Frequently Asked Questions

Elohim EPF USA is the only Music Publisher in the United States specializing in Korean music. We protect and manage the legitimate rights of music creators.

• The sole rights agency in the Americas — We have signed formal contracts with Korean music publishers to manage and collect royalties from Korean music creators in the United States and Canada.
• Securing legal credibility — Federal courts in New York and California have ruled for us in infringement actions, upholding our rights in Korean popular music performed within the United States.
• Extensive music catalog — We currently hold the copyrights to over 20,000 Korean popular songs, ranging from classics of the 1940s to the latest K-Pop.
• Karaoke machine management — Approximately 17,000 of the songs we manage are included in TJ and Kumyoung karaoke machines and are widely used in karaoke rooms across the Americas.

Music copyright is a legal mechanism designed to protect the rights of music creators such as composers and lyricists. In the United States and Korea, rights are in principle protected for the author's lifetime plus 70 years, and are managed across five main categories of rights.

Among them, the rights managed and collected by Elohim EPF USA are No. 1 (performing rights) and No. 2 (reproduction rights), which relate directly to business operations.

1. Performing Rights

• Content — The right to perform music or sing for the public.
• Applicable establishments — All businesses where customers sing directly, such as karaoke rooms, or where background music is played.

2. Reproduction Rights (Mechanical Rights)

• Content — The right to record and reproduce music on a specific medium.
• Applicable items — Lyrics displayed on the karaoke screen, MP3 files, CDs, DVDs, and similar.

Other types of music copyright (reference)

• Public Transmission Rights — Rights that arise when music is transmitted online, such as on YouTube, cable broadcasting and internet streaming.
• Print Rights — Rights that arise when music is printed on paper, such as in sheet music collections or scores for church choirs.
• Synchronization Rights — Rights required to insert music into specific scenes of advertisements, dramas or movies.

1. Fair compensation for the creator's efforts

When a work produced with painstaking effort is used commercially, paying royalties is a natural legal and moral obligation.

2. Compliance with U.S. Federal Copyright Law

Under the U.S. Copyright Act, playing music or having customers sing it at a place of business in principle requires permission from the rights holder. The Act provides some exceptions, such as simply playing a radio or TV broadcast (see Q4 below).

3. Legal liability for non-payment

• Civil litigation — Continued unlicensed use may lead to a copyright infringement lawsuit.
• Statutory damages — For a work registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before the infringement, a court may award $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 where the infringement is found willful. For unregistered works, recovery is based on actual damages.

All businesses that play, sing or screen Korean songs and music videos during business hours are subject to the payment of copyright fees.

• Karaoke rooms and entertainment bars — Establishments where customers sing directly.
• Restaurants and cafés — Establishments that play Korean pop songs as background music (BGM).
• Other businesses — All spaces that use music commercially, such as shopping malls, beauty salons and gyms.

Cases excluded from payment

• Radio broadcast — Simply playing a live radio broadcast. A food or drinking establishment under 3,750 square feet qualifies; larger ones must meet limits on the number of speakers and similar conditions (17 U.S.C. §110(5)).
• TV broadcast — Simply showing ordinary TV channels (news, dramas, etc.). The same size threshold and screen-count conditions apply.

Using Korean music in a business without paying royalties is copyright infringement under U.S. federal law and can carry the following legal and financial consequences.

1. Statutory damages

• Range — For a work registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before the infringement, a court may award $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 where the infringement is found willful. If the business owner proves they were not aware and had no reason to believe the use was infringing, the award may be reduced to as little as $200. For unregistered works, recovery is based on actual damages.
• Judgment case — Elohim EPF USA has a precedent of being awarded $5,000.00 in damages per song through actual court judgments.

2. Civil litigation

Businesses that use the works without a license may be sued for copyright infringement. A losing defendant may also be ordered to pay the plaintiff's attorney's fees.

3. Burden on the business

A legal dispute brings attorney's fees and any damages awarded, which can place a heavy burden on the business.

Yes, you may be contacted by other copyright management organizations. However, there is no need to panic.

• Check first — If another company or organization sends you a claim for Korean music royalties, ask it in writing for the list of works it administers and the basis of its rights. You may ask the same of us.
• Verification of rights — We will check whether the works claimed overlap with the works administered by Elohim EPF USA, and will cooperate in establishing the facts so that you do not pay twice for the same work.

We operate a transparent distribution system to ensure that collected royalties are fairly returned to the creators who actually made the music.

• Remittance to Korean partners — We pay 50% of all royalties collected in the Americas and Canada to music publishers active in Korea who have signed a formal contract with Elohim EPF USA.
• Creator protection — This distribution reaches Korean composers and lyricists through the relevant publisher, serving as a foundation for them to continue creating better music.
• Transparent operation — To protect the global value of Korean music, we strictly manage all collection and distribution processes in accordance with legal standards.

