SM singers boycott Mnet music award

Artists managed under major talenthouse SM Entertainment have declared they will boycott a year-end music award ceremony held by cable music channel Mnet.

SM, who manages some of Korea's top singers including Girls' Generation, Super Junior and SHINee, announced in a press release on Tuesday that they would not participate in the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) set for November 21.

They explained that they cannot trust the criteria and standard of fairness used in making their selections, citing that Girls' Generation, who had topped a music chart for nine consecutive weeks, had never taken first place on Mnet's show and only entered their charts a month after their album was released.

The nine-member girl group's single "Gee" was a sensation throughout the country upon its release early this year, dominating music charts for over two months.

SM also requested their artists be removed from a mobile poll which asks participants to pay a fee to place a vote, saying they "do not want to see fans suffer any damage from the poll which has commercial intentions".

SM is the second agency after Inwoo Production to boycott the music festival. Inwoo, managing two of Korea's top younger trot singers Jang Yoon-jeong and Park Hyun-bin, announced yesterday that they will not attend MAMA, also questioning the fairness of the awards ceremony.

Mnet will be holding the MAMA for the first time this year in place of its ten-year long Mnet KM Music Festival (MKMF).

Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr