As the controversy surrounding girl group Fifty Fifty continues, Warner Music, which is in charge of Fifty Fifty’s overseas distribution, spoke out.
In a situation where Fifty Fifty’s agency Attrakt and The Givers, which was in charge of producing, are in a tense confrontation, Warner Music, which has communicated with both sides, can be said to hold the “key” to determine the authenticity of the conflicting claims.
In a phone call with Munhwa Ilbo on July 18th, Warner Music’s executive director Yoon responded cautiously “I don’t think we can talk about this and that at the moment” but gave a relatively clear answer. Executive director Yoon is the person who told Attrakt’s CEO Jeon Hong Joon “We offered CEO Ahn Sung Il 20 billion won for a buyout before” in a recording file previously released by CEO Jeon.
Initially, CEO Jeon made it clear that “‘Direct listing’ is my goal and honor” by proceeding with the pre-paid investment method without selling the company in response to The Givers producer Ahn Sung Il’s “label deal” proposal. This is also confirmed through the text messages the two exchanged on April 22nd.
Afterwards, CEO Jeon met Warner Music’s CEO Jin and executive director Yoon on May 8th. At this meeting, there was no talk about label deal. However, on May 9th, a day later, executive director Yoon called CEO Jeon and mentioned “20-billion-won buyout”.
Regarding the situation at that time, executive director Yoon said, “I had to confirm it with CEO Jeon accurately. CEO Jeon replied, ‘I won’t talk about that’ (rejecting label deal and buyout) and ‘I will list directly.’” In other words, Warner Music confirmed the existing position of CEO Jeon, who rejected the label deal and said “I’ll grow the company myself“.
It was confirmed that Warner Music, which was attracted to Fifty Fifty, also proposed a pre-paid investment in Attrakt after the label deal proposal failed. Executive director Yoon revealed, “We were also talking about advance payments. We were negotiating the contract.” Producer Ahn insisted on the difficulty of direct listing and recommended “Go a different way“, but Warner Music looked positively at CEO Jeon’s willingness to further grow the company without handing over the stake.
As Warner Music remained silent about this incident, suspicions have also been raised that “Warner Music seems to be greedy for Fifty Fifty“. If Fifty Fifty, which is currently in a legal battle after filing an injunction against the agency to suspend the validity of the exclusive contract, wins the case, independent activities will be possible. However, it is actually impossible for 4 members who have grown mainly in overseas markets to work independently without the help of a professional agency. For this reason, there are concerns that if Fifty Fifty’s injunction is accepted, they may join hands with Warner Music or The Givers.
Regarding this view, executive director Yoon drew a line, “We haven’t considered such a thing yet. Fifty Fifty is still distributing overseas through Warner Music. We’re proceeding with their work through Attrakt (not The Givers).” This is to emphasize that Warner Music is distancing themselves from the allegation that producer Ahn and Warner Music seem to be connected.
A person familiar with the music industry said, “Small and medium-sized production companies and producers are keeping an eye on Warner Music. Attrakt and The Givers are expected to have a sharp legal battle in the future, as Warner Music is likely to act as a witness. If Warner Music joins hands and works directly with Fifty Fifty after Fifty Fifty’s injunction to suspend the validity of the exclusive contract is accepted, they will suffer tremendous criticism and a moral blow that is hard to reverse.”
Source: Daum
