From Keychains to Hoodies — BTS Merch Under $50 that ARMY Won’t Be Able to Pass Up
Luminate and Korea-based artist services company Kreatorsnetwork co-hosted the inaugural Korea Music Data Summit on July 18 in Seoul, bringing together top executives from major K-entertainment labels including HYBE, JYP, YG, SM and Kakao, as well as representatives from global music companies.
The summit focused on how verified data can drive talent development, marketing effectiveness and global expansion in the music industry. The event also marked the Asian launch of Luminate’s 2025 Midyear Music Report, which explored trends in global music consumption, including the influence of gaming platforms and AI-generated content.
The report’s release was especially timely, following the Billboard chart success of the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. The event followed the announcement of a global partnership between Luminate and Kreatorsnetwork earlier this year.
Executives from Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music, ATU Partners, S7M Entertainment, Indies Capital and other key players joined the summit, alongside leaders from emerging companies and media outlets.
Luminate execs Scott Ryan (evp, commercial) and Adrian Sarosi (vp, general manager of international) led the presentation — here are 5 key takeaways:
Global Growth Leaders: When it comes to growth for the K-pop genre worldwide outside of Korea, during the first half of 2025, Japan and the United States imported the highest volumes of K-pop streams. But the genre is most popular in Taiwan based on its share of total streams in that market across all genres.
Hot in Hawaii: When looking at U.S. market share popularity, Honolulu, San Francisco and Los Angeles were the top three markets for K-Pop consumption in the first half of 2025.
Export Power: In terms of South Korea’s export power, the country ranks fourth globally, following only the U.S., UK and Canada in the first half of 2025. Taiwan, Japan and Singapore are the three countries that streamed music from artists native to Korea most in the first half of 2025, as shown by Luminate’s Export Power Ranking analysis.
Case Study Spotlight: Attendees were provided with specific case studies that highlighted best international market analysis practices. One such case study highlighted the J-pop genre with Yoasobi’s “Idol.” Analysis showed that outside of Japan, the first listeners of the track were in Japan’s neighboring countries (Korea and Taiwan) before the track traveled to other key territories.
Cross-Platform Impact: Another analysis highlighted the effectiveness of trans-media, multi-platform marketing campaigns and the effects on streaming consumption. One case study showed that BLACKPINK’s 2020 album avoided the usual post-release decay due to the group’s Netflix documentary release 12 days later. Luminate’s analysis showed the documentary added over 80 million-plus global on-demand audio streams for the album in the month following release, when compared to other BLACKPINK releases.
