Suing the management company, 3 EXO members are at risk of being "banned from broadcasting"

Exclusive contract for up to 17 – 18 years

Three members of the famous Kpop group EXO, including Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen, have just caused a stir in the Kpop entertainment industry when they announced that they will sue management company SM Entertainment to terminate their exclusive contract.

According to a report by Yonhap News, the members have been asking the company for full transparency in reports on the members' activities and revenue since March, but SM has refused to provide them.

3 EXO members are at risk of being sued by their management company.

EXO members Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen sue management company SM

In a statement to fans, the three male idols said that the group wanted to resolve the issue peacefully so as not to cause concern to their fans. The members themselves were also very scared, but still decided to speak up because they were being mistreated.

One of the grievances raised by representatives of Chen, Xiumin and Baekhyun was related to the exclusive contract the group signed with SM. In which, the artists said that the contract was initially signed for 12-13 years, much longer than the 7 standards set by the Korean Fair Trade Commission.

However, SM lets artists sign contract extensions in advance, increasing the total number of years under the contract to at least 17-18 years.

However, SM Entertainment has firmly denied the accusations that the company has not provided accounting records for many years, claiming that the members have not made any requests in the past. SM even claims that the 3 members of EXO were incited by outsiders, influenced by external forces, and forced the idols to leave.

On June 2, the idols' lawyers revealed that the three members want to stay in EXO despite leaving SM Entertainment: "We are looking for ways for the artists to stay in EXO despite the end of their contracts. Even before the contract was terminated, during negotiations with SM, the idols asked for cooperation, allowing them to participate in EXO's activities."

A series of artists were once put on the "blacklist" after legal disputes

3 EXO members are at risk of being sued by their management company.

Three members of JYJ were once "banned" from Korean entertainment programs for a long time.

According to Koreaboo, the incident involving the three EXO members is making fans worry about the future of their idols. This worry is well-founded because they are not the first artists to have contract problems with SM.

Previously, a series of artists who left SM also made similar accusations about the so-called “slave contract” with this entertainment company. Among them are artists such as former DBSK members Jaejoong, Junsu, Yoochun; former Super Junior member Han Geng; former Girls' Generation member Jessica Jung; former EXO members Lu Han and Tao.

The biggest incident that shook the Korean entertainment industry was in 2009, when three members of DBSK, Jaejoong, Yoonchun, and Junsu, filed a lawsuit against SM. The members argued that the 13-year contract was too long and that the group's remuneration was too little compared to the effort they put in. The Seoul Central District Court made a final decision in favor of Jaejoong, Junsu, and Yoochun.

The legal battle between the two sides ended, the 3 idols left SM, forming a new group called JYJ. But from here, they had to face a new “fate” when SM used its power to suppress them. All 3 were put on the “blacklist” of Korean TV stations.

For a long time, 3 members of JYJ were banned from appearing on Korean entertainment programs. The group had to find new ways to work, promote in Japan, participate in movies to appear on television...

In 2015, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (NCSC) passed a law called the “JYJ Act,” which stemmed from the pressure JYJ was put on them by their former management company, SM, to appear on shows. The JYJ Act prevents acts of obstructing or suppressing artists from appearing on television for unjustified reasons.

However, even after the JYJ Act was passed, the “blacklist” continued to exist. In 2018, Junsu burst into tears during his show, confessing that he felt less like an idol because he had not appeared on television for so long. The singer was disappointed that he could not compete fairly with his colleagues due to his limited television appearances. He could not sing his songs on music shows, not even once.

Nearly 10 years after the lawsuit, in 2019, Jaejoong officially appeared for the first time on the TV show Taste Of Dating 2.

Not only JYJ, former member of Girls' Generation, Jessica Jung, has also "disappeared" from Korean television since the group split in 2014. She changed direction, actively promoting in the US market. Jessica also published a novel called "Shine".

3 EXO members are at risk of being sued by their management company.

Jessica Jung after leaving Girl's Generation also had to actively promote in the US market.

Jessica introduced that the novel was written “based on experience”. The novel is about a young Korean-American man who wants to join the Kpop entertainment industry.

In one page of the novel, the main character asks a female idol working in the industry about the contract term with the entertainment company DB Entertainment (fictional).

In response, a bitter explanation was given that DB had complete control over her career, even tricking her and the other members of the group into signing a contract extension, increasing the total number of years of the original contract. These details are said to be completely identical to the incident of the 3 EXO members.

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