Absolutely not. The monthly new song update fee and the copyright fee are completely different and separate items.

1. New song update costs (audio data service)

• Definition — The purchase and service cost for the new audio data produced and distributed each month by karaoke machine companies (TJ, Kumyoung, etc.).
• Nature — A technical service fee for adding new songs to the karaoke machine.
• Relationship — This cost has no relation to copyright fees.

2. Music copyright royalties (protection of creators' rights)

• Definition — Legal compensation for the use of the intellectual property rights of the composer or lyricist who created the music.
• Nature — A royalty paid for playing music (performing rights) and displaying lyrics on screen (reproduction rights) in a commercial space.
• Management — This fee reaches the creator through the rights agent Elohim EPF USA, not the karaoke machine company.

3. Relationship between update companies and copyright

• Separate rights — Clearing the rights needed to load songs onto a machine and display lyrics on screen is a matter for the update provider; permission to use the songs at your place of business is a matter for the venue.
• Settlement in progress — We are currently in the process of reaching legal settlements with the relevant update providers.
• What to check — Check whether your update contract states that it grants permission for performance at a place of business in the United States. If it does not, that permission is not included in the update fee.

No. Copyright fees are not included in the device purchase cost.

• The machine and the rights are separate — Whatever rights the wholesaler who sold the machine may have cleared, if the sales contract does not state that it grants permission to use the songs at your place of business, that permission is not included.
• Separate collection principle — The karaoke machine is merely hardware; the right to use the tens of thousands of Korean songs contained within it commercially must be acquired separately.
• Rights upheld in court — Federal courts in New York and California have ruled for Elohim in infringement actions, upholding its rights in Korean popular music performed within the United States.

If you delay legal payment and settlement, the economic costs and legal risks you bear will grow substantially over time.

1. Benefits of settling now

• Resolving past use — If you settle now, use over the past three years can be resolved at a reasonable negotiated amount rather than a court-awarded sum.

2. Disadvantages of refusing to settle

• Legal action — If no settlement is reached, we will consider legal proceedings, including litigation, to protect the rights we administer.
• Higher costs — Once a lawsuit begins, damages are set by the court. In a past Elohim case the court awarded $5,000 per work across 21 works ($105,000) plus attorney's fees — far more than a negotiated settlement.

The Berne Convention is the oldest and most authoritative international treaty concluded for the protection of literary and artistic works.

• Background — Concluded in Bern, Switzerland in 1886 and revised several times since, it has been joined by most countries in the world.
• Korea's accession — The Republic of Korea formally acceded on August 21, 1996.

Core principles

• National treatment — Member states must protect the works of nationals of other member states (whether published or not) in the same way as the works of their own nationals. Korean music is protected under U.S. law just like U.S. music.
• No formalities — Copyright takes effect immediately upon creation of the work, without separate registration or complex procedures.
• Protection period — The minimum term under the Convention is the author's lifetime plus 50 years. The United States and Korea protect works for a longer term, the author's lifetime plus 70 years.

Many people ask, "Why do I have to pay royalties to Elohim, an American company, for a Korean song?" The legal basis lies in the Berne Convention.

1. Mutual protection among member states

The United States, Canada and South Korea are all signatories. The core of the convention is that signatory countries protect each other's works exactly as they protect their own citizens' works. Korean songs therefore carry the same rights as American songs under U.S. law.

2. Rights that arise without separate registration

Under the convention's principles, music created in Korea is automatically recognized as copyrighted in the United States and Canada without a separate registration process.

3. Elohim's legitimate right to collect

• Official contract — Elohim EPF USA is a rights agency in the Americas that has signed official contracts with publishers holding copyrights in Korea.
• Basis for collection — Since rights to Korean music arise in the United States under the convention, Elohim, having been delegated management authority, has the right to lawfully collect royalties on Korean popular music used in the United States (approximately 20,000 songs held, approximately 17,000 included in karaoke machines).

To start with the conclusion: this is not true, and reflects a misunderstanding.

1. Were only 21 songs recognized?

No. The works administered by Elohim EPF USA number approximately 17,000 (counting those loaded on karaoke machines) under its contracts with Korean publishers. The 21 songs are works among them that were separately registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and used in litigation.

2. Why is it said that only 21 songs were registered?

Registering 21 specific songs separately was a strategic choice to secure statutory damages more certainly and strongly in the event of a lawsuit. It is a procedure using some of the approximately 17,000 songs as examples to obtain recognition of damages from the court — not an indication that rights to the remaining songs are absent.

