After 10 years of pursuing copyrighted digital content ecosystem, POPS Worldwide has achieved great success under the guidance of CEO Esther Nguyen.

Esther Nguyen, Founder and CEO of POPS Worldwide, who has been called the “Queen of Digital Music” in Vietnam has proven that when you have a good product, you just need the faith and perseverance and the success will knock on the door.

For her, this is the result of the whole team together going through 10 years of struggle with a lot of sweet, bitter.

Startup in Vietnam but…following the US law

POPS Worldwide is impressed with the award for annual digital entertainment products – POPS Awards, and owns the largest multi-platform digital entertainment ecosystem in Vietnam. Up to now, POPS has got over 70 billion views across the system. In addition, according to e27, an analysis of the Asian ecosystem of start-ups, POPS holds 90% of the online music market in Vietnam.

POPS Award is held annually to honor and respect the digital entertainment accomplishments. The event attracts most of the celebrities in Vietnam showbiz. The award is getting more and more prestigious and reflects the digital entertainment market and demand of audiences exactly.

Not only in Vietnam market, POPS is reaching the market in the region with the opening of offices in Thailand. In the near future, POPS will also open offices in Indonesia, Philippines … The success of POPS was created by Esther Nguyen, a Vietnamese American.

In 2008, when she was operating successfully a startup in green technology field in the U.S, Esther Nguyen decided to come back Viet Nam to find out new business opportunities. “At that moment, although internet was not popular, the habit of enjoying online music increases in Viet Nam young generation and the investment in online music service is really easy because most of the music products were exploited widely without copyright fee.” Esther said. Joining the Vietnam market but she decided to stick to the U.S copyright law, which means not to trade artist’s products without copyright payment.

Ms. Esther Nguyen – Founder and CEO of POPS Worldwide

In the beginning, POPS had only 5 employees but they were brave to sign contracts with many partners such as musicians, artists, production companies and paid copyright fee completely. However, POPS distributed those content to audiences on the Internet for free.

With many others, this strategy is “risk hit” but just a few people know that many times, Esther had to go everywhere to attract the capital investment resources to raise the dream. She said: “The first 5 years, no revenue, the capital for copyright fee always over our affordability. Therefore, we had to call for investment consecutively. With leading position in paying for copyright resolutely, POPS had the advantage of offering music material for ringtones, ring tunes services that are considered explosive in that period. In 2009, POPS became the largest digital music provider in Vietnam

Change the way to the new pace

Along with the launch of the largest Vietnamese music library on iTunes and the largest Vietnamese music library on Amazon, became YouTube’s official partner and invested in developing owned channels, including music channel, kids channel, women channel, launching the safe video-watching app for kids … POPS gradually completes online entertainment ecosystem, officially became the most formidable name in the digital entertainment market. Esther said: “Starting with a primitive market, we have a lot of opportunities but also many challenges.”

In order to face the challenges, Esther builds the business base on integrity. At POPS, there is no financial dark. The share of revenue with content partners such as artists, producers … is clearly announced. Absolutely, POPS doesn’t use shocking or offensive contents to get views. “I know, my principles can be considered “rigid” while the digital content business needs to be shocking sometimes. I believe, just to be honest, other things will come, though it may be slower, “Esther said.
By the age of 10, POPS is changing entireBrand Identity and restructuring system to exploit the resources of more than 150 young people more efficiently. At the same time, POPS continues to implement signing contracts with many new artists and celebrities, promising to create breakthrough contents. The maturity of this startup is also marked by strong investment and development for increasing user engagement on safe video-watching application for kids called POPS Kids TV. This is an action to pick up the trend and to POPS firmly create a platform for their own.

The interface of the POPS Kids application – POPS’s transformational product

Only after 2 years of implementation, this application has occupied the second position in the most used applications for families on the Android platform. The investment also shows that POPS is determined to conquer internet users, not only in Vietnam but also in 10 neighboring countries. “Digital entertainment business is going to explode in the future, in many countries where the technology is used much more in life,” Esther predicted.