5 commerce teams representing South Korea’s Okay-pop trade have warned that the continued dispute between HYBE, its label ADOR, and Okay-pop woman NJZ, previously often known as NewJeans, might destabilize the trade if it units a precedent.
The teams urged the federal government to take motion towards “tampering” – the follow of making an attempt to poach artists who’re below an unique contract.
“If tampering makes an attempt succeed, Korea’s leisure administration trade will collapse,” the teams mentioned in an announcement issued Wednesday, as quoted by The Korea Occasions.
“This concern extends past home disputes — overseas capital might step in and take over the Okay-pop trade fully.”
The teams behind the assertion are the Korea Administration Federation, the Korea Leisure Producer’s Affiliation, the File Label Business Affiliation of Korea, the Recording Business Affiliation of Korea, and the Korea Music Content material Affiliation.
Whereas the teams didn’t straight allege that tampering has occurred within the case of NewJeans – who rebranded themselves as NJZ earlier this month – their assertion did reference information reviews final fall alleging that Min Hee-jin, the previous CEO of ADOR and the particular person credited with creating NewJeans, had tried to lure the group away from ADOR.
That led to the Korea Music Content material Affiliation issuing a warning to Min and the group.
Weeks earlier, NewJeans introduced in a press convention that they had been unilaterally terminating their contract with ADOR over alleged mistreatment of group members by the label.
ADOR has “neither the flexibility nor the need to guard” NewJeans, group member Hanni mentioned on the press convention. In testimony earlier than a parliamentary committee, and in a now-deleted YouTube video, Hanni had alleged harassment and alienation of NewJeans members by ADOR employees.
“This concern extends past home disputes — overseas capital might step in and take over the Okay-pop trade fully.”
Korean music trade teams
ADOR rejected NewJeans’ declaration that their contract was now not legitimate, arguing it stays in “full impact.” The label promptly took authorized motion towards the group, asking a court docket to uphold the validity of NewJeans members’ unique contracts. A month later, ADOR went to court docket once more, looking for an injunction to forestall the group from pursuing actions independently.
The band responded by hiring authorized illustration, and the identify change to NJZ was seen as an indication that group members don’t intend to return to ADOR.
The seeds of the battle had been sown final April when HYBE alleged that Min Hee-jin, then nonetheless the CEO of ADOR, had tried unlawfully to sever the label from HYBE, which owns a majority stake in ADOR.
Min was changed as CEO final summer time. Information reviews indicated that NewJeans members had sided with Min within the ongoing dispute, which led to the alleged tensions between the label and the group.
Of their assertion Wednesday, the music trade teams expressed considerations in regards to the public nature of the dispute between Min, HYBE, and NewJeans/NJZ, singling out Min’s press convention final spring during which she refuted HYBE’s allegations towards her and Hanni’s look earlier than a parliamentary committee.
“The 5 music organizations want to ask sure companies and artists to cease manipulating public opinion with none foundation to attain their very own pursuits to make sure the sustainable improvement of the favored tradition and humanities trade,” the teams mentioned, as quoted by Sportskeeda.
The group urged the South Korean authorities to enact new rules to forestall tampering, drawing a parallel between such regulation and current guidelines meant to guard different industries.
“Simply as Korea has enacted rules to safeguard key industries like semiconductors, the federal government should set up measures to curb tampering and guarantee contract integrity … Tampering-related disputes will not be simply trade squabbles — they pose a serious threat to one in every of Korea’s most significant industries,” they mentioned, as quoted by the Occasions.
Nevertheless, the teams expressed opposition to different varieties of rules being imposed on the Okay-pop trade, amongst them a invoice tabled final fall, dubbed the ‘NewJeans Hanni Act,’ that may prolong the nation’s guidelines towards office bullying to incorporate people who don’t have a standard employer-employee relationship, similar to artists below contract.
“We aren’t against rules, however points similar to contract settlements between corporations and artists or labor circumstances for minors have vastly totally different traits and needs to be mentioned individually throughout the trade,” the teams mentioned, as quoted by The Korea Herald.
“Tips for self-regulation and consensus needs to be established earlier than exterior intervention.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
