JYP Ranks #1 in Songwriting Royalties in 2011

On October 17, congressman Lee Jae Young of Committee of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting and Communications announced that singer songwriter JYP has made approximately 1.373 billion Korean won in copyright royalties in 2011, based on the data provided by Korean Music Copyright Association. The astounding figures put JYP in the first place for most profitable songwriter, putting a stop on songwriter Cho Young Soo‘s four years long reign.

JYP has been one of the top three most profitable songwriters for some time now, but was never publicly known about it. JYP has been writing title songs of most of JYP Entertainment‘s idol groups. Moreover, while Cho Young Soo mainly focuses on songwriting, JYP also writes lyrics, maximizing his royalties as both songwriter and lyricist. 

Another explanation for his high earnings through royalties come from the number of years he has been writing songs for. Since 1994, JYP has been writing most of his own songs as well as others, resulting in a long list of popular songs registered at Korean Music Copyright Association. As a result, he makes a substantial amount of profit from reproduction rights of his previously popular songs when sung at karaokes and/or used elsewhere.  

Congressman Lee Jae Young commented, “While K-Pop is making a great advancement into global music market, we still have insufficient support for copyright holders. Large distribution companies need to disclose original costs of all services they provide and re-negotiate the distribution of copyright royalties.” 

Correction: 1.373 billion KRW, not 1.373 KRW.