'Hiring Power Abuse Controversy' Classic YouTube Channel, Rival's Malicious Comments Back in Spotlight

Performance Planning Company Studio The Zone Requests Investigation into Malicious Comments
"Police Investigation Reveals It Was 'Ttomo'"

The classical music YouTube channel 'Ttomo' has sparked controversy after allegations surfaced that it posted a large number of malicious comments about a competitor's performance. Ttomo is a YouTube channel with about 700,000 subscribers, run by male students from the Class of 2019 at Sejong University’s College of Music. In 2021, it was embroiled in controversy for suddenly cutting a new hire’s annual salary by 5 million KRW during the recruitment process for experienced staff.

Performance planning company Studio The Zone stated on social media on the 23rd, "Recently, every time a performance we hosted ended, we were inundated with an enormous amount of malicious comments. We thought it was due to many shortcomings and did our best to improve the quality of the performances, but the intensity of the malicious comments only increased. Feeling that this could not continue, we hired a lawyer and requested an investigation from the Gangnam Police Station."

According to the performance industry on the 26th, the event planning company Studio The Zone announced on social networking service (SNS) on the 23rd, "Recently, after every performance we hosted, we have been suffering from an enormous amount of malicious comments. We thought it was because of many shortcomings, so we did our best to improve the quality of the performances, but the intensity of the malicious comments only increased. We felt this could not continue, so we appointed a lawyer and requested an investigation at the Gangnam Police Station."
[Photo by Studio The Zone Instagram]

The Zone said, "IP tracking revealed that the malicious comments came from the classical YouTube channel and performance planning company 'Ttomo.' We cannot understand why they would mercilessly pour such malicious comments on us, whom they have never met."

The Zone also disclosed specific examples of malicious comments such as, "That XX is the eldest son of a mid-sized company named ○○, relying on his dad’s money to swagger into the classical music world. He should be doing practical music instead of coming into the classical scene and causing trouble with celebrity fan service," and, "So you shouldn’t like The Zone Concert (Studio The Zone’s concert). According to the article, they couldn’t even get official sheet music and transcribed it by ear."

While stating that "these posts are only a very small portion," The Zone added, "Ttomo also makes disparaging remarks about practical music professionals. Such shameless acts that undermine the performance industry must be eradicated, and we will respond strongly."

As the controversy spread, Ttomo issued a statement on the 26th saying, "Regarding the recent unverified speculative posts and defamatory writings about Ttomo, we have retained a law firm and decided to take legal action. We will fully cooperate with any forthcoming investigations and do our best to clarify the facts, while strictly responding to baseless defamation and false information."

Ttomo: "We will respond strictly to defamation and false information"

As the controversy spread, the Ttomo side issued a statement on the 26th, saying, "Regarding the recent unverified speculative posts and defamatory writings about Ttomo, we have appointed a law firm and decided to take legal action." They added, "We will do our best to actively cooperate with any future investigations to clearly verify the facts, and at the same time, we will respond strictly to groundless defamation and false information." [Photo by Ttomo YouTube channel community]

Ttomo is a classical music YouTube channel created by students from the Class of 2019 at Sejong University’s College of Music. Since 2019, they have produced classical videos with entertainment elements such as hidden cameras and challenges. As of the 26th, Ttomo has about 708,000 subscribers.

In 2021, Ttomo was involved in a 'power abuse' controversy during the recruitment of experienced staff. They conducted an interview with an experienced PD and agreed on an annual salary of 40 million KRW, but the day before the first day of work, they suddenly notified the candidate that the salary was reduced to 35 million KRW. It was reported that the candidate had already resigned from their previous job and was prepared to transfer to Ttomo.

When the experienced employee protested, CEO Baek Seung-jun called and said, "The company has the right to dismiss employees during the probation period," and "It seems you don’t consider us a company. Attitude is also reflected in evaluations," which further fueled the controversy.

As the controversy escalated, CEO Baek issued an apology stating, "The applicant said they were at the deputy manager or manager level, but we found out they were a freelancer earning 3 million KRW per month," and "They were invited to attend a company-hosted performance before officially starting work, but their attitude was different from the interview, which disappointed the staff."

However, as criticism intensified, Ttomo issued an apology and suspended channel operations, resuming activities three months later in March of last year.

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