3. If I delete only those 21 songs, do I avoid paying?

Deleting the 21 songs does not change anything. If even one of the works we administer is performed, or its lyrics shown on screen, at your establishment, you need permission for that work. Conversely, if you use none of the works we administer, you owe us nothing. You can check which works we administer in the song list.

Under U.S. copyright law there are two damage compensation systems for infringement. "Statutory damages," under which Elohim EPF USA won a judgment, allows recovery without proving the actual amount of loss.

1. Actual damages

Where infringement is established, the plaintiff (copyright owner) recovers on the basis of the actual damages suffered and the infringer's profits from the infringement (17 U.S.C. §504(b)).

2. Statutory damages

• Definition — Damages set by the court within a range fixed by statute, without the need to prove the actual amount of loss.
• Claim conditions — The song must be officially registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
• Range — A court may award $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 where the infringement is found willful. If the business owner proves the infringement was innocent, the award may be reduced to as little as $200.
• Additional costs — The court may, in its discretion, order the losing party to pay the prevailing party's attorney's fees.

Status of Elohim EPF USA's legal action

• Song registration — Over 100 songs already registered with the U.S. Copyright Office for strategic litigation.
• Successful case — In a previous lawsuit we obtained a federal court judgment of $5,000 in damages per song.
• Judgment amount — For example, a total of $105,000 ($5,000 × 21 songs) in damages was confirmed for 21 songs.

There are two main reasons why business owners feel costs are high compared with Korea.

1. Differences in cultural value placed on copyright

American society places a very high value on the legal worth of copyright. Statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work for infringement alone show how strictly the U.S. legal system protects creators' rights. The standards for calculating the economic value of copyright differ fundamentally from Korea's.

2. Economic equity based on market size

• Korea — Approximately 83,000 karaoke rooms are in operation. Even collecting only 5,000 won per room generates roughly 2 billion won ($2.5M) monthly, which is sufficient compensation for creators.
• United States — Elohim counts roughly 200 to 300 Korean karaoke venues across the Americas, less than 0.4% of Korea's number. Charging $5 per room as in Korea, and generously assuming 10 rooms per venue, would yield only about $10,000 to $15,000 per month in total.

3. Fair compensation for creators

Elohim manages over 500 composers and lyricists and more than 17,000 karaoke titles. If 50% of collections — $5,000 to $7,500 a month — is sent to partner companies in Korea and divided among those writers, each receives only about $10 to $15 a month.

If well-known writers in Korea received only about $10 a month for their songs being sung across the United States, no one would delegate their rights. At that level of income it would also be impossible to operate Elohim itself, the organization responsible for protecting and managing those rights within the U.S.

Our royalty rates are not arbitrary. They are calculated based on specific market conditions and legal grounds within the United States.

1. U.S. market conditions and economic equity

As explained above, the karaoke markets in Korea and the United States differ by hundreds of times in size, so Korean standards cannot be applied directly. The amount was determined after consulting legal experts, taking into account the size of the local U.S. karaoke market and economic equity.

2. Comparison with actual service costs

• We calculated a reasonable royalty level with reference to the monthly new song update cost paid by businesses (approximately $30 per device).
• Establishments that do not sell alcohol — Copyright fees are set at $30 per room (or per machine).

3. The value of intellectual property

Paying for new song updates feels natural because visible audio data is added, while copyright fees may seem unfamiliar as costs for an invisible right. However, music copyright is a legal obligation under U.S. Copyright Law.

To start with the conclusion: we think it is not easy. New rights organizations can of course be formed, and in 2025 the U.S. Copyright Office itself examined the growing number of new performing rights organizations. Our reasons for thinking it is difficult are as follows.

1. Substantial establishment costs and time barriers

• A base in Korea is required — Establishing a new rights agency in the U.S. requires a corresponding partner company in Korea, which is costly to build.
• Legal setup period — Establishing the legal foundation through a local U.S. attorney alone takes at least 3 to 4 years.
• Elohim's know-how — The legal fees invested over the past five years to reach our current position, and the effort to secure contracts with Korean music publishers, are not easily replicated.

2. Unrivaled network and expertise

• Close relationships — Based on deep trust with the Korean music industry, we continue to expand through additional contracts with the Copyright Association for All and numerous music publishers.
• Sense of mission — We are not merely collecting; we work to ensure K-Pop establishes itself properly in the American mainstream.

3. Promise to protect business owners

• Help with verification — If another organization appears and makes a claim, we will check whether the works overlap with those we administer and help you avoid paying twice.
• Prevention of harm — We promise to take the lead in protecting the rights and interests of Korean American business owners.