[Courtesy of Melon]
SEOUL -- To diversify the range of music for customers, Melon, a major online music service operated by South Korean web service giant Kakao, has introduced a new music service to promote uncharted songs.
South Korean online music services have provided daily and weekly song charts that are refreshed in real-time. However, such charts have been criticized for limiting listeners to enjoy charted songs while taking away opportunities to listen to new songs published by relatively less popular artists.
Melon said in a statement on September 8 that it has opened "Rising31" for uncharted songs. The company said that song suggestions of 31 tracks made by Rising31 are based on big data and the number of times songs were played.
"Through this service that provides information on uncharted music and artists, our listeners can meet a new music trend," a Kakao official was quoted as saying.
Because the song suggestion service is all about introducing new music to users, a random playlist will be generated every time they log onto Melon's music service. Because of controversial issues such as chart manipulation and album hoarding by enthusiastic fans, Melon has pulled the plug on its ranked song charts in July to provide charts based on the accumulated number of downloads and real-time online plays.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
