Global indie publisher peermusic has promoted managing director of Asia Pacific Spencer Lee to the added role of Asia Pacific President.
In his current position, Lee oversees territories including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and The Philippines. With the addition of his new role, he will also oversee South Korea, which is the sixth largest music market in the world, according to the IFPI, and which peermusic says is now its third largest territory in terms of revenue.
Peermusic has long had its eye on the South Korean market. In 2019, the company acquired South Korean independent publisher Music Cube, adding 40,000 copyrights and works by BTS, Red Velvet and other superstars to its collection. Peermusic has also hosted a number of songwriting camps focused on the K-pop market in Korea, Stockholm and more recently on Zoom, leading to releases with acts like Monsta X, Super Junior and Taeyon.
“The Asian region remains an important focus for peermusic’s global operations. We have experienced phenomenal growth in the region, resulting in a year-on-year increase of over 35%” in revenue, said peermusic deputy chief executive officer Mary Megan Peer. “Spencer Lee has been instrumental in driving this growth, especially in China, and we are thrilled he will be continuing to lead this region, including South Korea.”
Lee joined peermusic in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as deputy CEO of Hong Kong’s performing rights organization CASH. In his expanded role at peermusic, he will report directly to Mary Megan Peer.
“Spencer Lee is a highly respected and successful executive,” added peermusic chair and CEO Ralph Peer II. “We welcome his wealth of knowledge, both from his experience with the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH) and from his time at peermusic, which is an invaluable asset as we continue our commitment to this important and creatively rich region.”
The world’s largest global independent publishing company, peermusic now operates 35 offices in 30 countries.
“I would like to thank Mary Megan Peer and Ralph Peer for the opportunity to help expand the company’s operations in Asia by identifying and implementing new business and by providing a world-class suite of copyright and royalty services to our writers,” Lee said. “Our work with peermusic’s creative community in this music market is a great pleasure, and during this time of digital music transformation in the region, we see some enormous opportunity in front of us to advocate on behalf of our writers and to further achieve the potential of the region.”
