EXO members Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen have officially requested the termination of their exclusivity contract with SM Entertainment.
K-pop group EXO‘s three members want to end their exclusivity contracts with SM Entertainment. As per new reports, law firm Lin, representing Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen, has sent notices to SM entertainment for the termination of their exclusivity contracts. The three EXO members have submitted multiple requests for documents detailing the earnings and payments of all three artists from March through May.
As per a report in All Kpop, Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen requested ‘clear and transparent records’ of the company’s earnings. But SM Entertainment allegedly refused to do so.
The issues with contracts
The artistes’ lawyers also stated that SM Entertainment forced the singers to sign’ lengthy exclusive contracts totalling 12-13 years’. They also demanded that they renewed their contracts prematurely and extended then to least 17-18 years. The artists called these “slave contracts”.
They apologised to the fans
The singers also shared a message for their fans. “We apologize for causing great concern to fans through this issue, and there is no way to fully express our apology. Although legal action is inevitable due to a difference in our position with SM, we will do our best to find a wise way to resolve this dispute so that we do not cause fans too much concern.
“As we try to speak up with our small voices regarding the unfairness we couldn’t speak of until now, we are actually very frightened and fearful of this moment right now. We hope that you take interest in what we are saying as well as our difficult courage. We once again sincerely thank our fans who have supported us for a long time,” they said in their statement.
SM Entertainment’s statement
SM Entertainment, meanwhile, blamed ‘external forces’ for approaching their artistes. They said in a statement, “We have confirmed that external forces are approaching our artists (…) the outside forces don’t really think about the artist at all, they are committing illegal acts that lure our artists to make wrong decisions and violate exclusive contracts (…) We will not sit on the movements of those who pursue the greed of money, and we will take all possible legal measures.”
Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen have been a part of the nine-member group EXO, since 2012. The group also includes Suho, Lay, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, and Sehun. Recently, Chanyeol took to his Instagram account and shared a bunch of photos from Kai’s farewell as he enlisted in military for mandatory service. All of 9 of them posed for pictures as they dropped off Kai at the military camp.
Disclaimer: Except the headline and synopsis, this story has been taken from the HT News Service