After a 3-year, 9-month wait, BTS returns as a complete group and will dye Gwanghwamun Square purple on the 21st, announcing their glamorous return to 190 countries worldwide. The Korea Music Copyright Association (chairman Lee Si-ha, hereinafter KOMCA) noted the enormous cultural·economic ripple effects this BTS comeback will bring and has launched copyright support measures.
KOMCA received and processed album approval applications for 14 tracks, including the title track "SWIM," ahead of the release of BTS's fifth full-length album "Arirang (ARIRANG)." It also said it will handle performance fee settlements for the comeback live show in Gwanghwamun and closely cooperate to ensure smooth event hosting. The BTS performance is expected to be a mega-stage drawing hundreds of thousands, and coupled with a global live broadcast, it is poised to be a record-scale comeback event.
Markets are already focusing on the so-called "BTSnomics" effect. With ripple effects spanning albums, concerts, merchandise, tourism and platform consumption anticipated, analysts say it is likely to inject direct vitality into the music copyright market as well.
According to KOMCA, overall music copyright collections continued an upward trend in 2025, but mechanical royalties fell 2.7% year on year, showing some pause. This reflects a shift in music consumption patterns since the pandemic, with reproduction-based uses such as album purchases relatively reduced. However, with BTS's new release "Arirang" surpassing 4 million in preorders, there is strong potential for a rebound in both physical album and digital reproduction markets.
The world tour of 82 shows that will follow starting with the Gwanghwamun comeback live is also cited as a key factor in expanding performance royalties. Last year, performance royalties including stage shows reached 60 billion won, showing steady growth, and online performance fees also increased, supporting the rise in performance royalties. If BTS's tour, expected to draw more than 4 million people at stadium-level venues worldwide, is added to this, strong upward momentum is likely to form in domestic and international performance copyright markets.
KOMCA is focusing on this BTS activity because the comeback of major K-pop artists leads not only to album sales but also to increased video content consumption, expanded use of derivative works and revitalization of the concert market. In particular, symbolic mega-stages like the Gwanghwamun performance and global live broadcasts could serve as a catalyst for K-pop consumption recovery and expanded use of works.
The positive signal BTS will bring to the music copyright market is significant in that they are not just performers but "creators" who build their own musical world. All members — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — who led the overall lyric writing for the title track "Swim," are active KOMCA members and have built extensive music copyright IP. This shows that BTS are superstars on stage and rights holders who should be protected.
Lee Si-ha, KOMCA chairman, welcomed the move, saying, "BTS singing 'Arirang,' which contains the sentiment of our people, at Gwanghwamun, a symbol of Korea, is a symbolic scene showing how far creativity can expand." He added, "Since the BTS members are also members of our association, KOMCA will firmly protect them behind the scenes so that the fruits of their creativity, produced after intense deliberation, can be fully recognized worldwide and properly compensated."
BTS's Gwanghwamun comeback is not an event that ends with a single performance. It is a symbolic scene that simultaneously evokes the revival of K-pop, the expansion of music usage markets and the importance of protecting creators' rights. Attention will focus on whether this highly watched return will boost growth in Korea's music industry and lead to a virtuous cycle that returns fair compensation to creators.
[Photo] BigHit Music
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