After the members of K-pop group NewJeans held an “emergency” press conference yesterday to let their fans know that they are parting ways with their label – HYBE’s Ador – the label itself has issued a statement saying that, as far as it is concerned, its exclusive contract with the group is still in effect.
The press conference took place just hours before a deadline set by the group for Ador to address a list of grievances that were set out in a document earlier this month.
Bosses at HYBE and Ador “are not showing any will to make reform or to listen to our requests”, the group’s members told reporters, according to Soompi. As the group’s label – or ‘agency’, to use the K-pop vernacular – Ador “is obligated to protect NewJeans”, they continued, adding that that “is the most basic obligation that an agency has”.
But under its current management team, they went on, “Ador does not have the will or ability to protect NewJeans. If we remain here, it will be a waste of our time and our mental distress will continue”. To that end, they stated, “the exclusive contracts between NewJeans and Ador will be terminated as of November 29 at 12 am KST”.
Despite that bold statement, the question remains as to whether NewJeans are legally entitled to terminate their contract with Ador based on the grievances they set out in their document earlier this month, and the claim that Ador has failed to deal with those grievances. The HYBE label is adamant that the answer to that question is “no”.
“The exclusive agreement between Ador and the NewJeans members remains in full effect”, Ador said in a statement issued shortly after the group’s press conference. It then added, “we regret that the press conference regarding the termination of the exclusive contract was planned and conducted without sufficient review”, and prior to Ador formally responding to the group’s grievances document.
That formal response apparently reached the group shortly before the press conference, with NewJeans subsequently making it public. The label insists that it “has always sought reasonable solutions to problems whenever they arose”, but says that at least some of the issues raised by NewJeans are ultimately out of its control.
Among the grievances was the allegation that an executive at another HYBE label, Belift Lab, told members of the group Illit to ignore NewJeans member Hanni when they crossed paths at HYBE HQ. NewJeans want an apology from that executive. Earlier this week Ador put out a public statement urging Belift Lab to provide that apology. But, it says, Ador’s management team can’t force that to happen.
Anticipating that response, during their press conference NewJeans accused Ador of trying to distance itself from the conduct of people elsewhere within the HYBE business, when Ador and HYBE are basically the same thing.
“HYBE and Ador are currently differentiating the two companies”, the group explained, “insisting that it cannot be a violation of contract because HYBE is at fault and not Ador. However, as everyone knows, HYBE and Ador are pretty much just one entity now”.
Other demands made by NewJeans in their document earlier this month, according to Korea JoongAng Daily, include that a HYBE PR officer accused of downplaying the group’s achievements be replaced; that an ongoing dispute with music video director Shin Woo-seok be resolved; that videos and photographs published without the group’s consent be deleted; and that Ador co-founder Min Hee-jin be reinstated as the label’s CEO.
That last demand doesn’t require any third parties to comply, in that the Ador board could reinstate Min with immediate effect. Though that seems unlikely. The feud between Min and HYBE and the current Ador management team has intensified significantly since she was pushed out of the CEO job in August.
Various attempts to placate Min by offering her a better deal to stay on in a creative role with New Jeans have failed. Last week Min formally resigned as a director of Ador and this week she filed a complaint against two HYBE PR executives with Seoul police.
The public nature of Ador’s beef with Min – and now with NewJeans – is not good for HYBE’s reputation with fans, employees and investors. Last month HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang tried to reassure employees that things were getting back on track saying that the “knot would gradually untangle”, but since then things have only got worse. Whether that reputation damage will be enough to persuade HYBE to cut NewJeans free from their contractual commitments to Ador remains to be seen.
Certainly, legally speaking, Ador seems certain it is not obliged to let the group go. In its formal response to the group’s grievances it said that, just because its efforts to deal with those grievances are “not the specific kind the artists wanted or did not meet their expectations”, that “does not mean we violated the exclusive contracts”.