Soribada

Soribada is South Korea's pioneering music streaming and download platform, founded in 2000 as the country's first peer-to-peer file-sharing service — initially modeled after Napster. The name means 'sound sea' in Korean, and the platform was co-founded by brothers Yang Il-hwan and Yang Jung-hwan. After early legal challenges around unlicensed music sharing, Soribada evolved into a licensed digital music service offering streaming bundles and individual track downloads. It became one of South Korea's established domestic music platforms alongside Melon, Genie, Bugs, Vibe, and Naver Music, catering specifically to the Korean music market including K-pop listeners. Soribada also organizes the annual Soribada Best K-Music Awards, a major K-pop awards ceremony that has expanded internationally. The platform competes in the highly contested South Korean digital music market and continues to serve millions of Korean music fans.