Korean Music Tracks Illegally Arranged and Reregistered in China, Leading to Repeated Copyright Theft Incidents

Korean composers have faced incidents where their music tracks were arranged and reregistered by Chinese companies, resulting in those tracks being removed from Meta platforms. Lee Jae-gwang, who operates the YouTube channel “Gwana,” stated that his composition “Jaljayo Agassi” disappeared from Instagram, explaining that a Chinese company rearranged the track and registered it anew, thereby forcibly transferring ownership of the original work. This song was created by the project group ASMRZ, with Nitmall Cash, comedian Kim Kyung-wook, and Gwana listed as co-composers on the Korean Music Copyright Association’s records. However, Chinese-language versions titled “Wan’an Daxiaojie (Jaljayo Agassi)” are displayed on major platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. Chinese artist “Wuye Zao Meng Shi (Miya)” used the original melody and lyrics but altered the rhythm before registering it as a new track, prompting Meta to delete the original composition and transfer ownership to the new version. Experts point out that this incident stems from differences in copyright registration methods between South Korea and China. Jeong Jin-hwan, CEO of “7K Music,” a subsidiary of China’s largest music copyright management company, Hankook Music, explained, “Unlike South Korea, China uses only ISRC (recording code) for music registration, so even minor rearrangements result in the work being recognized as something entirely different.” South Korea employs both ISWC (songwriting and composition code) and ISRC to more strictly manage the identity of musical works, whereas China operates under an ISRC-centric system where the same ISWC is treated as a new track if only the ISRC differs. This incident follows a similar pattern to a copyright theft case involving Korean music originating in China in 2021. At that time, Chinese record companies reregistered Korean songs in the form of “adapted versions” (songs with unchanged melodies but altered lyrics), preventing domestic artists such as Lee Seung-chul, IU, Brown Eyes, and Yunha from using those tracks, and some of the revenue from those songs was distributed to Chinese companies. Copyright theft is reportedly carried out primarily through digital music distribution companies like Billlie Music, E:U Music, and Joy Music. Meanwhile, disputes are also emerging among copyright management organizations. The Hamgyeong Music Copyright Association claimed that the Korean Music Copyright Association had been receiving “regional royalty” (subsequent revenue generated from ads) from Google since 2019 on YouTube but only provided notice to rights holders six years later. The Hamgyeong association argued that the royalties collected by the Korean Music Copyright Association included amounts from works created by non-members of its organization and members of other groups, and since they were managed in a trust accounting account rather than a deposit account, they were distributed to members on its own before rights holders could be verified.