Apple plans to offer its popular "Apple Music" services to iPhone and iPad users in Korea, officials at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday. While Apple Music is available in more than 100 countries, Apple initially excluded Korea because it had failed to reach a consensus with local music copyright associations. This appears to be in the process of being resolved. The Official added that if Apple's plan can be realized that it could be huge deal for Korean music fans.

A government official stated that "Officials at Apple Korea contacted the culture ministry and major copyright associations in Korea recently to discuss key issues in order to enter the local music-streaming market." Another official said Apple had discussed starting it music services in Korea with the Korea Music Copyright Association.

The report further notes that officials noted that Apple has been urged to secure music content that is popular and familiar to Koreans, meaning it needs the support of major entertainment companies such as SM Entertainment, YG and JYP, all of which own their own music content rights.

The report added that "Given Apple's strengths in music content, Apple Music will be successful in Korea as the country has a lot of Apple fanboys."

To prove that point, last November we reported on South Korean Apple fans standing in the rain just to get their hands on the new iPhone 6 models. And to prove just how successful the iPhone 6 had become in Korean, we did a follow-up report in January showing that Apple smashed the record for smartphone sales by a foreign company. So yes, there are a great number of Apple fans in South Korea who would absolutely love having access to Apple Music.

To make the news even sweeter this morning, the report lastly noted that "Google earlier agreed with major music copyright bodies in Korea; however, Google's music service is yet to take off as local music content providers are still reluctant to let the web giant open up its music content." Now that's music to my ears. 

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