Five organizations related to Korean popular music, including the Korea Management Association, the Korea Entertainment Producers Association, the Korea Music Label Industry Association, the Recording Industry Association of Korea, and the Korea Music Content Association, recently mentioned the ‘New Jeans incident’.

On the 27th, a press conference titled ‘Let’s keep a promise: If there are no record producers, there is no K-pop!’ was held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Banpo, Seoul with the participation of officials from the five organizations.

That day, Lee Nam-kyung, Director of Korea Management, touched on the current status of the standard exclusive contract and tampering (pre-contact and pre-exclusive contract) issues.

Director Lee said, “The standard exclusive contract and tampering issues are becoming social issues. The problem is that despite social and cultural changes, the existing perception of the standard exclusive contract has not changed and is still being operated. The standard exclusive contract is a contract maintained by the principle of good faith between the two parties. The contract is made under the promise to keep trust. Derivative contracts are also made under that. We need to look at how strong the bond is,” he explained.

He continued, “The biggest problem is that because of the initial intention, all obligations and intentions are concentrated on the agency. The relationship between the celebrity and the agency is no longer vertical, but rather a partnership. Despite this, most of the responsibility for the bond is transferred to the agency. The celebrity actually has three obligations: to maximize their talents, to prevent damage to dignity, and to act without infringing on the interests of the contract, such as entering into similar contracts. It is difficult to objectively measure these matters and hold them accountable for violations. Therefore, in most cases, the company has no choice but to defend and the singer has to attack. Therefore, the reality is that the company has no choice but to prepare for a defensive position when a dispute arises over the exclusive contract.”

In addition, “In exclusive contract disputes, the majority are resolved through injunctions to suspend the validity of the exclusive contract. From the company‘s perspective, it is a form of telling the singer not to continue the business, and guaranteeing individual activities for the singer. The judgment itself should not be a judgment that breaks the trust relationship. If it is a judgment that causes damage to the company, the judgment that causes damage to the entertainer should be applied equally. The court should lead this.”He said, “The first thing that should be done in a dispute is to create an environment where a mediation period can be held. I think the court should be conservative in its judgment regarding injunctions to suspend the validity of the exclusive contract. There are many mediation agencies, but there are many cases where they are simply absorbed in the trial. It is necessary to proceed so that mediation can be done through a content-specialized agency.”He also said about the girl group New Jeans, who recently declared the termination of their exclusive contract due to the agency’s failure to fulfill its responsibilities and are taking independent action, “The current situation where they simply claim termination in various recent incidents is very dangerous. This is because it is an act that destroys the reliability of the exclusive contract itself. In particular, unilateral declaration of termination of the exclusive contract and independent activities are very dangerous. It means that the validity of the exclusive contract can be overturned at any time. It is necessary to distinguish right and wrong within the framework of the law.”


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.