Amid the legal controversy faced by the company, some SM Entertainment artists are concerned about their future. If the disputes between SM’s current management and HYBE continues, experts assume that SM artists will leave the label.
SM Entertainment Facing Crisis, The Artists Will Leave
According to the Investment Banking (IB) on Thursday, March 1, SM Entertainment is estimated to have spent tens of billions of KRWs to respond to disputes over management rights. SM has spent about 2.5 billion KRW or approximately 1.9 million USD to hire the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). They also hire six voting agencies to secure shareholder voting rights.
With SM Entertainment putting big money into the dispute, experts show their concern that the company won’t be able to support their own artists in the future. Not only that, some fans also raised their concern towards the future of the company by sending LED truck.
Some SM Artists Show Their Concern
On February 13, during his live broadcast for the release of his 2nd repackaged album, SHINee Key said, “I want to perform more than anyone else, but I have no idea who I can talk about this. The company is in an unstable situation.”
On the same day, Red Velvet Seulgi sadly rejected her fans’ request to dance NewJeans’ Hype Boy at the fan meeting event. Instead, she responded, “I don’t want to cause trouble through misunderstanding.” Seulgi’s statement was interpreted that she doesn’t want to create unnecessary misunderstanding in the tense situation between her label SM Entertainment and NewJeans’ label HYBE.
Furthermore, Taeyeon indirectly expressed her discomfort regarding the current uncertain situation on her social media. She wrote, “Everyone lives diligently,” a phrase from the movie Unfair Transaction (also known as The Unjust) in Korean.
SM Artists Will Leave The Company
An entertainment industry official stated that idols who are already well-known enough have no strong reason to stay in the company. Instead, they can easily find other small to medium agencies to support their individual activities. Moreover, famous idols might have a greater advantage in terms of profit distribution.
Additionally, the official also said, “Most of the artists who have stayed in SM for a long time will not be happy if another large agency absorbs the label because they decided to stay in the company out of loyalty.”
Moreover, amid the current uncertain situation, many SM artists are in time for contract renewal. However, in the worst-case scenario, they would not renew their contracts and leave SM Entertainment.
Kangta, BoA, Super Junior, TVXQ, Girls’ Generation (Taeyeon, YoonA, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sunny), EXO, SHINee, Red Velvet, NCT, SuperM – all contracts will expire this year or next year, except for aespa whose contract will end in around 2026 or 2027.
With the contract expiration issue, some large agencies have contacted SM artists to gauge their interest in signing with their label.
On the other hand, Park Da Gyeom, a researcher at Hi Investment and Securities, stated that the departure of the artists wouldn’t be a big problem.
“Currently, the main intellectual property (IP) that mainly sustains SM are NCT and Aespa. However, if only these two groups are secured, there will be no major problems with the current corporate value. In addition, there is still the potential of the rookies that will be introduced in the future.”
A researcher at Hi Investment and Securities, Park Da Gyeom.
So, what do you think about the tense situation faced by SM Entertainment? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Also, stay with Kpoppost’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & Telegram channel for more updates.
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