The move comes after months of internal turmoil and recent news that has put the label’s artists in limbo.

fantagio
Image source – Daily Sports News

On May 14, news emerged that Fantagio suddenly halted boy group Astro’s June comeback. However, the situation that led to the standstill also affects the label’s other artists including girl groups Hello Venus and WekiMeki.

The current situation stems from the sudden dismissal of the CEO of Fantagio Music Woo Young-seung. Reportedly, the chairman of JC Group, the principal shareholder of the music label, convened a board meeting on the 11th to remove Woo and appoint a new representative from the company. In response, Woo submitted his resignation that same day and became the second CEO to step down under duress from JC Group; the first was founder Na Byung-jun.

The next day May 15, an insider revealed that various artists from Fantagio have filed to dispute their exclusive contract with the agency the same day that Woo left the company. More, the insider said that if their contracts are recognized as illegal by the Korea Entertainment Management Association, their contracts will be rendered invalid on the spot without legal responsibility.

Astro
Boy group Astro poses for cameras – OSEN News

Last year, the Chinese capital company JC Group became a major shareholder of Fantagio Music. Since then, the company has forced numerous changes that they have claimed are necessary for business in what was deemed by the media as the “Fantagio Incident.”

The Korea Entertainment Management Association stipulates that an entertainment company cannot operate without a qualified CEO. According to Article 26 of the Public Culture and Art Industry Development Act, in order to conduct entertainment business in Korea companies must have obtained a pop culture and arts planning license.

Further, one of the criteria to obtain this license is that the registered executive or representative must have at least four years of experience in public or cultural arts as recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Right now, Fantagio does not meet this standard.

As a result, the company has been caught running illegally. Reportedly, Fantagio was operating under the name of the previous chief executive Na Byung-ja. Due to the illegality of the situation, the company can be prosecuted for violating the Article 26.

Additionally, due to the current situation, it is inevitable that business as usual is disrupted. However, as a result, the artists under the company could find themselves in limbo for an unknown length of time, which highlights why the different artists under the company are currently working to dispute their exclusive contracts.

Fantagio
Former boy group Madtown – OSEN News

Notably, this situation mirrors that of boy group Madtown who were forced to disband after dealing with dysfunctional management and company turmoil for over a year.

 

 

Original article (1)(2)

Translated by O.C

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