K-Pop

SM forces artists to extend contracts until reaching a certain number of album releases?

Artists under SM are allegedly given a “KPI” for album releases, if they do not reach this number, they cannot terminate their contracts.

After SM Entertainment’ statement on June 1st, EXO members Chen, Xiumin, and Baekhyun unveiled their new stance, refuting SM claims. 

sm

In particular, the legal representative of Chen, Xiumin and Baekhyun denied the intervention of “external forces”, and commented that SM was releasing false information to distract the public’s attention.

Additionally, they also mentioned concerning terms on SM’s exclusive contracts, which is unreasonable, long, and disadvantageous to the artists. Below are some notable issues: 

  • The artists have previously entered into exclusive contracts with SM that lasted for over 12 to 13 years. This significantly deviates from the standard exclusive contract term of 7 years set by the Fair Trade Commission’s Standard Exclusive Contract for Popular Culture and Arts Professionals 
  • SM Entertainment also tried to enforce a 17-18 year contract by forcing extensions. In addition, there is a term that the contracts will be automatically extended until the artists reach a certain number of album releases, without any limit for the extension period, effectively forcing artists under “slave contracts”
  • The practice of binding artists with long-term, unlimited exclusive contracts is unreasonable. At the same time, SM has not provided any deposit for subsequent exclusive contracts to the artists.

It is also revealed that EXO Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin are considering filing a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission regarding the unfair and long-term exclusive contracts.

Source: VKR 

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