As much as I want NJZ to win, they have the worst lawyers. Their statement today shows a clear pivot (likely from realizing how weak the case was during the injunction hearing) and now they’re grasping at straws.
Just because the CEO and staff are all gone does not mean you didn’t sign a contract with the legal entity ADOR. There is nothing in the contract about keeping staff, and this will backfire. There is no way a court will set precedent that losing staff means breach of trust.
Worst part is now all the closet anti-NJ people in Korea pretending like they knew the whole time. Reminds me of closet MAGA coming out after Trump won.
In the end, the claims NJZ made were too weak. They were based on emotion and a vague definition of trust. IMO they got bad legal advice and messed up their 14 day notice, or chose to do it that way despite legal advice.
NJZ and their team need to realize this is business - they can't bring emotion and social norms into this. Ask for certain contracts with HYBE to terminate. Ask for certain people from HYBE to not be involved in production. Apology letters and vague resolution terms are going to have a tough time winning in court. But it's too late now - everything is based on the 14 day notice which was weak.
It's time to go to the mediation drawing board and figure out what they really want, and how they can potentially co-exist in ADOR. Demanding their own managers, own new practice area, manage their own schedules as they are now, pick their own producers. Basically be your vision of NJZ only ADOR owns the group on paper.
Otherwise, ComplexCon may be their last performance.
Drip peaked around 2.3M weekly YT in SK (#7), and has been charting top 20 since early November when it released (19 weeks of top 20). KiiKii and H2H also peaked 2.3M-2.4M on YT SK, while Cherish peaked at 1.7M. I think it's clear BM has worked their ass off out of the hole YG put them in and are now on even footing with H2H/KiiKii. I consider BM/H2H/KK as the leaders of 5th gen, and have overtaken ILLIT.
That said, 2.3M~ is pretty weak overall. NewJeans and IVE debut was 5M~, Le Serrafim was 3.8M. BP solos are 6M, Peak NJZ/aespa is 10M, G-Dragon is 12M, Blackpink is 14M.
I think the main issue with 5th gen is they are way too young. Their image and sound caters to much younger fans than what we saw in 4th gen. If you look at who is topping charts right now with 6M-10M views - it's G-Dragon, Rose, Jennie, aespa, NJZ, IVE - ones who can capture a large range of fans. This is one issue I think 5th gen is going to run into - they don't have the cross-generation appeal that the ones at the top of Korea have. You need to break into the 20-40 crowd for a chance at PAKs.
BM will be the top 5th gen group. They’re slowly building fanbase, and have a solid fanbase already.
One thing people don’t realize is BM fans are YOUNG. I went to their concert in LA and the number of 10 year olds was unprecedented. They have the 10-16 age group on lockdown. Huge Japan presence already and charting well. SEA support for YouTube stream farms.
5th gen is ruined by HYBE after they released so many GGs at the same time. You have 4th gen GGs at their peak (IVE, NJZ, aespa) while these younger 5th gen GGs attempt to gain market share. So the market share mix is not normal this gen, but the 10-16 market is mostly looking for 5th gen groups to support. This will only grow in time.
LSM is a declining group like Itzy, they have already peaked. It’s not a question of will BM surpass LSM, but when. I agree in the next 1-2 years, BM will break into Tier 1 K-pop in KR/JP/SEA with a small chance at Tier 2 US. LSM is already Tier 2, and may fall to Tier 3.
Why are you using Apple Music and iTunes which are completely irrelevant platforms.
Japan is all about Spotify + YouTube, Korea is Melon + YouTube, US is Spotify + YouTube.
HOT is doing poorly in Japan, currently #94 (72K streams). In comparison, CRAZY peaked at #14 (203K streams).
It does look to be climbing back up in KR at least, but Japan numbers are worrying for them, showing a drastic fall off from CRAZY-era, Supernatural NewJeans, and Whiplash aespa levels. They may bounce back this week, but I just don’t think HOT is a good enough song/dance to catch on at this point. International side is gravitating to B-sides because the TT was so bad.
I don't think losing your CEO + entire production team is a 'minor issue'. It does affect financial bottom line - getting delayed an entire year could mean losing an entire world tour worth of profit sharing in a 7 year contract. Why is it only idols have to pay for damages, and not the company when it's the company's fault that idols can't reach their financial potential?
Imagine - we have a contract, I pay you $1000/day, but only if you work. The contract says you can't work anywhere else, or else you owe me $1M because I trained you. Now, I say you can't work for a year because the building isn't ready yet. Why should you not be able to terminate that contract without penalty? This is effectively what happened.
