The Court has granted the injunction filed by the members of TVXQ against SM Entertainment.The Court found that the Contract between SM and the Members was unconscionable and against public policy. Following this victory, the Members are proceeding with the main suit to ask for the rightful shares of all income generated from their activities.
The following is a summary of the outrageous terms of the Contract that relates to the distribution of income. The clear conclusion is that the TVXQ members have received next to nothing for their six years of work, and that virtually all money we spend to buy SM products stay with SM. Please read the below to see the extent of the injustice.
Please keep in mind that SM’s contract with TVXQ has been amended five times and therefore the applicable terms have varied over time. Accounting for all the resulting complexities, the truth adds up to the following:
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I. TVXQ has received $0 for their album sales prior to July 2008, and only a negligible amount after that date.
Prior to the fifth and final round of amendments on July 1, 2008, the Contract read that for any album or single with sales not exceeding 500,000 copies, SM would be entitled to 100% of the profits, leaving the members with nothing. From the time of TVXQ’s debut in late 2003 and until TVXQ’s release of their 4th Korean album “Mirotic” in September 2008, no Korean album had sold more than 500,000 copies. Therefore, prior to July 2008 TVXQ has had absolutely zero income from their album sales.
On July 1,2008, SM amended the Contract to give each Member 1% of total sales for each album that sells over 200,000 copies. For any albums that sell fewer copies, the members are to receive 0.6% to 0%. SM has not honored even these outrageous terms, as it has not paid TVXQ a single cent since February 2009.
In sum, SM has kept 100% of all sales that TVXQ has generated with the sales of their albums and singles prior to July 2008, and has kept 95% or more of the sales after that date.
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II. TVXQ has received $0 for the sales of concert DVDs and albums featuring recordings from such concerts.
Under the Contract, the Members are not entitled to receive any share of the profits generated from sales of concert DVDs and “live” albums.
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III. TVXQ has received $0 for their appearances on TV programs.
Under the Contract, Members are not entitled to receive any share of the profits made through their TV appearances if the appearance is of a temporary nature. As all programs on which TVXQ appeared have featured the Members as “guests”and therefore by nature have been temporary, SM has kept all profits that TVXQ has generated from these TV appearances.
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IV. For all other possible sources of revenue, SM subtracts from the total revenue all expenses, including salaries of other staff, stage preparation expenses, rent, travel expenses, food expenses, and the like, then gives TVXQ only a fraction of the remaining amount.
As for all other sources of income, the Contract states that TVXQ is entitled to varying percentages of the “net income.” The Contract defines “net income” to be the amount remaining after the applicable “operating costs”. The “operating costs” are defined to include such expenses that are traditionally expected to be covered by the employer, including but not limited to 1) salaries of the staff (manager, clothing coordinators, makeup artists, dance crew, and the like), 2) performing stage preparation costs, 3) living expenses, including rent and water/electricity bills, 4) travel expenses, including plane ticket costs, 5) meal expenses, and the like.
Even after all these “operating costs” are deducted from the net income, the Members are only entitled to a small percentage of the remainder while SM keeps the rest.
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In conclusion, please realize that SM has kept virtually all of the profits that our Members have generated over the past six years. Our Members have received, literally, next to nothing.
Following thevictory of the granting of the preliminary injunction, the Members now prepare for a suit to claim their rightful share of the profits that they themselves generated. Please help them win the lawsuit by boycotting all SM-made products and merchandises (this excludes all Avex-made products, which includes Japanese albums and singles released in Japan).
Please remember that every cent you spend on SM will be used to fuel SM’s efforts against our Members in the main suit. We as fans support TVXQ in their rightful fight for their rights.
credit: dnbn
shared by: sharingyoochun@wordpress
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I know that before had been spread the translation of TVXQ exclusive contract by one forum. However, since everyone like tagging it as RUMOR, and I feel like we dont need anymore rumor especially regarding this case, thus I decided not to publish that translation.
I did read the full contract terms published in DNBN, though… and it’s from a reliable person who works with TVXQ contract in South Korea. There are some points in the translation being spread are confirmed to be true, but there are some which are still questionable.
From my understanding, our boys got more income when they’re working in Japan. So maybe that’s why they tend to stick in Japan from all these times. The interpretation which is explained above seems to cover only their contract when they’re working purely with SM in Korea.
sharingyoochun
wasur3naid3
piao
ayu333
sm was damn cruel….it’s really ridiculous to treat such a big star like that…..pity our boys….
By: luvcm on October 31, 2009
at 12:33 pm
omg!!!! they have to win that lawsuit!!!! pleasee!!!
By: dbskGO! on October 31, 2009
at 12:50 pm
what the hell is the contract??they works as slaves instead of stars??!!
sm is damn scoundrel!!!
By: yongchunfeng on October 31, 2009
at 12:54 pm
its look like drama…
are u sure this is the content of the contract?
