Legal disputes are nothing unusual in the K-Pop industry, and unfortunately they seem to be piling up lately. At the end of 2022, for example, the boy group Omega X and the girl group Loona sued their respective agencies because they had been treated badly. A current case that has been keeping K-Pop fans around the world on edge since yesterday is the legal dispute between EXO-CBX, three members of EXO, and their agency SM Entertainment.
There is news every few hours, and several new statements were released today as well. We are summing up everything that has happened so far so that you get an overview of the situation:
Until recently, fans were still hoping for a comeback of EXO with all members, the first in years. These plans were already shattered by Kai being enlisted in the military earlier than expected. But the news that came yesterday was even more surprising: Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin are suing SM Entertainment to terminate their exclusive contracts! The three form the subunit EXO-CBX together, which was founded in 2016.
Since March, EXO-CBX have repeatedly demanded that SM Entertainment give them insight into their transactions, to make sure they receive as much money as they are entitled to.
All artists have this right, and SM is actually obliged to show them all relevant transactions so that the artists can understand how much money is received and spent and how much exactly is left for them. However, SM has refused to disclose the necessary documents.
In addition, the label is said to have made CBX and other artists sign contracts spanning 12 to 13 years.
On top of that come follow-up contracts that are signed before the current contracts even end. Added together, the contracts then last up to 18 years or even longer! And this despite the fact that the Korean Fair Trade Commission issued a new regulation in 2009 stating that 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. They sued back then against their 13-year contract. So SM has already attracted attention in the past through so-called “slave contracts” and unfair conditions.
Since EXO-CBX filed the lawsuit, there have already been several developments:
SM Entertainment rejected the accusations and claimed that the artists have access to all necessary documents at any time, but demand copies in order to use them for other reasons.
According to SM, Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin are looking for a reason to be able 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 emerged that the third party is the well-known rapper and producer MC Mong.
His label Big Planet Made Entertainment received a letter from SM Entertainment in which SM claims that Big Planet and MC Mong approached EXO-CBX to sign contracts with them. Big Planet rejected the accusations a few hours ago and explained that MC Mong does not hold a position in the label that would allow him to negotiate contracts with artists.
MC Mong himself said in another statement that he does know Baekhyun personally, but did not try to recruit him. He merely calmed Baekhyun down while he is going through a hard time.
Today, Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin also spoke up again:
Lawyer Lee Jae Hak, who represents the three and has also spoken for them before, explains that SM’s claim that a third party is involved has nothing to do with the actual problem and only serves as a distraction. According to the statement, the three EXO members have had doubts for a long time that they could not voice as rookies but now want to clear up. Of course the three have taken advice from friends, family and acquaintances, but the decision to demand their settlement data was made entirely on their own.
Lee Jae Hak also emphasizes that Chen and the others have not made any attempts to negotiate new contracts with other agencies and wishes that SM would not make false claims.
SM only allows the data to be viewed but does not want to share it so that no outside parties get to see it. But nowhere in EXO-CBX’s contracts are they forbidden from sharing the data with others. The statement goes into many other details, but ultimately Lee Jae Hak explains that SM Entertainment is legally obliged to provide the requested data but continues to refuse persistently.
That is quite a lot of news! And all of that in just one day! It seems that hardly a few hours go by without a new statement being released.
Since SM Entertainment has often been sued by its artists, we suspect that EXO-CBX’s allegations are justified and hope that they soon get what they are entitled to. Of course, we are above all curious to see what the future of EXO will look like.
What do you think of the situation?
Sources: Naver
