WeVerse Faces Blowback After Forcing Labels to Pay — And Taking Up to 60% of Subscription Revenue

Photo Credit: WeVerse CEO Joon Choi at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on October 7 / Yonhap News Agency

Hybe’s fan platform WeVerse is under fire for allegedly forcing partner labels to pay for a membership service, leading to accusations of monopolistic practices.

The digital membership service, which is set to launch on December 1, requires over 130 music labels to participate in order for their musicians to use the platform, sparking concerns about unfair revenue sharing and exploiting fans for profit.

WeVerse emailed 130 partner labels on September 26, according to Rep. Lee Jung-mun of the Democratic Party of Korea, informing them of the new subscription service which is currently being called “digital membership.”

“Digital membership is a service offering fans exclusive digital benefits primarily accessible through WeVerse. This membership is mandatory for all artist communities hosted on WeVerse, allowing fans to subscribe to individual community memberships on a monthly basis and selectively across digital membership services,” said WeVerse in an email obtained by The Korea Herald on October 7.

The platform already offers a paid community membership option at about $24 annually, which offers perks such as early ticket access and exclusive content. But the new “digital membership” adds more features like offline access, ad-free video streaming, and higher-quality videos, not unlike YouTube’s premium subscription service.

In order to make use of these benefits, labels are forced into a revenue-sharing arrangement with WeVerse — which many labels find reportedly unfavorable. An anonymous source tells The Korea Herald that labels receive between 40 and 70 percent of profits, while WeVerse retains 30 to 60 percent.Depending on the subscription tier, which ranges between about $2 and $4 for users, the split has created unrest among WeVerse’s partner labels. Many of them believe the portion WeVerse keeps is disproportionate for the privilege of having a label’s artists on the platform.

But abandoning WeVerse is simply not an option for most labels, with the platform holding a thus far unchallenged position in the K-pop fandom space. WeVerse boasted 10 million monthly active users as of June, and of the 152 teams hosted on the platform, 137 of those are not Hybe-affiliated.

Therefore, labels feel pressured to comply with the membership program, though so far no details have emerged about what might happen if a label chooses not to participate. Still, the prevalence of WeVerse in the K-pop world makes participation all but mandatory for the vast majority of labels.

“Labels have become so dependent on WeVerse that they can no longer conduct fan marketing without it,” says Rep. Lee. “The Fair Trade Commission needs to thoroughly investigate these new forms of monopolistic practices and determine whether unfair treatment is occurring against affiliated companies using the platform.”