Posts by ItsActuallyMe

Quote from tetetete

I think it's a specific problem with the show 'Newsroom' because it's the same show which was involved in 2019 too

Probably the PD of the show has some anti-bts sentiments or is motivated by bribes

The PD changed since then. The PD at the time was Sohn Suk-hee who also was the anchor (has a big reputation in Korea). He stepped down in December 2019 shortly after the BTS scandal (though has not been reported it was because of that), and later was JTBC's President for some time in 2020. He made his return this year with a show on MBC.

BTS just has an unfortunate position in the korean media landscape in general and beyond. Heck there was even a Korean rail employee who was fired for accessing RM's personal info but quickly got reinstated. I remember a similar issue with BTS's members being followed when they received covid-19 vaccinations, and Jin supposedly had somebody in the military following him too at his doctor's appointments. The 'fairness' argument that people always talk about when it comes to BTS's enlistment or even now with Suga's case is not reciprocated when BTS are the victim of something. Somehow a lot is acceptable then. It's something you see in celebrity culture in general, not just in kpop or with BTS. Shows the limit of all of us in that we demand celebrities to behave in a certain way that we ourselves cannot even adhere to.

Reminder that JTBC is owned by the Joongang Chaebol group. Like it's newspaper the Joongang Ilbo, it's very conservative and a big proponent of the current South Korean President and his party. In the past their reports lobbied quite obvious against potential military exemption for BTS.

After the previous incident with JTBC in 2019, bighit still played nice with them, with their groups attending JTBC's GDA awards and JTBC broadcasting multiple BTS concerts on their channels. I have a feeling however that might change now. Though of course the Joongang group holds a lot of influence so there's always the scenario that bighit/hybe does not want to exclude them like mbc which is only a public broadcasting company

Still see some articles mention that Hybe's future CEO Lee Jae-sang is on the board of Ador, but an article came out that reported he stepped down from it at the end of July. Probably to prevent overreach and the legal risk that it would look like Hybe's future CEO controls the Ador board at the time of MHJ's termination.

He was replaced by two new directors on Ador's board: Lee Do-kyung as a new internal director and Kim Hak-jak as an external director (something Ador did not have before). Could not really find anything about Lee Do-kyung. Kim Hak-jak seems to be the president of Korea's Women Lawyers Association (an ex-prosecutor herself who was also rumored to become the president of Korea's NASDAQ)

These numbers did suprise me a bit to be honest, especially the U.S. number. Their New Music Friday placement is bad even for kpop standards (it's at 71 while I noticed fiftyfifty is placed at 56) so the playlisting reach won't help them much. Just to go beyond the autoplay answer many will instantly resort to, I have to admit that all the discourse of kpop fans these last months has even influenced me as a bystander into thinking they would see a downturn in streams. Perhaps somehow it actually increased the anticipation for the group.

"there are significant risks in maintaining a figure embroiled in social controversy as a brand ambassador."

I'm sorry but this quote is hilarious when you know the history of Samsung's own CEO

It never really was a question if Hybe would remove MHJ, but rather how and when. They've done it in a pretty shady but at the same time possibly ingenious way. And the timing now also seems obvious with the previously announced NewJeans break and the upcoming appointment of a new Hybe CEO who they would want to give a clean slate to start with.

The new CEO is not a spectacular name in anyway though I do remember saying back in April that she seemed like a good fit for it going by her background and some interviews she did. She definitely came across as the antithesis of MHJ in those interviews. Of course the question is if she even gets the chance to show that with newjeans because nobody knows what they'll do now. I'll link one interview with her for those interested tho it is in korean: https://www.womennews.co.kr/ne…cleView.html?idxno=242462

Also have to say that Korean journalists really took an L with this move by Hybe. Like Hybe was undertaking actions to terminate MHJ's shareholder contract in July which left a trail of evidence in the public Dart corporate filings. But somehow no journalist took notice of it. They only seem to be able to report on news that is feeded to them rather than doing some actual journalistic work themselves.

There actually is another interesting filing made by Hybe that has received no attention yet at all either. On August 14 Hybe filed a report relating to a cash payment of 9.2 million dollars to Ador and the establishment of an FTC dispute resolution body. Additionally the report showed that it related to a specific subcontractor law so I wonder what all of this is supposed to be about. A lot of stuff is happening behind the scenes that surprisingly for once stayed secret until now.

Anyway, it does feel like we've reached the closure now of season 1 of the drama. What remains is the neverending legal drama with too many different angles of which I don't see anyone coming out of as a winner.

In related news, Hybe revealed its 2.0 plan today. One of the things that stood out to me and will definitely become relevant for this conflict is the creation of a special music group that will oversee the Asian sub labels:

"HYBE will establish 'HYBE MUSIC GROUP APAC', which will oversee the domestic and Japanese multi-label business in the music business sector. HYBE Music Group APAC will focus on strengthening the strategies and processes required for the growth and innovation of the label business, investing resources, and enhancing music service functions. The goal is to strengthen the essence of the music business and accelerate global business expansion. The first representative of HYBE MUSIC GROUP APAC will be Shin Young-jae, the CEO of Big Hit Music."

