Cube’s sub-publisher, peermusic has been able to respond to the increasing demand for K-Pop music placement in Western film and television.

In the US for example, TV shows such as Family Guy, Younger, The Bold Type, and Star have all recently featured music by Music Cube’s writers.

Peermusic writers have also been placed in Korea advertisements for companies including Samsung and Renault.

“WE’RE THRILLED TO CONTINUE OUR WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH MUSIC CUBE WITH THIS ACQUISITION AND TO EXPAND PEERMUSIC’S PRESENCE IN IFPI’S SIXTH LARGEST MUSIC MARKET IN THE WORLD.” — MARY MEGAN PEER

Mary Megan Peer said: “We’re thrilled to continue our working relationship with Music Cube with this acquisition and to expand peermusic’s presence in IFPI’s sixth largest music market in the world.

“The growth of Music Cube’s repertoire both domestically and internationally has been phenomenal. Our representation of Music Cube’s catalogue worldwide has given us first hand visibility into the rising popularity of K-Pop around the globe. We’re looking forward to continue working with Heesun Park and her team.”

“PEERMUSIC’S ACQUISITION OF MUSIC CUBE IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE COMPANY’S LONG-TERM PHILOSOPHY OF HAVING A LOCAL PRESENCE IN CREATIVELY RICH TERRITORIES.” — RALPH PEER

Heesun Park added: “The partnership between Music Cube and peermusic has been very important for us as Korean music has become more successful internationally over the past ten years.

“This deal is a huge win for our songwriters, who will benefit from even greater support and resources that come with joining a global publisher.

“We’re all excited to continue to build on all the work we’ve done with Mary Megan and the peermusic team by creating more collaborations between Korean and foreign songwriters.”

“THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC CUBE AND PEERMUSIC HAS BEEN VERY IMPORTANT FOR US AS KOREAN MUSIC HAS BECOME MORE SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONALLY OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS.” — HEESUN PARK

Ralph Peer, CEO, added: “peermusic’s acquisition of Music Cube is an example of the company’s long-term philosophy of having a local presence in creatively rich territories.

“As such, Music Cube will continue their leadership in the local market, and its local writers will now benefit from the support of peermusic’s global network of 30 branches and its proprietary copyright and royalties system.”

In 2018 peermusic acquired Accorder Music Publishing, one of the UK’s biggest independent film and television publishers and signed songwriter Linda Perry to a global publishing agreement.Music Business Worldwide