As controversy over NewJeans’ exclusive contract spilled over into criticism of the K-pop industry by foreign media, the domestic popular music industry pushed back.
On the 9th, the Korea Popmusic Industry Association issued a statement expressing concern over recent coverage by The New York Times (NYT) of NewJeans’ exclusive contract, calling it “a one-sided assessment that does not adequately reflect the realities of the K-pop industry.”
The NYT had earlier said it obtained the exclusive contract that NewJeans’ members signed with ADOR in 2022, when they were minors, and raised concerns about some of its provisions. It pointed to issues including the lack of adequate guarantees for rights related to education, the method for calculating penalty payments, and a clause allowing the agency to use the members’ names, likenesses and voices even after the contract ended.
The NYT viewed this as one of the structural problems within the K-pop industry.
HYBE immediately pushed back. It explained that its labels sign national standard youth supplementary agreements with trainees, and that these agreements include provisions to protect young people, such as rights to personal dignity, education, sleep and rest. It also rebutted the NYT’s concerns point by point, citing the facts and the structure of the contracts.
The Korea Popmusic Industry Association also joined the industry-wide pushback.
The association’s position is that an individual contract involving a particular artist should not be extrapolated into a problem with the entire K-pop industry. It argues that assessing the legality and fairness of an exclusive contract requires looking beyond selected clauses to consider relevant laws, supplementary agreements, how the contract was concluded and how it was actually carried out.
In particular, the association highlighted institutional safeguards established as the K-pop industry grew. It said the government’s “Standard Contract for Popular Culture and Arts” and the “Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act” have helped reconcile the interests of production companies and artists and protect their rights.
The association said, “Protecting artists’ rights and respecting production companies’ legitimate rights are not competing values,” adding, “The rights of underage artists must be guaranteed, but production companies’ legitimate investments and contractual rights must also be protected.”
It also defended K-pop’s distinctive trainee system. The association argued that the so-called “incubation system,” in which artists make their debut after years of investment and training, is one of K-pop’s competitive strengths.
The association also stressed that major talent agencies operate various safeguards for young artists, including education, health care and rest. It said that viewing such systems simply through the lens of “control” or “oppression,” as some foreign commentators do, reflects a failure to properly understand the characteristics of the K-pop industry.
The association nevertheless affirmed the need to protect underage artists. It said that further strengthening related systems and safeguarding artists’ rights remain ongoing tasks for the industry.
What the association particularly objected to in this controversy was the disclosure by foreign media of contract terms that are currently the subject of legal proceedings. Citing the fact that the contract involved confidentiality obligations between the parties, the association argued that “one party’s claims or unverified information should not be accepted as objective fact.”
The controversy now appears to be expanding beyond the details of NewJeans’ individual exclusive contract into a broader debate over contract practices in the K-pop industry and systems for protecting artists.
The Korea Popmusic Industry Association said that “we must be wary of individual disputes leading to negative assessments of the K-pop industry as a whole,” and stated that it would work to protect artists’ rights while upholding sound contractual practices.
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
