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image captionPop star IU is among the artists who are affected

Hundreds of popular K-pop songs have been removed from Spotify, amid a dispute with South Korean music distributor Kakao M.

Releases by popular acts including Sistar, IU, Monsta X and Epik High have vanished, leaving fans frustrated.

Spotify said its "existing licensing deal" with Kakao M had "come to an end" but it hoped the disruption would be temporary.

But the Korean company accused Spotify of refusing to extend its licence.

Kakao M is South Korea's top music distributor, responsible for 37.5% of the songs featured in the country's Top 400 Yearly Song Chart in 2020.

It also owns and operates the country's top music streaming service, MelOn, with 8.81 million monthly active users.

'Fans suffer'

The dispute prompted anger from some of the artists whose work was affected.

"Why is it always the artists and the fans that suffer when businesses place greed over art?" said Tablo, the leader and producer of hip-hop band Epik High.

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