Photo credit: Republic of Korea / CC from 2.0
In early June, three members of SM Entertainment’s EXO boy band canceled their exclusive contracts with the K-pop agency. After a decidedly public exchange of words, the parties involved have now settled the dispute, with Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen remaining part of the more than decade-old crime.
South Korean media, including the Korea Times recently reported on the “amicable settlement” that SM Entertainment and the trio of EXO members announced in a joint statement.
When we last asked about the contractual disagreement – which continues to draw criticism and protests from disgruntled EXO fans – an anonymous SM employee targeted (among other things) the alleged mistreatment of employees by the artists in question. Not long after, EXO fanatics drafted a clearly worded open letter to SM management, criticizing the cocoa partner’s alleged “misleading claims in the media.”
Despite these points and the alleged violations of South Korean entertainment law identified by Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen, the dispute appears to be in hindsight, as mentioned at the outset.
“We are pleased to announce that SM and the three artists have settled our differences and reached an amicable settlement,” the company and professionals said. “We will conduct negotiations and changes to our contracts and continue to strengthen our relationship.”
SM Entertainment executives also emphasized a desire to “strengthen our collaboration with our artists” — and in turn, prevent similar situations from happening in the future. Interestingly, given the highly competitive K-pop landscape, supervisors also said they “received a lead and then threw it out (through conversations with EXO) with the truth about what a third party with an inappropriate motive was trying to get at our artists.” “
While the value of the company’s stock (KOSDAQ: 041510) is up over 11 percent to ₩121,900 (currently $94.59) per share over the past five trading days, some EXO supporters don’t seem ready to share their negatives Giving up feelings towards SM.
“I just don’t understand what exactly is the core of Sm and Exo,” wrote one such supporter of the K-pop band, who are expected to release their seventh studio album. Exist, on 10th of July. “You have the BEST singers in one group, the group became the biggest group ever to come out of this company and yet the company never once supported them like the sabotage was crazy. I hate sm so much.”
In other K-pop news, BTS agency Hybe is reportedly raising nearly $400 million to fund an international takeover, and the company’s own stock (KRX: 352820) is at a 52-week high earlier in the year of ₩307,500 (US$238.76) per share achieved month.