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Labels dispute claims of unusually restrictive terms
HYBE and its subsidiary ADOR have rejected allegations that the members of NewJeans signed unusually restrictive contracts as teenage trainees, saying the agreements included provisions protecting their basic rights.
The companies responded after The New York Times reported that it had obtained confidential contracts signed when the five members were between 14 and 17. The newspaper said the terms diverged from South Korea’s standard contract for pop performers, including in areas involving image rights, termination penalties, personal conduct and protections for minors.
Min Hee-jin, the former ADOR chief executive who now leads OK Records, issued a separate statement disputing HYBE’s account of who was responsible for drafting and approving the contracts.
Questions over image rights, penalties and cosmetic procedures
According to the Times, the contracts did not include standard language ending a label’s rights to an artist’s name, image and voice when the agreement expires. The newspaper said the omission could potentially allow ADOR to continue using the members’ likenesses or voices, including in artificial intelligence products such as voice replicas or chatbots, although it acknowledged that the legal implications were unclear.
The report also raised concerns about provisions that could require the members to pay substantial penalties even if the company chose to terminate the contracts. It said the agreements called for the performers to repay a significant portion of expenses for cosmetic procedures, including plastic surgery, incurred during their trainee years.
Several people familiar with the matter told the Times that the members were photographed from multiple angles before their debut and that ADOR suggested cosmetic procedures to some of them. HYBE denied ever requiring plastic surgery. It also said the company covered all investment costs without placing the members in debt and began paying them earnings from an early stage.
The contracts also restricted conduct described as insincere behavior, poor self-management, inappropriate romantic relationships, discriminatory remarks or attempts to create divisions with the company. The Times reported that the members were barred from disclosing information that could harm the company’s reputation, regardless of whether it was true or false.
Protections for teenage performers questioned
The Times said the contracts lacked provisions guaranteeing education, sleep and rest, as well as limits on excessively long working hours for young performers. A person associated with the group told the newspaper that late-night practices sometimes continued until 2 a.m. and that video cameras recorded the training areas. Four of the five members left school, according to the report.
The newspaper also reported that a parent asked for certain provisions to be changed before signing, but an ADOR vice president responded that the agreement itself should be reconsidered if the family could not accept the draft. Attorney Roh Jong-eon, who reviewed the document, told the Times that it restricted the artists’ freedom to a degree rarely seen in recent contracts from major labels.
HYBE and ADOR said the contracts were signed only after extensive discussions. They said a draft was shared Jan. 7, 2022, and the final agreements were completed in April following three months of question-and-answer sessions, emails, revisions and review by lawyers representing the artists. The companies said a court ruling had also recognized that the contracts resulted from sufficient negotiations by both sides.
The companies said a separate agreement for young performers and additional human rights provisions guaranteed the members’ rights to sleep, education and rest. They also said cost-sharing and penalty calculations had not been altered to disadvantage the artists.
HYBE said cameras were installed only for safety in shared spaces such as practice rooms. It said any use of a member’s face or voice in AI-generated content would require that performer’s individual consent. The company also said post-contract use of names or likenesses would require an agreement with the members rather than a unilateral decision by the label.
HYBE and Min trade responsibility
HYBE said its legal team developed options to reduce the artists’ potential expenses after one member’s mother raised concerns, but alleged that ADOR’s vice president at the time rejected those proposals. It argued that the financial effect of the contract’s penalty provision was equivalent to South Korea’s standard entertainment contract and said the Seoul High Court had found no problem with the relevant terms.
The company also defended a provision against what it characterized as unhealthy romantic relationships, saying it was intended to protect the young artists and had been approved by their parents.
HYBE and ADOR said Min, then ADOR’s chief executive, an ADOR vice president appointed by her, the members, their parents and lawyers for some of the performers negotiated the language and signed the final agreements. The companies said they asked the Times to specify Min’s role but that the information was not included in the report.
Min’s representatives countered that HYBE’s legal team wrote the initial draft and handled subsequent revisions. They said ADOR served as an intermediary, communicating with the artists and relaying parents’ questions and proposed changes to HYBE’s lawyers.
Min’s side also argued that HYBE had created a corporate structure in which a subsidiary chief executive could not approve such an agreement without authorization from HYBE’s chief executive, accusing the parent company of trying to shift responsibility after retaining final control.
U.S. scrutiny reaches a leading K-pop act
The dispute places the business practices behind one of K-pop’s most prominent groups under scrutiny from a major American newspaper. The Times report focused not only on traditional entertainment-contract issues but also on the potential use of performers’ voices and likenesses in AI products, an issue HYBE says would still require consent from each NewJeans member.
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