So as I kinda expected they're centralizing the sub labels more through the creation of this new entity and will give bighit a bigger role again. How much influence this new group will have over the sub labels remains to be seen. But if it ends up working like I think it will, then gone will be the days that each sublabel can just go their own way. Instead they would be forced to work more together.

Quote from Ves

It's a bit too soon to predict the NewJeans disappears as a group isn't it? As you've said before, it all depends on contracts, especially IPs, but I'm still predicting that in the end MHJ will leave and the NJ members will follow her.

I just hope she can get that abominable non compete erased. I'm not putting it past Hybe to be vindictive about trying to enforce that if it doesn't get removed - I've seen it play out with other Korean corps. While she may not get as much money as she wants from Hybe, but she isn't without connections and will raise capital. They can start anew, hopefully as their own truly independent label.

But I guess that's my optimism, because the maturity level of the top parties involved is showing rock bottom level status.

The last step remaining that would make it really inevitable is if hybe involves the parents in their lawsuits. It's a red line with no return if Hybe crosses it.

But where some people compare it to 5050, I think this situation is quite different. Also don't think Hybe will relaunch the group, rather they probably will discard any reminder to MHJ. You would think selling Ador would make the most sense then, but Hybe might be that petty now that they don't even want that. Money doesn't seem to be a guiding factor anymore

Quote from DaisyTheGenuine

I'm a bit worried. If MHJ can prove obstruction of business and the parents do take legal action about the Dispatch videos, does that mean NewJeans has grounds to terminate?

Depends on what the contracts of the newjeans members specify. But it's gonna take up to a year before any court will have its say over it. Hard to see how we won't have an outcome of this conflict before then. Timing wise the Source Music and Belift cases will be taken care of before Ador's case as well, so will it really matter still then?

So one of the guys MHJ is suing for obstruction of business is Hybe's Chief Finance Officer Lee Kyung Joon. He also sits on Ador's board of directors since May. So MHJ is suing somebody who she shares power with at Ador now.

Also I doubt Hybe's new CEO will handle the Ador conflict very differently. What I can see happening is that he will want to have a strong introduction as Hybe's CEO by quickly resolving the conflict. Though resolving likely won't happen in an amicable way. Kinda feels like with this week's events that has become completely impossible. Conversely, firing MHJ, and paying her the 15 million dollar penalty, suddenly feels a realistic action the new CEO could do to do a complete reset. The fact that he also sits on Ador's board is also something to consider.

I also have a hunch that Hybe's 2.0 plan will involve a reorganization of the label structure. A lot of autonomy probably will be taken away from all the labels. Hybe could go the UMG way (who bang pd sees as an example) and divide the labels up into two separate main entities (in UMG'S case Republic and Interscope). The CEO's of each label will then have to delegate a lot of power.

I do hope each party starts to show some restraint because right now everyone is still way too guided by emotions that it is leading to an outcome where there are only losers. Nobody gains anything from newjeans disappearing as a group, but that's what the parties involved are inevitably moving towards now.

Park Jae-sung likely will offer more of the same. Not much he had done to get excited about. His photocard nfts have been useless for example.

btw Park Ji-won has said that he will stay involved with Hybe in a different capacity.

Hybe announced on the 24th that it plans to formally appoint Lee Jae-sang as CEO after a shareholders’ meeting and board of directors’ resolution.

Hive has been carrying out a leadership transition project since the beginning of this year, having appointed CSO Lee Jae-sang as the right person to lead the ‘Hybe 2.0’ strategy that will be revealed soon. After graduating from Yonsei University, CEO-designate Lee Jae-sang worked at global management consulting firm Monitor Group, Hyundai Motor Company, and Google before joining Hybe’s predecessor, Big Hit Entertainment, in 2018. Since then, he has served as Big Hit Entertainment CIGO (Chief Innovation and Growth Officer), Hybe CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), Hybe America COO (Chief Operating Officer), and Hybe America CEO, playing a pivotal role in Hybe’s overall business strategy and investment. CEO-designate Lee Jae-sang played a leading role in designing and establishing HYBE’s three-major business strategy structure of “Label - Solution - Platform,” and led the M&A of leading domestic labels and technology companies as well as HYBE’s initial public offering (IPO) procedures. HYBE stated, “CEO-designate Lee Jae-sang is an entertainment industry expert with extensive experience in establishing strategies and operating both domestically and internationally,” and “We expect him to use his capabilities to help HYBE grow into an advanced entertainment lifestyle platform company based on music and technology.”

CEO Park Ji-won, who has led HYBE for the past three years, has decided to resign as CEO after determining that it is more appropriate for HYBE’s global business expansion and new growth strategy to be centered on new leadership

* In May Lee Jae-sang was appointed as a director on Ador's new board.

하이브, 새 대표이사에 이재상 CSO 내정 [공식]

m.entertain.naver.com

Hybe has announced Lee Jae-sang will be it's new CEO. He is Hybe's current Chief Strategy Officer. If that name sounds familiar to you it's because he was appointed on Ador's new board of directors after the injunction and wss rumored to be Hybe's choice as replacement of MHJ as Ador's CEO.

