HYBE, Tencent Music, and ACRCloud to speak at Seoul's MWM Conference on AI and the future of music

The Korea Popular Music Industry Association (KMIA) will host the 2026 MWM Conference on September 4 at the Cube Convention Center in Sangam, Seoul, bringing together executives and researchers from across the domestic and international music industry to discuss what AI transformation means for how music is made, distributed, and monetized.

The timing reflects a broader pattern: Korean music industry forums have been edging closer to AI and intellectual property questions for the past two years, and this year's conference frames those questions explicitly. The theme, AX Era: Music's New Value Chain, positions AI not as a background technology but as the primary lens through which the entire business model is being re-examined.

Speakers and sessions

The keynote will be delivered by Choi Sun, Head of the Chairman Creative Staff Office at HYBE, who is expected to lay out the creative and commercial possibilities of the AI transition. HYBE's participation gives the event significant institutional weight; the company has been among the most publicly active Korean labels in exploring AI-assisted production and fan engagement tools.

Open sessions will feature Dora Jin, head of business at Tencent Music; Tony Lee, co-founder of ACRCloud, the global audio recognition and rights detection firm; Ko Yoon-hwa, a researcher at Seoul National University's Asia Research Institute Korean Wave Research Center; and Lee Seung-jun, founder of AMAZE. Panel discussions are set to cover music fund investment case studies, rights protection in AI-generated environments, and the structural challenges facing the broader music ecosystem.

ACRCloud's inclusion is worth noting for readers outside Korea. The company's core technology identifies music across streaming platforms and user-generated content and is used by labels and distributors to trace unlicensed use, which makes rights detection in an AI era a natural topic for its co-founder to address.

Event context

MWM stands for "Moving the World with Music" and the conference has run previously alongside MU:CON, the government-backed global music market organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency. The 2026 edition continues that link, running in tandem with MU:CON 2026. The co-location gives international buyers and label representatives attending the market a direct path into the policy and industry discussions happening at MWM.

Full program details are available through the MWM official website and social media channels.