The Korea Music Copyright Association (Chairman Cha Gya-yeol, hereinafter KOMCA) said that ahead of the opening of a YouTube unclaimed residual usage fee claim site, it will hold an explanatory session on how to use the site and the claim procedure on the 28th at KOMCA Hall at KOMCA headquarters in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.
Residual usage fees refer to amounts of copyright payments generated on YouTube for which the rightsholder was not identified or for which claims were not made within a certain period (2 years), resulting in payment being withheld. KOMCA has received and managed residual usage fees generated in Korea from the third quarter of 2016 through the second quarter of 2022 from YouTube on behalf of domestic music creators, and has been preparing an online portal where all music copyright holders, including KOMCA members, can easily apply for residual usage fees.
Accordingly, the KOMCA residual claim site, scheduled to open at the end of this year, is a claim-only system operated separately from the existing KOMCA website, developed with a user-centered approach so that rightsholders can directly check whether they are eligible to apply and quickly proceed with the claim process. It will be available in both PC and mobile environments and will be fully open to third parties who are not KOMCA members so that anyone can file a claim. In addition, with the system's opening, a "concentrated application period" will be operated through January 2026 to intensively support rightsholder verification, applications and checks.
This explanatory session was planned so that domestic music creators can more easily understand and smoothly utilize the usage and procedures of the claim system. The session will provide key information necessary for actual applications, including the concept and background of residual usage fees, the claim system structure and how to use it, the claim procedure, and the settlement schedule.
Attendees are rightsholders of musical works such as lyricists, composers and arrangers, and corporations and organizations that hold or represent those rights. KOMCA plans to collect opinions from a variety of creators through this explanatory session and to continuously improve guidance and support systems linked to site operation to increase rightsholder accessibility.
A KOMCA official said, "This site is a system the association prepared beyond its legal obligations to protect authors' rights, to enable smooth claiming and distribution of residual usage fees that have not been settled for years," and added, "We have carefully designed the screen layout and manuals so creators can proceed with the claim process without inconvenience, and we will provide detailed guidance on these matters at the explanatory session on the 28th."
[Photo] Provided by KOMCA
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