DAY6 Young K became a full member of the Korea Music Copyright Association.
The nonprofit Korea Music Copyright Association (chairman Cha Ga-yeol, hereafter KOMCA) on the 29th announced on its official website the list of 30 people promoted to full membership for 2026.
KOMCA, which entrusts and manages the copyright property rights of domestic music creators, selects candidates for promotion to full membership each year from associate members based on a comprehensive consideration of factors such as length of membership and copyright fee performance in accordance with the association's regulations. Members from all genres, including popular music, children's songs, religious music and classical music, are eligible.
Included in this year's list of promotions to full membership released by KOMCA were representative music creators who combine popularity and artistic merit, such as DAY6's Young K (YOUNG K·Kang Young-hyun), (G)I-DLE's Yuqi (Song Yu-qi), singer-songwriter Stella Jang (Jang Sung-eun), and Bae Chul-soo.
DAY6 member Young K (YOUNG K·Kang Young-hyun) led the band's musical color by writing and composing the group's signature songs such as '예뻤어', '한 페이지가 될 수 있게', and 'Welcome to the Show', and is a creator who expanded band music to the public. As Young K is promoted to full membership for the first time among DAY6, whose self-composed songs have enjoyed great popularity, his creative achievements, which he has steadily built up alongside his singing activities, have been officially recognized.
(G)I-DLE member Yuqi (Song Yu-qi) has proven her solid creative capabilities within the group by participating in the writing and composing of numerous songs such as 'Last Forever', 'Neverland' and 'All Night'. Following group member Jeon So-yeon, who was promoted to full membership in 2024, she is the second member to be listed as a full member, further solidifying her position as a creator beyond being an idol.
Singer-songwriter Stella Jang (Jang Sung-eun), noted for a French sensibility and distinctive musical world, was also included among those promoted to full membership. She has participated in works by various artists, including her own songs 'Colors', 'Villain', 'L'amour, les baguettes, Paris' and BTS's 'Friend' and TOMORROW X TOGETHER's 'Dreamer', continuing creative activities that cross genres and boundaries.
Bae Chul-soo, an iconic figure in the history of Korean popular music, was also promoted to full membership this year. Bae Chul-soo participated in writing and composing representative songs of the group Song Gol-mae such as '빗물' and '모여라', leading the popularization of Korean rock music, and later influenced music culture broadly for a long time as a singer and as the DJ of 'Bae Chul-soo's Music Camp'. This promotion served as an opportunity to once again highlight his creative history and musical contributions.
In addition, this year's list of promotions to full membership included many young creators such as GIGI (Kim Hyun-ji), who contributed lyrics to major hits by NewJeans such as 'Hype Boy', 'OMG' and 'Super Shy', Han Won-tak who has worked on songs for SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids and NCT DREAM, and KAKO (Lee Yu-jin), GHSTLOOP (Kim Min-su), JUNNY (Kim Hyung-joon), MILLENNIUM (Choi Rae-seong). The joining of these writers, who are leading the recent K-pop music industry, is evaluated as meaningful in terms of generational change and the expansion of the creative base.
Also promoted to full membership were mid-career writers who have continued steady creative activities for more than 10 years of membership, such as ASTROZ (Son Young-jin), Big Sancho (Kim Tae-ho) and Kang Hwa-sung. ASTROZ created many hits including IZ*ONE's '환상동화', HyunA's 'Lip & Hip', and BTOB's '괜찮아요', Big Sancho built a strong musical color through (G)I-DLE's 'LATATA', 'LION', 'Oh My God' and others, and Kang Hwa-sung is evaluated as a writer who has elevated the completeness of the domestic popular music sound by arranging songs such as Naul's '바람기억', HYNN's '시든 꽃에 물을 주듯', and Roy Kim's '그때 헤어지면 돼'.
In non-popular music fields, children's song writer Oh Nam-hoon, religious music writer Lee Hyuk-jin, and classical music writer Kim Eun-soo were promoted to full membership, marking a meaningful milestone for creators in each field.
Meanwhile, KOMCA said the list of promotions this time also included writers such as Jang Beomjune, Kwon Jung-yeol and Sunwoo Jung-a, who had previously served as full members but were re-promoted under KOMCA regulations.
The list of promotions to full membership that KOMCA announces each year at the beginning of the year is used as an indicator that concisely shows the flow of the music industry and the current state of the creative environment. A KOMCA official said, "Promotion to full membership is more than a simple change in status; it is the fruit of sustained activity and achievements as creators," and added, "We expect the creators promoted this time to continue contributing to the development of Korea's music industry and the enhancement of K-pop's status through diverse creative activities."
[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by KOMCA
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