Overseas illegal distribution of Korean content hit a record 493.55 million recorded instances in 2025. Takedowns reached 243,374 of them.

Kakao Entertainment and Warner's Atlantic Music Group will plan K-pop acts for overseas markets from the writing stage. No terms were disclosed.

GMMTV took 51% of a new company with Studio Wabi Sabi's founder on 14 September. Two weeks later the boys' love studio closed its management arm.

A Copyright Act amendment filed on 18 September would let Korean directors, writers and performers claim payment after signing their rights away.

HYBE took 647.7bn won from concerts in the second quarter. SM, JYP and YG earned 660.4bn won between them from their entire businesses.

J.Y. Park told a National Assembly audit the four agencies behind the state-backed Fanomenon festival will earn less by taking part, not more.

Karaoke and bars sent 147bn won to lyricists and 148.5bn to composers over a decade. Korea's rights society paid arrangers nothing at all.

HYBE's Weverse says data tied to 422,584 accounts was exposed, including payment methods and amounts — five days before Korea's fine ceiling rose.

Musinsa applied for a Seoul listing on Monday. The valuation being discussed is about six times annual revenue, in the city's thinnest IPO year in four.

Police referred HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk and four others to prosecutors over 263.1bn won in alleged gains from its 2020 listing.

The Idol Labour Union Establishment Preparatory Committee had two members when he stopped: Bang, and Seo Min-seon, the Democratic Party policy researcher who proposed it. The pair filed a union establishment report with the Labour Ministry's Seongnam office in September. Nothing came of it.

BIGBANG opened its 20th-anniversary world tour at Goyang Stadium from 21 to 23 August, drawing more than 100,000 people across three nights, its first tour as a group in nine years. The Goyang stand was presented by Coupang Play, the streaming arm of the Korean e-commerce company, which also handled domestic ticket sales.