[All] [Exclusive] New Jeans Parents: "Bang Si-hyuk Didn't Even Greet New Jeans Members..." [Full Text] ②

Amid the intense conflict over management rights between Hive and its own label Adore CEO Min Hee-jin, we have obtained an email containing the opinions of parents of New Jeans sent by Adore to Hive, which is the key to this situation.

According to an email sent to Hive by Adore summarizing the suggestions made by the parents of New Jeans and obtained by Daily Sports on the 13th, Adore CEO Min Hee-jin sent the same email to Hive and 000's agency Belief Lab on April 3rd. Following this, Adore filed an internal report on April 16th, asking them to "stop interfering with the business of New Jeans and practice ethical management." In response, Hive sent a reply email to the email sent on April 3rd on the 16th, and sent a reply email to Adore to the second email on the morning of the 22nd. Following this, Hive began its audit of Adore in the afternoon of that day.

Below is the full text of the email that CEO Min Hee-jin sent to Hive on April 3.

Dear Mr. Park Ji-won, CEO of Hive Co., Ltd. and Mr. OOO, CEO of Belief Lab Co., Ltd.

We have received a letter from the artist's parents, who are his legal representatives, containing the following content. In accordance with Articles 1, 2, 5, and 11 of the exclusive contract between us and the artist, we have the obligation and responsibility to take action on this request.

Please respond to all of the questions raised without omission.

Also, in order to document this content transparently, I have included the parents as CCs on this email, so please give your opinions in the Reply All form.

Dear Mr. Min Hee-jin, CEO of Adore Co., Ltd.,

——

[substance]

As the parents and legal representatives of Kim Min-ji, Hani Pham, Kang Hae-rin, Marsh Daniel, and Lee Hye-in (hereinafter referred to as Newjins), we hereby submit the following statement to Min Hee-jin, CEO of Adore Co., Ltd. on March 31, 2024.

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We express our deep concern about the many similarities and controversies that have arisen between a group (hereafter 000) that recently debuted under another label under HYBE and New Jeans in terms of concept (photos, music videos, etc.), styling, choreography, etc.

These similarities appear to be the result of a design intentionally designed to mimic Hive/Belief Lab.

Concept photos - styling - music video direction - choreography - a series of contents that appear to be original content, and the fact that they hired staff members who only worked with New Jeans during their debut period and had no experience working with other idols, make it difficult to deny the intentionality.

Content similar to New Jeans has already been mass-produced, and consumers have widely suspected that it is a copy of New Jeans and plagiarism. We express our deep regret that, just 1 year and 8 months after the debut of New Jeans, another label with the same parent company could plan a team that intentionally reminds us of the debut days of New Jeans.

Above all, I wonder why such an unconventional plan was made within the same fence, even though it is common sense to target different markets with teams with different personalities when the debut dates are not that different. I understand that Adore was not involved or cooperated in this process.

We would like to ask Hive/Belief Lab to confirm their intentions in arbitrarily pursuing similar projects.

Also, I think it's a bigger problem that they marketed the new team in a way that cleverly drew comparisons to the New Jeans. Did Adore give them permission to do the same choreography?

If this situation continues, it is clear that New Jeans' reputation and brand value will be damaged.

In a situation where the public points out and refutes the similarities between the two teams, unnecessary comparisons and various controversies are continuously created, and in the process, the achievements that New Jeans has built up can be damaged, and the members are suffering serious mental damage. Not only the members, but also their families are feeling extremely tired of the fact that 000 is mentioned together in almost every article and SNS related to New Jeans, and they even feel helpless because they cannot stop it. It is painful and hurtful that New Jeans is being used for unnecessary comparative analysis.

The comment with countless hearts on the TikTok video that caused a copy controversy because 000 did not credit the foreign choreographer was surprisingly “I thought it was New Jeans.” The video also has a lot of views. Some people will see this video and misunderstand it as something New Jeans did wrong.

However, there were some contents that could be cited as gossip in 000's content. I thought that certain references in 000's own content produced by Belief Lab were very inappropriate. As expected, related gossip was produced and contents mocking New Jeans were found in one community. It is most regrettable that these contents were all produced and edited by Hive's internal production team, but were not filtered.

Does Belief Lab/Hive have no intention of protecting the brand value of New Jeans and each member?

The reason it is not considered a joke is because there have been many absurd situations. Whenever the members of New Jeans encountered Chairman Bang Si-hyuk in the company, they wondered why Chairman Bang pretended not to know them and ignored them.

At first, I doubted what I had heard from the children, thinking, “You probably don’t recognize me,” and checked several times. However, since this had happened several times, and there were even instances where the two of them met on different dates and in different places, it was inevitable that the members would recognize that they were New Jeans.

Even if you didn't know they were members of New Jeans, if someone greeted you first, it would be basic to accept it, but was it really that difficult to greet each other in the office? After hearing more than one or two cases of members standing blankly in the elevator because they were embarrassed by being ignored, or members pretending not to see, or members feeling like they were deliberately avoiding them, I was shocked as a parent by this childish and unbelievable situation and was at a loss as to what to say to my children. These members are only middle school and high school age.

This is not the only incomprehensible behavior. The members of New Jeans, who had been offered and promised to be the first girl group of Hive in the past, signed a trainee contract with Source Music, but had to wait vaguely without hearing any explanation from Source Music during the project's delay. Then came the news of the contract with 000, 000. In the end, contrary to the promise made to us at the time of the contract, another team debuted as the first team.