I also think having the new CEO unwilling to terminate contracts with HYBE after poor performance (LV contract mismanagement, failed investigations by HYBE HR, unwillingness to take down negative PR and investigate from HYBE marketing, leaks that HYBE marketing attempted to harm ADOR PR) isn't a minor issue. Imagine if it wasn't HYBE but a third party company managing ADOR's advertising contracts and did this, or their HR, or their PR - they would be fired. But ADOR can't fire HYBE. So once again, ADOR isn't acting on behalf of ADOR, but of HYBE, which is the whole crux of the issue.
Personally, I think NJZ misplayed the trial because they're trying to be nice and get positive PR, as well as support MHJ as much as they could. Honestly I've felt some of these legal arguments by 'top Korean law firms' to be awful, not much logic and a lot of PR spin. Go back to the facts and contract theory.
They 100% should have requested damages for delayed world tour due to losing BANA because of ADOR's shareholders aka HYBE. They should have requested termination of all ADOR-HYBE service contracts related to failed services provided. They should have requested ADOR sue HYBE for damages for bad PR (slander/libel). Once those requests weren't granted (because ADOR would never go against HYBE), they should have then terminated the contract to show the world that the sub-label system is a joke. That ADOR's shareholders damaged the profit in their contract and did nothing to mitigate it. The only way to truly break contracts.
The claim this is harmful to the industry is a lie. This will only impact HYBE, because fundamentally this is a multi-label issue.
Most of the issues with trust is coming from the fact that what is best for HYBE is not what is best for ADOR. ILLIT is good for HYBE, bad for ADOR. The LV deal was good for HYBE, bad for ADOR. Not sueing Dispatch and investigating who leaked internal videos is good for HYBE, bad for ADOR. Putting NJZ in the dungeon is good for HYBE, bad for ADOR.
What powers should idols have when their label acts against their best interests in favor of their parent companies’ interest? Ultimately, if ADOR is not acting in your best interest, then the contract cannot exist as it is not mutually beneficial. And this only happens because ADOR is not acting independently.
This whole case proves ADOR lost NJZ trust leading to termination.
Like why are you arguing with your idol and trying to protect another sub-label instead of your idol and own label?
You can’t force compliance. Like Danielle said, regardless of outcome they will never work with ADOR again. What is the point of contract termination clauses about trust if it continues allow this kind of relationship.
At the heart of it is a labor struggle.
Labels should not have the power to work their idols 16 hours a day for years. They should not have the power to ruin careers to boost other groups in the company. That isn’t an equal partner/partner relationship - that’s slavery.
Idols should have the ability to leave exclusive contracts without penalty when the label isn’t acting in their best interest. Remember Hanni - idols are not employees. They are contractors. That means per contract, both parties should have the power to leave when certain conditions aren’t met.
Korea need to stop allowing these labels to exploit children for labor. They need to stop being allowed to starve and abuse their idols. They need to let idols leave when this stuff happens. Because the only thing damaging K-pop right now is how toxic the label system currently is.
More evidence of what I’ve been saying all year. HYBE buys streams and albums to make their idols look more popular than they are.
Just saw NewJeans at Music Bank Global Festival in Japan and wow. I can’t believe HYBE tried to media play that they did poorly in Japan. The crowd was ALIVE during the performance.
They also didn’t give a group name again during intros, with a nice awkward pause 😂
If you watch KR/JP K-pop relays you'll notice basically no one under 20 knows any BTS dances/songs. They're not gaining many new fans in KR/JP. What BTS does well is have insane reach in many markets (esp. SEA + LATAM), but they don't dominate KR/JP/US that much, and the younger gen prefers Stray Kids.
I have Korean friends who are bunnies and they stopped listening to LSFM and ILLIT completely. HYBE vs. MHJ 100% had an impact. Most of Korea supports NJ, so naturally they start listening to less LSFM and ILLIT. LSFM doesn't even have 1 song on the top 100 Melon anymore. Over the next year or two you will see them fall down into ITZY level irrelevance.
It's hilarious that even if ADOR is able to stop NewJeans from terminating their contract, the worse case for NewJeans is they just...keep working with ADOR. Make millions. Then after their contract ends, they all leave with the group and music anyway.
All those weird reddit BTS stans hoping for NJ's downfall, blacklist, dungeon, etc. will never happen. Because if it does happen, NewJeans can again terminate the contract.
Best case, NewJeans is free. Worse case, NewJeans is filthy rich.
