The corporate side of K-pop made another stand in defence of the industry’s agency business model last week as the legal battle between NewJeans and Ador heads to court this month, with HYBE-owned Ador trying to stop NewJeans from terminating their contract with the agency, and entering into new deals with brands and other partners.
Although the five trade groups that came together for a joint press conference insisted they weren’t directly commenting on the NewJeans v Ador legal battle, it’s that very high profile bust-up that has really put the way K-pop labels - or ‘agencies’ - work with their artists in the spotlight.
And you sense that the big K-pop agencies feel that - whatever happens between NewJeans and Ador in a court of law - the sector is losing the battle in the court of public opinion.
The entire K-pop industry “is built on the mutual trust between agencies and artists”, Steve Choi, Secretary General of the Korea Music Content Association, explained, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.
The contracts between agencies and artists “bind us like a team in a sports game, not in the employer-employee relationship”, he continued. But that connection “is being threatened by companies, producers, investors and even fans that convince artists it’s fine to break a contract”.
The press conference involved the Korea Management Federation, the Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association, the Record Label Industry Association Of Korea and the Recording Industry Association Of Korea, as well as the Korea Music Content Association, all five of which recently put out a statement calling for a crackdown on so called ‘tampering’, where agencies approach artists already locked into contracts with rival companies.
However, the official fan club of NewJeans, called Bunnies, responded to last week’s press conference by insisting that the NewJeans v Ador legal battle wasn’t actually caused by tampering.
Yes the girl group is now looking to work with another agency - reports suggest they could sign a deal with BANA Entertainment - but, the fan club argues, the falling out between the group and Ador was the result of parent company HYBE “interfering with the independence and diversity of its labels” and “violating the rights of producers, creators and artists”.
If the five groups behind last week’s press conference “truly care about the sustainability of K-pop”, the fan club’s statement went on, “then they should not be taking the side of HYBE and Ador, even before a court ruling, but should start by addressing the real ails of the industry, including the power abuse of agencies, and agencies colluding with entertainment media to attack artists”.
The big K-pop agencies could end up being subject to new regulation as a result of public and political interest in the NewJeans v Ador battle. The recent statement from the five trade groups was in response to that possibility, seeking to persuade politicians that if they are going to pass any new laws that impact on the K-pop business, they should focus on stopping contract tampering.
Central to those lobbying efforts is the message that - while fans inevitably end up siding with artists when they fall out with their agencies - the same artists rely on the investment of the agencies to build their careers. Speaking at last week’s press conference, Choi Jae-woo, CEO of F&F Entertainment, estimated that it costs at least 1 billion won ($693,000), and up to 10 billion won, to launch a K-pop act.
“We start by insuring, feeding and training the artists”, he said, “and take care of marketing, promoting and producing their music”. Also keen to position the agency-artist relationship as a business partnership, rather than an employer-employee scenario, he added, “we are not in a boss-subordinate relationship”. We are “two equal partners” in a business, but “the prejudice against the agencies makes it difficult for us to continue our businesses”.
NewJeans announced they were terminating their deal with Ador last November, but HYBE and Ador continue to insist that the group’s contract with the agency is still in force. The falling out with the group followed the long running public feud between HYBE and Ador founder Min Hee-jin, who was pushed out of the CEO job at the agency last August.
There are three upcoming court hearings in relation to the dispute. The first, later this week, will consider a request by Ador for an injunction to stop NewJeans, now performing as NJZ, from entering into any new commercial partnerships without involving the HYBE agency.
The second, due in court next month, is Ador’s lawsuit to enforce its contract with the group. A third hearing, also next month, will consider Min’s legal wrangling with HYBE.
There could as yet be a fourth strand to the legal battle. This weekend NJZ unveiled a new logo and launched official accounts on X, TikTok, and YouTube. Ador then put out a statement expressing concern that official social media channels had been set up without its consent, adding “we are currently judging how to approach this legally”.