The promise that Hive broke in the past regarding the first girl group and the endless waiting/neglect of the New Jeans members during their Source Music trainee days are unforgettable nightmares.

There were also members who were about to give up on debuting because of the difficult process at Source Music.

I believe that the plagiarism issue that is currently shaking various fan communities and SNS is only a part of the results of the unfair treatment and lack of transparent communication that Hive has shown so far.

We object to the use of New Jeans as a strategy to intentionally draw attention only when HYBE needs it, just because they are a label under the same HYBE umbrella. We express our regret and intention to correct the fact that Adore has been pushing forward with this promotional method of HYBE/BELIFT LAB arbitrarily without request or consultation, even though there was no involvement or prior agreement by Adore.

I think it will be difficult for me, as New Jeans' legal representative, to restore the broken trust in Hive, considering the things that have happened from the past to the present, and things that cannot be included in this letter.

Since it has become clear through several incidents that Hive does not respect New Jeans, I am concerned about how Hive will use New Jeans in the future and what they will copy from New Jeans.

Accordingly, with a heavy heart, we officially request that Adore’s CEO Min Hee-jin, who is in charge of New Jeans’ management contract, stop Hive/Belief Lab’s infringing activities against New Jeans and protect the brand value.

According to the exclusive contract signed on April 21, 2022, Adore will faithfully perform management services so that Newjins' talents and qualities can be fully utilized, and will do its best to maximize profits, thereby seeking mutual benefit. We strongly urge you to take the best possible measures to eradicate the ongoing plagiarism controversy caused by Hive and the marketing activities that utilize it.

Also, I hope that HYBE will remind NewJeans to protect their values ​​and realize their potential, so that instead of stealing existing creations and using them for promotion, different labels can create diverse creations based on their own new ideas and innovate the music industry.

I read an article that said that at the debut showcase, the 000 members said, "Producer Bang Si-hyuk carefully watched our practice videos and gave feedback," and that Chairman Bang Si-hyuk was the overall producer. If the chairman himself produced it and not someone else, it would be right to employ a differentiation strategy considering the existing team within the company, and even if any overlapping content is unintentionally discovered, it is only right to take corrective action immediately. However, reading the interview article, it seems like he aided, abetted, and led the effort, and I cannot help but question HYBE's sense of ethics.

As the hit of New Jeans changed the K-pop trend and imitations became frequent to the point where keywords such as 'male New Jeans' were created, we strongly condemn those who, rather than trying to maintain their originality, went along with this trend in the most extreme way.

As a leader in the K-pop industry, HYBE should provide a sensible and healthy environment for its label artists.

Please submit your opinion to Hive to strongly protest the above matters and hear their response and corrective action.

March 31, 2024

All New Jeans legal representatives

——

In relation to the above, Adore clearly states that it has never received any request for cooperation from Hive/Belief Lab regarding the 000 content, and has never negotiated, compromised, confirmed, or accepted any of the issues raised.

And Adore, as a copyright holder and producer, is equally offended by the brand infringement issue. We urgently need a response from Hive and the relevant label and corresponding measures regarding the fact that they plagiarized and directly used choreography without permission, consultation, request, or consent from the subsidiary, copied the concept, and arbitrarily utilized the artist's name and issues, so we hope for a quick response.

Under the guise of benchmarking, the practice of first gaining attention for similarities and then gradually emphasizing differences, cleverly leading the mood and flow, and then later feigning ignorance after it becomes popular is a representative example of unhealthy practices based on imitation in this industry.

Ironically, the more you intend to plagiarize, the more the public now knows that you are not copying everything 100% identically.

When too many coincidences accumulate and are repeated, they become inevitable and can no longer be coincidences. I want to make it clear that this is not an issue that can be avoided by making excuses for one or two differences among ten, since there is a truth that is told by the overall context and circumstances.

No one can deny that New Jeans came to mind during 000's debut promotion, as one critic described 000's album as "Min Hee-jin style" and "Min Hee-jin like." And everyone knows that 000 went viral just as much as the number of unnecessary mentions of New Jeans.

Not only is the way they expanded the number of mentions of New Jeans, which has nothing to do with 000, without considering the damage to New Jeans or Adore, problematic, but there is also concern that the ability to discern plagiarism may become diluted over time, and that when the public becomes fed up with excessive virality, they will create some variations and then form another public opinion with "See? I told you it's different."

The intention to exploit and evade may be more ethically problematic.

This behavior discourages creators from trying new things, rationalizes imitation, and makes the industry more stale by forcing people to play it safe.

In common parlance, 'just copy the good team and work', so who would bother to try something new, risky and difficult?

Chairman Bang Si-hyuk said, “I cannot overlook the irrationality and absurdity of the music industry,” and “I feel that anger has become my calling.”

If HYBE is truly angry about the irrationality and absurdity of the music industry and is interested in ensuring that those in the music industry are fairly evaluated and treated appropriately, they should look back and see if they are currently doing so.

That is why it is right to consider the recent 000 plagiarism controversy, commonly known as the aggro marketing incident, as a task that needs to be changed for a healthy creative environment.

Not only is there no respect for other creators' works, but even people in the field are asking questions and contacting us out of curiosity. We are also seriously looking into similar incidents that have occurred in other companies, so what is the situation at the parent company?

This can only be explained as tyranny of the parent company over its subsidiary.

https://v.daum.net/v/20240513103817937