Exo-CBX Agency explains 'War' against SM entertainment on distribution, royalties (2024)

The Agency for EXO members Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin declared a "full-twar" against SM entertainment, where he called for the last to violate the agreement that last year with the trio concluded about their exclusiveContracts.

"We explain a complete war against SM-entertainment, which made a promise that it could not keep and committed what could be seen as fraud, said Cha Gaar-Won, President of Holding Company for Exo Trio's Agency Inb100, on onePress conference at a press conference held on Monday in Central Seoul.

According to Cha, SM promised that it would protect the three EXO members a fee of 5.5 percent if they distribute their music via Cocao - the majority shareholder in SM Entertainment - under their new agency in contrast to the 15 to 20 percent those companies outside theCocoa -Paraplu has to pay.

The deal was not mentioned in the written contract, but was "verbally promised by the then CEO Lee Sung-Sus by SM Entertainment," said the lawyer Lee Jae-Hak of the three members.

The three EXO members started their solo career at InB100, an agency recently founded by Baekhyun last year after rejecting their dispute with SM Entertainment a month earlier, in January of this year.

They are still signed at SM Entertainment, where the three artists all started their K-pop career in 2012 as members of EXO, to continue their activities as part of the band, while their solo activities are managed by Inb100.de haveThe phase names used them as members of EXO and the name of the trio, EXO-CBX, to promote their activities.

SM Entertainment required a royalty fee of 10 percent for members who used the intellectual property of SM Entertainment (IP), such as naming licenses for EXO, EXO-CBX and other content owned by SM Entertainment in exchange for the lower than the lower than the lower than the lower than the lower thanAverage distribution costs placed in the contract.

"A verbal agreement is an agreement that is seen as legally binding by the Korean legal system," he said., it must also perform the other end of the agreement it promised. "

Inb100 also demanded that SM -TerTainment completely unveiled the Exo's income division, which resumed last year's dispute, which took place over the three members who demanded that SM entertainment has shortened the length of their exclusive contracts with the agency, along with deliveryFrom the documents in their income everywhere their year on SM entertainment.

SM Entertainment only let the members enter the office and read the files "instead of giving them their own copies that go against the law, but the members did not decide not to fight" for exo and exos fans, "said lawyer Lee.

"It is clear that the law is stated that an entertainment company is obliged to give the document at the request of an artist, not to come and let the documents read," he said.

Inb100 sent a formal letter of complaint to SM Entertainment, which demanded that it would keep his word of 5.5 percent and members gave the requested documents, but the EXO agency did not answer in more than two months, which has led press conference asmeans to protect his artists, according to Lee.

The press conference participated by Inb100 CEO Kim Dong-Joon, Lee of the Law firm Lin, who represented the three EXO-CBX members, and Cha, president of the P_ARC construction company and majority shareholder and CEO of Entertainment Company.Big Planet Made and Million Market.

Chakt helps Baekhyun to set up its own business, a signature, by taking a loan of 13 billion ($ 9.45 million) with a penthouse that she owns in Central Seoul as security in June.The company was accused by SM entertainment of "trying to crawl exo members" from the desk.SM Entertainment later withdrew his accusation and apologized.

Kim is also CEO of Big Planet Made.He served as CEO of SM C&C, a content production company from SM Entertainment, from 2017 to 2023.

"After being in the entertainment industry for 35 years, I have never seen a case in which someone got a huge agency as a SM -entertainment," said Kim.Today, the press conference also helps other artists to stand up against unreasonable offers. "

SM Entertainment rejected the arguments of the agency in a press release on Monday evening.

"We only offered to help CBX members get a better deal with the distributor," said SM Entertainment.

"We are not entitled to the compensation that another company decides, and therefore such a clause is not included in the contract," it added.

"CBX was able to get a good distribution agreement and didn't hurt."

Exo-CBX members and SM-entertainment locked Horns for three weeks last June, when the three EXO members demanded that the SM Entertainment agency ended the "unreasonable" exclusive contracts with the three members and announced it to the press.

The two parties decided the dispute on 19 June 2023 and repaired "certain expressions" based on an "equal relationship" between the two parties, according to SM Entertainment.

Af yoon so- yeon [yoon.soyeon@joonongang.co.kr]