The sixteen-month-long conflict between SM Entertainment, one of Korea’s biggest entertainment agencies, and Mnet Media, K-pop’s leading company, has finally revealed itself to the public.
On the 2nd, SM Entertainment, that has produced popular singers such as Girls Generation, f(x), SHINee, Super Junior, BoA, Kangta, TVXQ and Trax, announced on its official website that it would no longer be providing Mnet Media with the possession to music files by SM Entertainment.
Following this, netizens could no longer listen to Girls Generation’s ‘Oh!’ on Mnet.com, a famous domestic music portal site run by Mnet Media.
SME revealed that while it was contemplating renewing their music provision contract with Mnet Media, the agency learned that Mnet Media had breached their contract and decided to withdraw the possession to SM’s music files from the company.
SME stated, “We confirmed that Mnet.com and Mnet Media had been using SM content without authorization on their ASP sites.” and “Although this was a breach in the contract, Mnet Media did not notify SME of such an act. Therefore, SME has decided to end Mnet Media’s ability to use SM content.”
On the 3rd, it was found that when SM agency singers’ songs were clicked on in Mnet.com, you can no longer listen to the song with a notice popping up stating “This song is in the process of being discussed for a contract renewal” and “We will work hard to bring the service back as soon as possible.”
SME and Mnet Media have had conflicts in the past as well. However, neither side publicly denied nor confirmed that there was a conflict between the two firms. However, the majority of K-pop and broadcasting representatives stated that there had been conflicts between SM and Mnet Media since sixteen months before this current situation.
Not a single SME agency singer has appeared on Mnet Media’s K-pop program ‘M! Countdown’ since November of 2008. Considering the fact that only the singers with the most popular songs were to appear on such music programs, especially at the end of the year, this situation raises numerous questions. SME agency groups Girls Generation, Supper Junior and f(x) had many hit songs last year.
This is not all. SM Entertainment singers (excluding TVXQ’s Xiah Junsu, YoungWoong Jaejoong and Micky Yoochun) have not been appearing on other Mnet programs or awards shows either.
There are many who believe that the conflict started after the ‘MKMF’ awards in November of 2008 because of the results of the awards show.
Mnet Media’s ‘MAMA’ last November, the follow up awards show of ‘MKMF’, is also said to have deepened the conflict between SME and Mnet Media.
This was because Xiah Junsu, YoungWoong Jaejoong, and Micky Yoochun, three members of TVXQ who have been locked in a dispute with SME over their contract since July last year, appeared on ‘MAMA’ and received the ‘Asia’s Best Star’ award as TVXQ. It was obvious that the fact that these three had received an award on behalf of TVXQ and that Mnet Media had invited them to participate in the first place did not sit well with SM Entertainment.
At the time, SM Entertainment expressed its inability to understand Mnet’s actions by saying, “If the company was trying to give an award to TVXQ, it should have contacted SME.” and “We cannot accept the fact that they called only the three to come and receive an award meant for TVXQ.”
To this, Mnet retaliated and said, “We invited all five members to come receive the award for TVXQ.” and “We let the other two members choose whether to participate or not.” The firm continued to say, “The three members were probably thinking about the dispute when they were deciding to come or not. But if we don’t call the three people who came to receive the award TVXQ, then what are we supposed to call them?”
However, SME agency singers’ songs were still available on Mnet after the show. Therefore, the three members’ participation in the awards show took on the appearance of a short spat between the two firms. However, many representatives say that the conflict between the two firms kept deepening as time passed.
SME and Mnet has finally publicly shown their conflict through this current situation, starting with SME’s official statement regarding the issue.
SM Entertainment and Mnet Media are two of the biggest firms in the business. Many are curious as to how this whole event will turn out.
Source: [star money today+Yuaerubi]
Translation credits: jeeelim5@tohosomnia.net
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