Entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart... small stone miracle
Cracks between Attract and Fifty Fifty
Attract, Suspicion of Tempering vs. Fifty Fifty "Opaque Settlement Structure"
Attract, press release of transcript of suspicion of tempering
On the 5th, the contract cancellation trial is in progress... Issues with Attract and Star Crew ENT contracts emerge
Cracks between Attract and Fifty Fifty
Attract, Suspicion of Tempering vs. Fifty Fifty "Opaque Settlement Structure"
Attract, press release of transcript of suspicion of tempering
On the 5th, the contract cancellation trial is in progress... Issues with Attract and Star Crew ENT contracts emerge
《Revival of Junho Yoon》
Reporter Yoon Joon-ho of TenAsia introduces trends in the entertainment industry. Let's take a look at what the public needs are and what makes them popular or uncomfortable.
Fifty Fifty. It is currently a 'hot potato' in the K-pop industry. It took about 2 months to reach the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and achieve meaningful results. Currently, he is embroiled in an exclusive contract dispute with his agency, Attract.
◆ The miracle of small and medium-sized idols… Entered US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 3 months of debut (February 24 - April 1, 2023)
Fifty Fifty is a group under the new entertainment company Attract. When they debuted in November of last year, there was no place to shine a light on them. This is because the company is not known to the industry, and even after their debut, there were no publicity activities other than appearances on music shows.
Attract was founded by CEO Jeon Hong-joon. CEO Jeon Hong-joon is a producer with deep bones in the music industry. A person who produced Bobby Kim's albums and has ties to Yang Soo-kyung, Cho Kwan-woo, Yoon Mi-rae, and Sim Soo-bong. However, since it was the first time raising an idol, success could not be guaranteed.
The first place to respond was the US mainland. They released their first single album 'The Beginning: Cupid' on February 24 this year. Fifty Fifty's first single album, 'The Beginning: Cupid', peaked at #8 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart for the week. This is Fifty Fifty's 'first Billboard record'. It was 110 days after debut.
Then, as of April 1st, it entered the main single chart 'Hot 100'. After four months of debut, he was listed on the 'Hot 100' and wrote a meaningful record of entering the shortest period among K-pop singers. They wrote the miracle of small and medium-sized idols under the name of 'Easy listening' that anyone can easily listen to. 'Easy Listening' is also a genre that many K-pop idol groups are attempting even now.
◆ Album activities that were different from expectations… Fifty Fifty and Attract disappeared for 2 months (April 2 - June 28, 2023)
"I want to do a lot of activities. I want to let people know that success is not by chance."
Fifty Fifty held a press conference when 'Cupid' was loved worldwide. At the time, Fifty Fifty expressed a strong will for a long run, saying that they wanted to prove that they were not 'one-hit wonders'.
About 2 months after that. A rift formed between Fifty Fifty and Attract. Among them, there were financial and systemic problems of the agency and health problems of the members. It seems that because of this, Attract and Fifty Fifty did not even communicate smoothly.
It was Attract that formulated the problem. On the 23rd, through an official press release, it was claimed that "external forces are being identified that are approaching Fifty Fifty and enticing them to violate the exclusive contract with us."
The external forces mentioned are 'The Givers', headed by producer Ahn Seong-il. Seong-il Ahn, CEO of The Giverse, signed a service contract with Attract and produced 55 Fifty's debut project. CEO Ahn Seong-il is the creator of 'Cupid'.
There was sympathy for Attract due to the suspicion of tempering (pre-contact before contract expiration), but it was the 55th members who turned the tables. On the 28th, the members announced, “On the 19th, we filed an application for a provisional injunction to suspend the exclusive contract against Attract, and the trial is in progress.” The reason was the agency's unilateral enforcement of activities and non-transparent settlement.
On the same day, The Givers side also announced a strong response, saying, "Attract mentioned 'external forces' intervention, but we have not intervened in any way."
◆ Exclusive Contract Dispute Dice Thrown, Attract and Fifty Fifty Going Worst (June 29th - July 5th, 2023)
Even after that, The Givers took the position of 'unfounded'. Accordingly, on July 3, Attract released a transcript to the media that will serve as evidence for the tempering suspicion. The transcript contains the circumstances that The Givers tried to transfer 55th to Warner Music Korea.
This call was made on May 9 of this year, and Warner Music Korea executive director Yoon explained in a phone call with CEO Jeon Hong-joon that he offered 20 billion won to CEO Ahn Seong-il as a buyout (amount that can be negotiated individually) for 55 members.
In the end, the three-way relationship deteriorated, and the right and wrong were covered in court. On the 5th, the first trial was held at the Seoul Central District Court regarding the termination of the 55th exclusive contract. On this day, Fifty Fifty cited three reasons for the termination of the exclusive contract. The omission of income items and the failure to provide settlement data faithfully, the violation of the physical and mental health care obligations of creditors, and the lack of support for human and material resources necessary for entertainment activities, etc.
The key was that the trust between the members and the agency was broken. Attract CEO Jeon Hong-joon claims that Interpark signed a 9 billion advance payment distribution contract with Star Crew Ent, the company the members signed the contract with at the time when they were trainees. Of this, 6 billion won was used for the investment in the album, and the income from the music source was paid to Star Crew Ent.
The lawyers pointed out, "If it was normal, an advance payment distribution contract of 9 billion won should have been concluded between Interpark and Attract." In addition, "Fifty Fifty members have never heard of the structure of the advance payment distribution contract between Interpark and Star Crew ENT, nor have they sought consent to this."
Fifty Fifty also insisted on the suspicion of breach of trust by CEO Jeon Hong-joon, and expressed its will to file a criminal complaint. They said, “From December of last year, when the music distributor paid the advance payment, until April, the revenue from albums and music sources was recorded as 0 won in the settlement data, so it was virtually omitted.” Considering that he committed breach of trust through this, we are considering even filing a criminal complaint."
On this day, the court ordered a detailed explanation from Attract about the reason for the delay in providing the settlement information and the unclear contract process with Star Crew Ent. The court decided to receive related data from both sides by the 26th and make a decision.
Reporter Yoon Jun-ho, Ten Asia delo410@tenasia.co.kr