Published: November 14, 2024, 18:45
Yoon Soyeon yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr
Audio report: Written by reporter, read by AI
Girl group New Jeans (ADOR)
How desperate is HYBE to keep the girl group NewJeans? South Korea’s largest K-POP company has ordered the five-member agency to comply with their demands within 14 days or prepare for a legal battle in court. He is now exposed to the ultimate test as he is given an ultimatum to do something.
Five members of NewJeans sent an official letter to ADOR on Wednesday, informing the company that if their request is denied, they will request that the group members terminate their exclusive contracts with the agency. The company now has until Nov. 27 to decide whether to comply.
Eight major demands have been made by NewJeans, most of which include punishment of the person who wrote the internal document that says “Eliminate New (Jeans) and start a new roadmap” and a public apology. It touched on recent controversies surrounding the group. From a manager who told other artists to ignore New Jeans member Hani.
However, it all goes back to the beginning of the fiasco: ordering the return of Min Hee-jin as CEO of ADOR.
In the document, the members said, “Please return ADOR to the state it was in March 2024, when we were happy from the moment NewJeans signed the official contract.” “I miss New Jeans, which was full of dreams of music, stage, and creativity, which I was scheduled to perform with (former) CEO Min Hee-jin.”
Members of the girl group NewJeans appearing on a livestream held on YouTube on September 11th (screen capture)
NewJeans made a similar request on Sept. 11 via a YouTube livestream, and ADOR tried to compromise by extending Min’s term on the board for another three years until November 2027, but the CEO position would remain with her. It was not returned. Girl groups have not reacted to this measure until now.
ADOR, on the other hand, did not provide any specifics and remained vague. ADOR said in an official statement on Thursday: “We received the documents this morning and are currently considering the specific terms.” “We will do our best to overcome this situation wisely and continue to work sustainably with our artists.”
dark future
Realistically, the chances of HYBE returning Mr. Min as CEO are close to zero. That means months of messy litigation.
“HYBE’s goal is to remove Min Hee-jin from the public stage and has no interest in regaining control of ADOR,” an industry source familiar with the matter told Korea JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity. told. “It’s up to HYBE executives, but a legal battle seems inevitable at this point. If they wanted to reconcile, they would have done so by now.”
HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang has already said that “calm and principled measures” will be taken after the live broadcast, reaffirming that the company has no intention of reversing its decision to fire Min as CEO. . If the company continues with this stance, NewJeans will have no choice but to seek an injunction to block its exclusive contract with ADOR.
Girl group NewJeans will appear at Seoul Fashion Week on September 3rd (NEWS1)
On the left are former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and new CEO Kim Joo-young (ADOR)
lose-lose situation
No matter which side the court takes, both parties will likely be injured in an injunction action, as has been the case in previous situations.
In contrast to formal criminal and civil proceedings, which can take years to reach a decision, the results of an injunction are usually known within a few months, but are similarly legally binding. If the court sides with the agency, the artist must either return to the agency or pay the company money and be fired from the agency. However, if the court sides with the artist, the artist will be able to sign with another agency without having to pay money to the original company.
But no matter how swift the court’s ruling, the muddy back-and-forth between the agency and the artist has smeared the name and angered fans, some of whom have left the fandom due to exhaustion. .
Original member of girl group “Fifty Fifty” (NEWS1)
Girl group Fifty Fifty was the biggest example of this in 2023. Four of Fifty Fifty’s original members filed for an injunction in June. The company fought back and won last October, resulting in the legal expulsion of three of the four original members. Fifty Fifty’s agency, Attract, filled the void with four new members and released a new album to less fanfare than expected.
Girl group LOONA has split into two new groups and two solo activities after the members won a battle with their former agency Blockberry Creative. Boy band Omega
SM Entertainment, which had a conflict with TVXQ in 2009, quickly reconciled with the members of boy group EXO in June last year. Three members of EXO, Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin, threaten to take legal action if SM Entertainment does not meet their demands, and SM Entertainment will comply within 18 days to avoid lawsuits from the three artists. We have changed the terms and conditions for this purpose.
Girl group NewJeans’ June Japan handshake event poster (Yonhap News)
back to basics
Legal outcomes are always difficult to predict, but the NewJeans case is even harder to predict. The court sided with Min once in May, but rejected Min’s suit in October, forcing the agency to pursue an injunction after the court ruled against the former Fifty Fifty member last year. The court’s tendency to give more preferential treatment to artists appeared to have been reversed.
Making matters even more difficult, NewJeans’ demands take the case into territory never seen before. Artists and agencies typically fight in court over profit sharing and working conditions, but never over who may or may not sit as an agency’s CEO or whether the company really tried to ignore the group.
According to pop music critic Kim Zacca, instead of wasting energy betting on who will win, the industry should take the opportunity to reflect on the “fundamentals of K-pop” that Min has repeatedly emphasized since the brawl broke out. It is said to be available.
“The crux of the problem is how K-pop’s biggest entertainment companies forgot the fundamentals of the genre – how they conflated the creative side with business, ultimately harming the industry as a whole. It all boils down to what happened,” he said.
“This case shows how purely emotional decisions can change the course of a company, and that the industry is not about doing more and higher, it’s about touching people’s hearts. It’s an opportunity to reflect on what you haven’t forgotten.”
BY Yoon Soyeon (yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr)