Corporate politics being fought out in the public domain is pretty common in the world of K-pop. Meanwhile, the lengths K-pop agencies will go to to protect the reputations of their artists, employing some of the unique features of defamation law in South Korea, are well known. But even by K-pop standards, the seven page letter published by HYBE subsidiary and NewJeans label Ador on its official Instagram page earlier today is quite remarkable.
The missive was prompted by what is a pretty run-of-the-mill song-theft dispute, the likes of which arrive in the US courts on almost weekly basis. However, that was just a jumping off point for ramping up the rhetoric in the ongoing feud between Ador and parent company HYBE, while also telling anyone currently spreading rumours about NewJeans online - through traditional or social media, or online forums - that this will not be tolerated and there will be consequences.
Ador rejects the allegation that recent NewJeans single ‘Bubble Gum’ rips off the 1982 song ‘Easier Said Than Done’ by British band Shakatak.
The writers of ‘Bubble Gum’ had never heard of ‘Easier Said Than Done’ until the song-theft claim was made, the company argues, and the musical elements shared by the two songs are commonplace in pop music. Which is a pretty standard response to make whenever an artist is accused of ripping another artist’s songwriting.
However, while clearly annoyed by the song-theft claim made by Shakatak and their publisher Wise Music, Ador seems even more angry about how the dispute has been covered in the media and online, and how HYBE’s legal and PR departments have been handling things.
Ador’s letter describes the back and forth between it and Wise over the song-theft allegation. That includes its hiring of musicologists to compare the two songs, and its subsequent request that Wise provide “a detailed analysis report from a credible source” setting out why it thinks the two songs are sufficiently similar to constitute copyright infringement.
The letter then takes aim at media reporting on the dispute. “Some media outlets”, its says, have failed to report on the back and forth between Ador and Wise, and instead have “unfairly portrayed our request for an analysis from the very people who raised the complaint as an unethical demand on our part and one out of step with standard industry procedure”.
Some media, the letter continues, “have taken their reporting to extremes, choosing to rehash our justifiable actions long after they've taken place and accusing us of acting improperly”. Indeed, some media outlets “seem to have a specific agenda to present us in a negative light”, publishing “factually skewed articles by citing opinions from unprofessional and questionable sources”, while also “spreading false information to add to the severity of the problem”.
With all this irresponsible journalism going on, what Ador needed was super effective media communications. But the PR was being handled by HYBE. And relations between HYBE and its Ador subsidiary are not good at the moment, with HYBE management locked in a legal battle with Ador boss Min Hee Jin for control of the label.
“We have serious misgivings about the way HYBE, the very company that is supposed to have ADOR's best interests in mind in handling its PR, has been tackling the issue when it comes to communicating with the press”, today’s letter continues.
It’s not just HYBE’s communications team at fault, the letter adds. Wise’s complaint initially went to the parent company. Information about the complaint, which should have been handled sensitively, Ador reckons, was instead “disseminated across departments” at HYBE, making it harder to control the narrative.
“Not only did HYBE not look to work closely alongside us to handle the issue and minimise negative press coverage”, the letter goes on, “but they actually demonstrated a lukewarm and even passive attitude toward the issue”. And that position hasn't changed, “despite our repeated and ongoing objections to their stance”.
As a result, the Ador team have been seeking to deal with any negative reporting and commentary about the song-theft dispute directly, but even that activity has been hindered by HYBE.
While monitoring online forums in South Korea, in particular DC Inside, for “misinformation, hateful comments and defamatory content”, the lawyers at HYBE told their subsidiary label that “it's difficult to track down the users leaving nasty comments on Korean forums, especially those who leave messages without an account”.
However, when Min met with the CEO of DC Inside, Kim Yusik, she discovered there is actually a “hotline” companies like Ador can use to make contact with the online forum, and then “through close collaboration with investigative agencies, malicious comments from users without IDs can be detected”.
Which leads to the formal warning contained in Ador’s letter. Because the revelations from Min’s meeting with Kim are not just included to berate HYBE’s lawyers for not telling its subsidiary about the hotline. Ador wants anyone being spiteful about NewJeans on online forums to know that that hotline will be utilised.
“The reason we’re explaining this here”, the letter goes on, “is to let it serve as a reminder to anyone who thinks they can hide behind their anonymity on such websites to spread nasty rumours - and to anyone who allows such behaviour to continue unchecked - rest assured we are taking every possible step to curb these spiteful comments, anonymous or otherwise, and that we are using everything at our disposal to make sure we properly defend NewJeans”.
As noted, it’s well known that K-pop companies will go above and beyond to protect the reputations of their artists, sometimes relying on the fact that defamation is a criminal offence in South Korea, with a possible prison sentence if found guilty, making allegations of defamation more serious.
However, Ador has perhaps gone further than most in communicating its commitment to shut down “nasty rumours” and “spiteful comments”, despite the lacklustre efforts of its parent company.