IDOLS WHO TERMINATE THEIR UNFAIR CONTRACT

By following Kpop, we realize that being a kpop artists give you a lot of rules to follow, either by the general public to uphold good image and the idol’s  agency. During the years, with so many dissatisfactions come from the idols themselves, netizen brought out a term to mention an unjust contract that the idols often have as “slave contract”. Why is that? Well, because before the new policy and ruling for government, an idol contract can be as long as 15 years, and the sharing profits are insanely unbalanced towards the agency, music distribution and the idol. In reality, we might found a lot of idols who have successfully terminate their unjust contract, including:

1. JYJ Junsu, yoochun, Jaejoong

They might be the beginning (role model) from a lot of idols who pursues a better agreement or term with the agency. The contract dispute between SM Entertainment and group JYJ has finally come to end after three years and four months. On November 28, both sides agreed to terminate the lawsuit filed by JYJ against SM in July of 2009. Both parties have also agreed to not interfere with one another’s activities.

In 2004, Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, and Kim Junsu along with Jung Yunho and Shim Changmin debuted as the group Dong Bang Shin Ki (a.k.a. TVXQ) under SM Entertainment. In 2009, the former three filed a lawsuit against their former company for the unfairness of their thirteen year “slave contract,” and began their activities as JYJ in 2010 while still in the legal battle with SM.

2. Super junior Han geng

 “Super Junior member HanKyung has filed for the provisional disposition of the exclusive contract with SM Entertainment at the Seoul Central District Court. According to this Chinese media report, “Even though the details tothe request for invalidation of the exclusive contract cannot be

revealed, it has been interpreted that there are unreasonableconditions in the contract with SM Entertainment and HanKyung is doing this for his future personal development.”

Hangeng won the case and now can promote freely in his hometown country, China.

Through OSEN’s phone conversation with SM Entertainment on 21st Dec, it was also revealed that, “For the sake of Super Junior, they will try to settle this through communication.”

3. EXO Kris, tao, luhan

One by one, almost all Chinese members from popular boy group, EXO, tried to terminate their contract. Starting from Kris, then Luhan and then Tao, tried to terminate their contract with SM entertainment. All of them are now an active entertainers in their home town country, China, and already gain success and profit.

4. Block B
Block B is suing its agency after receiving no money for close to a year. The rookie band that shocked the nation last year by making jokes about the devastating flooding in Thailand has found that the joke’s on them this time. The boy band has asked the Seoul Central District Court on Friday to place an injunction on the exclusive contract signed with its agency, Stardom Entertainment.According to the court, the agency had stopped paying the group members since April 2012.

The contract between the group and the agency stipulated that in addition to providing adequate training and gigs for the rookie band, members would be paid a monthly salary. “The money we are owed for performing at different festivals and taking part in drama soundtracks as well as income from the Japanese fan club foundation is still to be paid,” the band stated.

In addition, the agency’s CEO had apparently taken the 70 million won ($65,782) “startup costs” pooled by the members’ families and fled.

5. BAP

The six members of B.A.P - Bang Yongguk, Kim Himchan, Jung Daehyun, Yoo Youngjae, Moon Jongup and Zelo - submitted legal documents to the Seoul Western District Court on Wednesday to nullify the exclusive contracts that they had signed with the agency in March 2011.

The idols cited the unfair contract that only benefits the label as the reason behind their decision to sue the agency.They described the contract as a "slave contract."

They took issue mainly with the unreasonably long seven-year contract, invasion of privacy, exploitation of basic rights and unjust distribution of profits from their work. The group claimed that since their debut in January 2012, each member has brought home only 18 million won (S$21,172) though they made about 10 billion won for their activities at the K-pop scene.

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