There are updates on the legal dispute between EXO-CBX and SM:

K-Pop Blog > News>EXO / EXO-CBX / Chen / Baekhyun / Xiumin

Legal disputes in the K-pop industry are not uncommon, and unfortunately they seem to be on the rise lately. At the end of 2022, for example, boy group Omega X and girl group Loona sued their respective agencies for treating them badly. A recent case that has kept K-pop fans worldwide on their toes since yesterday is the legal battle between EXO-CBX, three members of EXO and their agency SM Entertainment.

Every few hours there are updates and today several new statements were released as well. We'll summarize what's happened so far so you can get an overview of the situation:

Until recently, fans were still hoping for a comeback of EXO with all members, the first in years. Those plans were already dashed by Kai being called into the military earlier than expected. But even more surprising came news yesterday that Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin are suing SM Entertainment to end their exclusive contracts! The three together form the EXO-CBX subunit, which was established in 2016.

EXO-CBX have repeatedly demanded since March that SM Entertainment give them insight into their transactions to ensure they receive as much money as they are entitled to.

This is a right all artists have, and SM actually has a duty to show them all the transactions in question so that artists can understand how much money is being earned and spent, and exactly how much is left for them. However, SM has refused to disclose the necessary documents.

In addition, the label allegedly persuaded CBX and other artists to sign contracts that span 12 to 13 years.

In addition, there are follow-up contracts that are signed before the end of the current contracts. Added together, the contracts then last even up to 18 years or longer! This is despite the fact that the Korean Fair Trade Commission issued a new regulation in 2009, according to which contracts may run for a maximum of seven years in the future. The reason for this regulation is a legal dispute between SM Entertainment and three members of the boy group TVXQ. The latter sued against their 13-year contract at the time. SM has thus attracted attention before due to so-called "slave contracts" and unfair conditions.

Since EXO-CBX filed the lawsuit, there have already been some developments:

SM Entertainment denied the allegations, claiming that the artists have access to all necessary documents at any time, but demand copies to use for other reasons.

According to SM, Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin are looking for a reason to terminate their contracts. In addition, the label claims to have heard that an outside party is influencing the artists.

Shortly after SM's statement, rumors arose that the third party is well-known rapper and producer MC Mong.

His label Big Planet Made Entertainment received a letter from SM Entertainment in which SM claimed that Big Planet and MC Mong approached EXO-CBX to sign contracts with them. Big Planet denied the allegations a few hours ago, stating that MC Mong has no position in the label that would allow him to negotiate contracts with artists.

MC Mong himself said in another statement that although he knows Baekhyun personally, he did not try to recruit him. He was merely comforting Baekhyun while the latter was going through a tough time.

Today, Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin also came forward again.

Lawyer Lee Jae Hak, who represents the three and has also spoken on their behalf before, states that SM's claim that a third party is involved has nothing to do with the real issue and is just a distraction. According to the statement, the three EXO members have had doubts for a long time, which they have not been able to express as rookies, but now want to clarify. Of course, the three have sought advice from friends, family, and acquaintances, but they made the decision to claim their billing information all by themselves.

In addition, Lee Jae Hak emphasizes that Chen and the others have not made any attempts to negotiate new contracts with other agencies and would like SM to refrain from making false claims.

SM only allows the data to be seen, but does not want to share it so that no outside parties can see it. But nowhere in EXO-CBX's contracts are they prohibited from sharing the data. The statement goes into many other details, but in the end Lee Jae Hak states that SM Entertainment is legally obligated to provide the requested data, but continues to refuse.

That's quite a bit of news! And all of this in just one day! It seems like hardly a few hours go by without a new statement being released.

Since SM Entertainment has been sued many times by its artists, we suspect that EXO-CBX's accusations are justified and hope that they will get what's owed to them soon. Of course, we're especially curious to see what EXO's future will look like.

What do you think of the situation?

Sources: Naver