Reporter Seunghoon Lee | 2023.08.20 00:46
/Photo = SBS ‘I want to know that’ ‘I want to know that’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Gal’) aired the girl group Fifty Fifty incident, but ended the broadcast without being able to solve any one of them quickly.
SBS ‘Gal’, which aired on the afternoon of the 19th, uncovered the truth battle surrounding the Fifty Fifty exclusive contract dispute and the structural problems of the K-pop idol industry.
On August 9, when the first round of mediation between Fifty Fifty’s agencies, Attract and Dugibus, took place, the members’ families conducted an unofficial interview with ‘Gal’.
The family of Fifty Fifty A member said, “The former CEO of the agency, Attract, is like an object of fear to the children. All of our children felt it. Our young children have to live with this agency for another 7 years, and they will not be able to endure it. same,” he said.
Next, member B’s family said, “CEO Jeon said to come back, but all public opinion was made like this, and everyone told me to come back. We were more afraid of that.”
Member C’s family exposed the agency’s atrocities. He said, “In my opinion, the settlement part is incidental. I won’t talk about the other members. One day, one member ran out of the agency because he was having a lot of trouble. I had several seizures due to panic disorder. There were times when I fainted in the hospital and woke up on a ventilator.”
In addition, member C’s family said, “There was CCTV at the agency, and the dorm was under too much surveillance and control, and there was a lot of pressure. Meals were not provided properly, and when the members’ parents brought food, they threw all the side dishes into the living room and threw them out to the members to pick them up. I was severely subjected to these insulting words and actions telling me to throw it in the trash quickly.”
/Photo = SBS ‘I want to know that’
Fifty Fifty, a rookie girl group that debuted only six months ago, appeared on the billboard in Times Square, New York, USA, the center of world popular culture, where every musician wants to be known at least once. Although they were a group of four female idols who were not widely known in Korea, their single album titled “Cupid” was a hit in the US. Fifty Fifty made a surprise entry into the US Billboard’s main single chart ‘Hot 100’ just four weeks after the album’s release, peaking at No. 17 and showing off its spirit by staying at the top for over 21 weeks.
In addition, as news spread that they were to sing the title song of the OST album of the Hollywood movie ‘Barbie’, in which world-class pop stars participated, Fifty Fifty’s success came to be called the ‘miracle of small and medium-sized idols’.
However, in June, their trend was suddenly put to a halt. The members of Fifty Fifty suspended all activities and filed a lawsuit against the agency for a provisional injunction to suspend the validity of the exclusive contract.
A lawyer from the agency’s Attract said, “I think there are adults controlling this case behind the scenes. We have evidence. Small and medium-sized agencies invested all their assets, including the small amount saved by their elderly mother, and invested 8 billion won or more. We have invested a huge amount of money to grow this group,” he said.
In an interview with a media outlet, the former CEO of Attract also said, “I thought why, and little by little, parents and children were gaslighted by two experts. I think they were completely gaslighted. I can’t explain it in any way. It’s amazing. “he said.
On the other hand, director Dougiverse Baek is arguing differently from Attract, saying, “It’s a dispute between the agency and the artist, but I don’t know why they’re trying to look the other way while using words that can sound irritating, such as external forces, gaslighting, and tempering.”
In the end, the family members of Fifty Fifty opened their mouths directly through a phone call with ‘Gal’. The family said, “It was really absurd that the real things we knew were covered in a story, but we didn’t respond and waited patiently. If I’m going to say it correctly, I don’t want to go back. It’s not good emotionally.”
/Photo = SBS ‘I want to know that’
Fifty Fifty attorney Young-seok Yoo said that the 1st quarter settlement statement received from his agency Attract was strange. “The debut album was released in November 2022. There is a lot of content, but the revenue from music sources has not been displayed.”
In fact, from January to March, the agency spent hundreds of millions of won, but Fifty Fifty’s income was only 25,000 won per person and 100,000 won in total. There was no record of revenue from albums or music sources.
Attorney Young-seok Yoo said, “If you look at the settlement data, the actual music revenue received is not an attract, but a B-enter. Considering the number of albums released, the amount of 8 billion was actually a difficult amount to understand. So we Of course, I had no choice but to inquire. I said, ‘Direct cost is 3 billion won, indirect cost is 5 billion won’, but later, ‘Including direct cost and indirect cost, it is 6.3 billion won. I keep the rest as deposit’ and so on. was,” he said.
B Enter is another entertainment agency that is actually owned by the former CEO of Attract, and it is known that there are no active singers.
However, in the end, ‘Gal’ reports things that are taken for granted in the K-pop industry as if only Fifty Fifty is suffering damage, or has an ambiguous ending, saying, “Shouldn’t the right of talented artists to choose reliable production companies be respected?” The comment made viewers tilt their heads.
In addition, no information has been disclosed regarding the fact that Fifty Fifty members had already individually registered trademark rights at the time of the announcement of the application for provisional injunction for independent activities, raising suspicions of ‘biased broadcasting’. After the broadcast, the bulletin board for viewers of ‘Gal’ was also paralyzed.
SBS ‘Gal’ is broadcast every Saturday at 11:10 pm.
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