Korean Platforms

These platforms are mostly exclusive to Korean Fans. You can check each one to know how it works and its importance to Music Shows and Korean Charts.

MelOn

MelOn is South Korea’s largest music subscription service. It is available EXCLUSIVELY in South Korea. Streaming and downloading songs on this platform is crucial for scoring and qualifying for awards at many music shows and year-end shows.

Note:

  • A 1-minute preview does not count as a stream

  • While on streaming mode only, listen to the whole song without interruptions such as skipping some parts, etc.

  • The data will be updated every hour by counting the number of unique listeners based on the previous 24 hours

Soribada

Soribada is a music-sharing platform that claims to cover 90% of all tracks that have been released in South Korea. The Soribada app is ONLY available in South Korea and requires users to have a Korean phone number in order to create an account. The platform also holds the Soribada Best K-Music Awards ceremony and awards selected musicians with trophies, that can be earned through voting

Note:

  • Listen to the entire song and avoid skipping parts of it

  • A 1-minute preview does not count as a stream

  • The real-time charts are updated every 10 minutes

  • As there is no limit to the number of streaming points counted, stream the songs as much a possible

Naver VIBE

Naver VIBE is a paid music streaming service launched by NAVER Corp. The app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend songs, collect music suggestions based on a user’s personal taste, and create customized playlists. It is only available in South Korea and can be downloaded on Android and iOS devices; However, the website can be accessed anywhere as long as NAVER account is used to log in.

Genie

Genie is a South Korean music platform that specializes in the production and distribution of music, as well as providing online music streaming services. The app is only accessible in South Korea. In order for the streams to be counted, passes are needed to play the full song, which can be obtained by buying albums.

Genie helps to acquire digital points, which qualify for possible wins in music shows.

Note:

  • Streams of songs contribute to the music charts

  • Streams of music videos contribute towards separate music video charts

  • Only 1 stream per song per day counts for the Genie music charts

FLO

FLO is a fairly new South Korean streaming service created by SK Telecom in cooperation with other partners. The FLO chart reflects streaming data for 24 hours to prevent any unusual streaming patterns, providing a more reliable popularity chart.

FLO is only available in South Korea and its data is not used for music shows; however, it has been added to iChart.

Bugs!

Bugs! is one of the major South Korean Subscription-based streaming services. This service can be used by international fans as well.

Gaon Digital Charts compile data from Bugs! Among other streaming sites in order to rank songs on the Gaon Music Charts. Data from Bugs! Is also used to calculate the digital score for music shows.