Three members of Korea’s hottest pop group TVXQ /DBSK/Tohoshinki –
Micky Yu-chun,
Xiah Jun-su, and
Hero Jae-joong – filed a
legal action against its agency,
SM Entertainment. The law firm representing the three members said that they signed
13-year exclusive contracts with SM Entertainment,
which is essentially binding lifelong contracts. They also claimed that the profit distribution enforced on them by SM Entertainment is
unfair (Kick SM's ASS).
The press release issued by the lawyers said that the group was subject to grueling schedule since their debut in 2004, shuttling between
Japan, China and Korea with very little rest (OMG!!! SM got to be killing them). They can’t get out of this predicament, because they essentially belong to SM Entertainment for
13 years, 15 years if military services are included (no wonder korean star suicided cases keep on happening). The members were also given only
0.4 to 1% of total album sales (hell!! they work so hard to get this kind of return?? they r like not earning from every cd that been sold, they r like earning the sticker or plastic on the cd cover.. 0.4 to 1%???) . Before the contract revision in February, they were promised only 10 million won each if the previous album sold more than 500 thousand copies.
The fans of TVXQ have been in a state of panic ever since the news of a possible breakup made the headlines. Despite the provisional disposition to terminate the contracts, however, the remaining two members –
U-Know Yun-ho and Max Chang-min – and the agency both said that the band would continue performing and it would not disband
(HOPE SO!!!).
