Members of K-pop group EXO move to end ‘unjust long-term contracts’ with SM Entertainment (report)

Three members of nine-member boy band EXO have announced that they are planning to terminate what they say is an “unfair long-term contract” with K-Pop management agency SM Entertainment.

In a statement released by law firm Lin on Thursday (June 1), EXO members Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen – whose full names are Byun Baekhyun, Kim Minseok and Kim Jongdae respectively) accused them of having was forced into a 20-year “slave contract” and lost faith in SM Entertainment after the company repeatedly refused requests for a detailed analysis of the artists’ payments.

The trio also said that “legal action is inevitable” following the announcement that they would be terminating the contract.

SM Entertainment responded with a statement of its own, saying that it received “tricks” suggesting that a rival business was trying to sow discord within the company and entice EXO artists for its own. , potentially getting them to sign an agreement in the contract. violates the exclusive agreement they have with SM.

The K-pop giant defended long-term contracts with EXO members, saying that these contracts were effectively approved by the Korean Supreme Court in previous litigation and that the EXO members had recently signed a contract extension while being represented by “large-scale law firms”. .”

The company also said that EXO artists always have access to a detailed breakdown of their payments, but that they will not distribute copies of those breakdowns to artists, as they are may be “unfairly provided to a third party”.

In a statement on behalf of the three EXO artists – posted by Korean news site Newsen And Translation at Soompi.com – lawyer Lee Jae Hak said Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen originally signed a 12 or 13 year contract with SM Entertainment when EXO was founded around 2012, “far beyond the 7 years identified by the Fair Trade Commission for the standard exclusive contract for entertainers.

SM then “pushes artists to sign the next exclusive contract again, resulting in long-term contracts lasting at least 17 to 18 years or more,” the letter read.

The letter also states that the EXO members have tried seven times since March to obtain a “payment report” – a detailed breakdown of payments from the company to the artists – and have been rejected. .

“If SM has correctly paid the artists payments, there is no reason why they cannot provide payment reports and payment basis,” the letter states.

The letter argued that the contracts of the EXO members should be voided on the grounds that there was an imbalance in the bargaining power between SM Entertainment and the artists.

It cites another judicial precedent involving another K-pop band, a 2009 lawsuit in which three of TVXQ’s five original members sued SM Entertainment to have their contracts terminated.

In that case, a court ruled provisionally that the lengthy contract terms were “excessively violated.”[d] economic freedoms and basic rights of applicants,” the letter states.

In a later ruling, “the court determined that the subsequent contracts were unfairly entered into with defects resulting from differences in bargaining power,” the letter states.

(In the case of TVXQ, the three members left the band and since around 2010, TVXQ has continued to act as a duo.)

‘External force’ at work?

However, in its own statement, SM Entertainment cited another legal precedent – ​​Hwang Zitao, a former EXO member who sued SM Entertainment in 2015, alleging that his 10-year contract was he has unfair terms and its duration is too limited. about their freedom.

In 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed Hwang’s appeal against the lower court’s ruling and said his contract is valid until 2022.

Despite the legal victory in that case, “we… signed two addendum agreements with EXO members, including the artists in question, to change salaries in favor of the artist,” SM Entertainment said in its statement, as published at Koreaboo.com.

“This is a measure we take to promote the joint development of the company and our artists, even though there are no contractual obligations. [on our side].”

SM Entertainment said lawyers representing the three EXO artists were involved in the case only recently, “and we started receiving reports that there are outside forces that are causing our artists to waver. “

SM said it has asked the EXO artists to “assure us that they are not signing any dual contracts that violate our exclusive contracts. Then the legal representatives of the artists… suddenly changed their attitude and halted the discussions… and informed us that they would terminate the exclusive contract with us without any word. Any explanation regarding the [potential] dual contract.”

ONE reported at Korea’s JoongAng Daily cited a “media report” stating that a rival K-pop company, Big Planet Made, or BPM Entertainment, received a notice from SM Entertainment alleging that a representative of the company “met with three EXO members and tried to convince them to join. company.”

BPM is said to have denied any involvement in the matter.

“It is true that we received a letter from SM, but we are very sorry about it [SM Entertainment] related to us when we are not involved in their internal situation. If they continue to complain, we will take tough legal measures,” BPM said, citing JoongAng.

The conflict marks another tragedy for SM Entertainment, which earlier this year was at the center of a tug-of-war between South Korean media and telecommunications giant Kakao and rival K-pop company HYBE for the control over SM.

Last Kakao emerge victorious from that battle, with a 39.9% stake in SM Entertainment.

However, in April, Korea’s financial regulator raid SM Entertainment’s office during an ongoing investigation into Kakao, who regulators suspect may have manipulated SM Entertainment’s stock price in the fight for control of the company.

SM Entertainment is the second largest K-pop company by revenue, after rival HYBE. Besides EXO and TVXQ, it represents artists including Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, aespa, and Kangta.Global Music Business