Eumrehyeop says to FiftyFifty, "Raising settlement issues immediately after debut is a misunderstanding"

"The Fifty Incident, an Act Undermining the Entire Domestic Music Industry"

Yoon Dong-hwan, chairman of the Korea Music Label Industry Association, stated that it is a "mistake" to raise settlement issues immediately after debut regarding the exclusive contract dispute surrounding the four-member girl group Fifty Fifty, which entered the US Billboard charts in the shortest period in K-pop girl group history and was called the "miracle of a small to mid-sized idol group."

On the 1st, Chairman Yoon addressed several issues raised by Fifty Fifty when applying for suspension of the exclusive contract's effectiveness on the YouTube channel Yeontuyu TV.

Group Fifty Fifty

He explained, “Investment in album and digital music advance payments is structured to offset against monthly album and digital music revenues. For stars with guaranteed earnings to some extent, investments are made targeting the artist, so I personally think notification is necessary, but for rookies, advance payment investment is almost impossible.”

He continued, “Nevertheless, receiving an 8 billion KRW advance payment investment shows the capability or potential of CEO Jeon Hong-jun. Whether there is an obligation to notify the artist in this case requires discussion. If mishandled, the entire music industry could shrink and become depressed.”

He further analyzed, “At first, it inevitably starts with losses and deficits. As investment, loss, and profit repeat, there will come a point when profits occur. Raising settlement issues shortly after debut is a mistake.”

Regarding the members’ claims of “violation of health management obligations” and “insufficient activity support,” Chairman Yoon said, “There is no objective sample, so the standards are unclear. If limited content is included in the standard contract, legal disputes can occur anytime. If lawsuits are rampant, the effectiveness of exclusive contracts could weaken.”

In conclusion, he said, “It was a situation where good content achieved good results, and since this ultimately contributed to the development of K-pop and the popular music industry, it is very regrettable.”

Fifty Fifty debuted on November 18 last year with their first album The Fifty. The title track “Cupid” from their single album The Beginning: Cupid, released on February 24 this year, entered the Billboard main singles chart, the Hot 100, in March.

While progressing smoothly, on June 19, Fifty Fifty filed an injunction seeking to terminate their exclusive contract with Attract, citing violations such as failure to provide settlement data, breach of health management obligations for members, and lack of human and material resource support capabilities.

However, the court dismissed the injunction to suspend the exclusive contract’s effectiveness, judging that Fifty Fifty failed to sufficiently prove the reasons for terminating the exclusive contract.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.