Perhaps he will have to be replaced now on Ador's board but he for sure will have a big role to play in solving the conflict one way or another

Gotta love how TenAsia is milking these exclusives out like it's a drama show lol. Tomorrow they'll release part two of their report which is said to highlight the involvement of sm executives in all of this

This arguably is the biggest development in the korean entertainment/tech industry of the last decade. Kpop fans will immediately think of what he has done with Kakao entertainment but without Kim Bumsoo Kakaotalk would not exist. He is almost like Korea's Mark Zuckerberg.

Also the judge who issued the warrant for Kakao's founder really is gaining legend status in Korea. In the past he issued warrants for the CEO of Samsung and two businesswoman (one called South Korea's Rasputin) who were involved with the corruption scandal of ex-President Park Geun-Hye which eventually led to her impeachment. It's also a big loss for sejeong law firm which represents Kim Bumsoo and Kakao/SM. Of course nobody has been found guilty yet.

Quote from tetetete

they are catching big fish
i'm surprised they are going for the kakao founder instead of the kakao ent ceo/head

They are also going after them

The list so far of suspects the prosecution is investigating and have questioned:

Kakao Chairman Kim Bumsoo

Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek

Kakao CIO Bae Jae-hyun

Kakao Entertainment CEO Kim Sung-soo

One Asia Partners Chairman Ji Chang-bae

SM Entertainment CEO Jang Chul-hyeok

SM Entertainment CSO Jang Jae-ho

SM Entertainment ex-CEO Chris Lee

SM Entertainment ex-CEO Tak Young-joon

And it is also reported they're looking at executives from Align partners

Quote from byakuyav

Aren't this person leaked some unreleased BTS songs and get sued?

Yeah some people think it was him who was prosecuted for it. The age matches however it never has been confirmed it is him and it could even be that he himself actually was the one who was impersonated.

This might be a bit too geeky for some, but what is interesting to me is that GiGi's music publisher in KOMCA's files was Hybe up to NewJeans' Get Up album, but for their latest double single albums it was BANA. So it seems they left Hybe and joined BANA who Ador relies on a lot for music production (or Ador has decided to exclude Hybe as much from the credits as possible). Actually if you look at the KOMCA credits for the new newjeans' singles Hybe doesn't hold any publishing credits for the work done by the Korean producers, which they did before (250 same situation). Only the NewJeans members who are credited on the new singles still have Hybe as their assigned publisher.

As you can see in the KOMCA credits below Hybe has no music publisher credits assigned with anyone anymore. It's actually the first NewJeans song where this is the case.

pasted-from-clipboard.png

for comparison Hype Boy's KOMCA credits:

pasted-from-clipboard.png

Quote from K-PL

I believe you a lot more than others. Is this information from multiple credible sources, or just something a from a random unknown source posted in a social media site?

If you search their korean names you'll get multiple hits: 김현지 석대환

this chosun ilbo article for example:

뉴진스, 브랜딩과 접속사가 없네… 민희진 式 근사한 원근법

뉴진스, 브랜딩과 접속사가 없네 민희진 式 근사한 원근법

www.chosun.com

Quote from K-PL

There is speculation that Gigi in the credit's of many NewJeans songs is someone infamous that we all know. Apparently Gigi never had any lyricist songwriting credits prior to NewJeans' debut.

It's not MHJ. GiGi is a songwiters duo consisting of Kim Hyunji and Seok Daehwan. Seok Daewhan has actually worked with several other Hybe artists (bts, txt, enhypen) before under his other alias Lil 27 Club. But recently it seems Seok Daewhan isn't as involved anymore and rather Kim Hyunji is doing most of the work with the GiGi credit now.

Quote from Taemin-Identity

Well LSM is banned from entertainment industry for several years so he cannot buy back. Also Kakao is bigger than Hybe, so I would say Kakao could acquire hybe not the other way around

The hybe clause prohibits LSM from producing in Korea and additionally he cannot hire SM employees or artists until 2026. Acquiring shares or a company however never have been specified as limitations for LSM. Recently it was also reported that LSM trademarked the name 'A20 entertainment' for entertainment activities so he was already gearing up for a return to the industry soon.

And while Kakao is definitely bigger than hybe, it is not the case for Kakao Entertainment which is a subsidiary. Kakao Entertainment is worth about the same as SM, perhaps a bit more as it also has Melon, so Hybe definitely would have to spend a lot of money on it. Likely there also will be interest from foreign investment funds such as PIF. But if Kakao is actually planning to sell so many of its subsidiaries, Hybe will feel they cannot lose out on all of them, even if means wasting a lot of money for it.

Doubt Hybe would go for SM a 2nd time. They already sold some of their SM shares. Instead it could be an opportunity for Lee Sooman and a group of investors to acquire it back. SM stock is much lower than it was when LSM sold his shares to hybe so he could acquire a larger share this time.

For Hybe Kakao Entertainment could be a more attractive acquisition. They have respectable kpop artists as well of course, but notably Melon is part of it as well.