Conflict Escalates Between NewJeans' Agency ADOR and Director Shin Woo-seok Over Music Video Rights

The conflict between NewJeans' agency ADOR and director Shin Woo-seok, who collaborated on the group's music videos, is escalating. Director Shin Woo-seok has demanded an apology, stating, "Stop lying and apologize," while ADOR has responded by calling it an "overreaction to contract violation issues."

Director Shin Woo-seok took to his social media account to urge ADOR for an apology. He stated, "CEO Kim Joo-young, Deputy CEO Lee Do-kyung, I have recordings and emails, so stop lying," adding, "In ADOR's statement, I am a spreader of false information, but why are you desperately trying to persuade me behind the scenes?" on the 9th.

He continued, "After legal consultation, it was confirmed that the ownership of the Ban Hee-soo channel belongs to Dolphin Kidnappers as per the original agreement. However, the rights to the channel are not particularly important to us. We are satisfied as long as the Ban Hee-soo channel exists as an extension of the work."

Director Shin stated, "There is only one demand: apologize," adding, "If an apology is posted on ADOR's official channel by today, Dolphin Kidnappers will transfer the Ban Hee-soo channel to ADOR." He warned, "If there is no apology, I will find a way to transfer the Ban Hee-soo channel to the fans and sue ADOR for defamation with evidence of the original agreement." He emphasized, "Do not distort the truth with dirty media play."

In response, ADOR released a statement on social media late that afternoon, disregarding Director Shin's demand for an apology. ADOR stated, "The music video production service contract between ADOR and Dolphin Kidnappers clearly states that all rights to the music videos and secondary works belong to ADOR," adding, "Therefore, posting videos containing NewJeans IP on the Dolphin Kidnappers channel without ADOR's approval is a clear violation of the service contract."

ADOR continued, "For this reason, we requested Dolphin Kidnappers to provide evidence (email, KakaoTalk messages) of permission and approval for the use of copyrights and artist portraits, or to take down the 'Director's Cut' if there is none," adding, "Protecting the artist's works is a natural duty of the label. If Dolphin Kidnappers has any agreements with ADOR, they should present them."

ADOR stated, "We never asked Dolphin Kidnappers to delete the videos on the Ban Hee-soo channel," adding, "We only conducted a fact-checking process on the 'ETA Music Video Director's Cut' to protect the artist's copyrights and never mentioned the Ban Hee-soo channel. ADOR does not want the Ban Hee-soo channel to disappear. Dolphin Kidnappers can continue to operate the channel as long as they adhere to the contractual agreements regarding the artist's works."

Additionally, ADOR stated, "Overreacting to the point of deleting all content due to a contract violation issue is neither an act stemming from the pure pain of a creator nor an action for NewJeans and their fans," adding, "We hope there will be no more actions that increase the anxiety of the artist and fandom by holding the YouTube channel hostage."

ADOR and Director Shin Woo-seok have been publicly disputing since the 2nd. On the 2nd, Director Shin claimed, "It seems there has been a policy change at ADOR with the new management," adding, "Due to ADOR's deletion request, all NewJeans music videos and related videos uploaded by Dolphin Kidnappers, as well as videos scheduled for future upload, can no longer be made public." ADOR countered, stating that the claims were not true.

Meanwhile, on the 27th of last month, ADOR dismissed former CEO Min Hee-jin and appointed HYBE's CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer) Kim Joo-young as the new CEO. ADOR stated that former CEO Min would continue to produce NewJeans, but Min opposed, claiming that the content of the production delegation contract was unreasonable.

Choi Ji-ye, TenAsia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr