Melon (online music service)

Melon is a South Korean online music store and music streaming service introduced in November 2004, and developed by SK Telecom. LOEN Entertainment (became Kakao M and then Kakao Entertainment) became the company-in-charge of the service in 2009. In 2017, Kakao merged Kakao Music into Melon to have one, unified music streaming service.

Melon is South Korea's largest music subscription service, with over 28 million users. Melon is the most popular music streaming service in South Korea. In fact, a survey of users of smartphones found that they were the most used applications by Koreans. Melon users can stream and download music and music videos and create custom ringtones. Melon is available on Android and iOS.

The name "Melon" is a portmanteau of the phrase "melody on".

History
Melon was founded on November 16, 2004, in South Korea by SK Telecom, South Korea's largest wireless carrier. It attracted more than 10,000 subscribers per day on average, surpassing 310,000 on its first few months. In October 2008, SK Telecom transferred the majority of Melon's stock to its shareholder Loen Entertainment for approximately 24.3 billion KRW. In July 2013, SK Planet, a subsidiary of SK Telecom, sold 52.56% of its stake in Loen Entertainment to Star Invest Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Affinity Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm. Later in January 2016, Kakao acquired a 76.4% stake in the company for 1.87 trillion won (approximately $1.64 billion). In 2018, Kakao M spun-off from Kakao, but Melon stayed.

In 2021, Melon merged with Kakao Entertainment and rebranded itself as "Melon M". This joint venue aimed to secure their leadership in the showbiz industry. Lee Jae-wook will lead the joint. At that time, the streaming platform boasted 33 million users and around 5 million paying users.

International operations
In 2010, Melon was launched by SK Telecom in Indonesia, in partnership with Telkom Indonesia. In 2016, Telkom Indonesia bought all the stake formerly owned by SK Telecom following the SK Telecom's divestment from all Melon businesses, thus making Melon Indonesia an Indonesian company.

Music programs on TV
Melon is the main sponsor of the following music-related shows:
 * Inkigayo (SBS, October 2010 – December 2016, re-sponsored since February 2017. Previously known as Popular Song and The Music Trend.)
 * Show! Music Core (MBC, August 2014 – March 2018)
 * Show Champion (MBC Music, January 2013 – May 2018)
 * You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook (KBS 2TV)
 * Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend (KBS 2TV)
 * K-pop Star (SBS, all six seasons from 2011 – 2017)
 * Tribe of Hip Hop (JTBC)
 * King of Mask Singer (MBC, since June 2017)
 * MIXNINE (JTBC) (2017–2018)
 * Music Bank (KBS 2TV, since January 2020)

Melon Music Awards
In 2009, LOEN Entertainment launched the Melon Music Awards (MMA), an award-giving body dedicated to calculating digital sales and online votes to judge the winners.

All-time records

 * Most streamed artist: BTS (13.12B streams)
 * Most streamed song: BTS – "Spring Day"
 * Song with most unique listeners: Busker Busker – "Cherry Blossom Ending", BTS – "Spring Day" (8.5M ULs)
 * Longest-running No 1 song on realtime chart: NewJeans – "Ditto" (2344 hours)
 * Longest-running No 1 song on daily chart: NewJeans – "Ditto" (99 days)
 * Longest-running No 1 song on weekly chart: NewJeans – "Ditto" (14 weeks)
 * Longest-running No 1 song on monthly chart: BTS – "Dynamite", Brave Girls — "Rollin'", NewJeans – "Ditto" (3 months)
 * Longest-running Top 10 song on weekly chart: NewJeans – "Hype Boy" (49 weeks)
 * Longest-running Top 10 song on yearly chart: Paul Kim – "Every Day, Every Moment", BTS (feat. Halsey) – "Boy with Luv" (2 years)
 * Longest-running Top 100 song on daily chart: BTS – "Spring Day"
 * Longest-running Top 100 song on weekly chart: BTS – "Spring Day" (387 weeks)
 * Longest-running Top 100 song on yearly chart: BTS – "Spring Day" (7 years)
 * Most roof-hit song: Zico – "Any Song" (51 roof-hits)
 * Most unique listeners for a song in 1st 24 hours: IU – "Bbibbi" (1,462,625 ULs)

Accolades
Melon became one of "Korea's Best 25 Apps" in the 2011 App Awards Korea.

Melon was recognized at the 2012 Trusted Brand Awards.

Melon won the "Grand Prize for Digital Contents" in the 2012 Korean Digital Management Innovation Awards.

Melon was recognized in the 2012 Korea Brand Power Index.

Ilgan Sports ranked Melon as the 3rd most influential entity in the K-pop industry in a November 2013 poll in celebration of its 44th anniversary.