At around 8:30 am Korean time, CBX released a statement via their Lawyer that they had filed a complaint to the Korean Fair Trade Commission(KFTC) yesterday to report violations that SM had committed to the corrective orders KFTC had given in 2007 and 2011.
Violations are as follows according to CBX's side
- Specifying contract start date as the time of debut in the entertainment industry rather than when the contract was signed. This allows the company to arbitrarily determine contract length
- Contracts longer than the industry standard. In 2007 KFTC had determined SM contracts were excessively long compared to other industries. At the time Contract length was 3 -5 years.
- Extending contract period due to overseas expansion.
- Clauses that extend contract dates by using arbitrary measures. Such as "Fifth anniversary of the first album release" or "End of the fifth year after appearing in a role above supporting cast member"
- Extensions based on arbitrary album release measures with no upper limit.
Additionally it was revealed that SM contracts are 7 years + 3 years for overseas activities. And additionally, contracts are frozen for Military service. So contracts can end up being 13 years long.
They also revealed that SM would have artists renew their contracts a year ahead of the contract expiry date. This is actually a way for SM to control the contract signer as clauses specify that the artist can wholesale cancel the contract up to six months before the expiration date and doing this forgoes their ability to cut ties.
Their complaint also emphasizes that the KFTC should investigate EVERY SM ARTIST CONTRACT