It is really cruel…. how can they do that….
Very poor…hishhhhh
Actually i dont want to hear anything bad bout BDSK, but i dont now, why i keep searching…
the more i search, the more know..
n the more i hate SME…
I hope DBSK will win
By: maxikin on October 31, 2009
at 1:02 pm
so far this is the believed true contract. DNBN mod passed this article in their site while I must say DNBN is the most strict site regarding the boys’ lawsuit development other than naver/daum
that’s all I can say
By: sharingyoochun on October 31, 2009
at 1:09 pm
I don’t understand why lots of people still want the boys under SME?
By: Kur4tinc on October 31, 2009
at 1:13 pm
1) maybe they wants to be as glamorous as TVXQ,SNSD, SHiNee, Suju etc etc no matter what
2) maybe they wanna get close to the boys??! (=stalkers?)
. ..huhu
By: nurul on October 31, 2009
at 1:23 pm
It is hard to think about this injustice. How could they treat these beautiful people with such ruthless cold hearts… T_T
By: Lisa on October 31, 2009
at 1:57 pm
This can’t possibly be the contract, otherwise why did tvxq sign it in the first place. Did they not read the terms before signing? I’m really curious. How did they let such an important thing as profits slip past their eys when signing the contract? Or how did SME get them to sign such ridiculously unfair contract? Has nobody ever thouht of that?
By: Chunnaaah on October 31, 2009
at 3:27 pm
If you remember, this is the contract they signed prior debut (it might even have been prior trainee time). From a Western judicial point of view, they weren’t even allowed to sign any contract, since they were under 18. In Western Court, a contract would be nullified just of this fact (of course, the contract can not have been altered by the minor after he/she become legally grown up by the age of 18).
They were too young to realize the impact all the clauses would have. The possibility of being accepted to a company is close to none and become a star is even worse. Therefore SME had ALL the power – a power they utilized 100%.
Also, don’t blame the parents, cause apparently knowledge about this kind of unfairness is narrowed; i.e.the little known copyrights artists have! (And for Yunho’s part for example, the parents didn’t even support his dream to become an artist, so he probably couldn’t have had asked his parents for advice)
It has also been mentioned that the members did actually try to re-negotiate the terms of the contract with SME, without result. The lawsuit is therefore a product of SME’s indignation towards modification of the contract.
Despite all these points, it’s still hard to tell whether or not it is the real contract, but I would say there’s a high chance of this being genuine.
If the contract were fair, why would the members have sued SME?
By: Nyssaki on October 31, 2009
at 11:53 pm
really, SM is a DEVIL
it’s a good thing the court does the right things. hopefully everything will be fine
By: XYellowMellowX on October 31, 2009
at 3:28 pm
My heart hurts for DBSK. How can someone have such little regard for other human beings? I read a comment on another blog, and that person said the high ups in SM know people in the government, and SM defiently has enough money to pay them off. I’m sure other artists working under SM have similar contracts.
By: Alicia on October 31, 2009
at 3:54 pm
‘Effing bastards! What reliable news is going to come out next? Physical abuse? Somebody needs to do something now! I don’t know what, but something!
By: Alicia on October 31, 2009
at 4:04 pm
well, i wonder how much they’ve really earned…
commercials? concerts?
they ARE rich enough to have pretty much appeared in a different outfit for the last 6 years, even though the tv/mv/concert outfits are not theirs…
they drive nice cars, JJ has a lot of LV bags… though I think they would still get paid a lot more than the average commoner.
By: Gary on October 31, 2009
at 3:55 pm
yeah maybe, but an average commoner doesn’t work half as hard as they do.
By: nancy on October 31, 2009
at 11:21 pm
Can the average commoner generate the same amount of revenues to SM’s coffer that DBSK did for the hours of work that they had put in? If they can and were in the same situation as Dbsk is right now, they will not accept these grossly unfair profit sharing schemes. Don’t forget that many artists’ careers and popularity can be short-lived. If they are being so underpaid now while at the peak of their popularity, how will they expect to save for their future when their fame dims? Do you think SM will take care of DBSK when they can no longer make money for SM and retire? Just because SM had invested in training them since young, it does not mean that SM can exploit these young kids by making them become a money-making machines while they are still in their productive youthful stages.
I believe the above posted contract terms to be true since SM had a bad history with their own past artists like H.O.T and Shinwa who had similar complaints. What I don’t understand is why the hell did CJS sign these slavery contracts in the first place? For fame and popularity? Were they so poor that they could not afford a lawyer to review their contracts before signing them? If they had, they should sue the lawyers who reviewed these contracts.
By: cherrie on November 1, 2009
at 12:16 am
seriously, RI-DAMN-DI-CU-LOUS!
arghh! this is beyond frustrating.
wow. =[
By: jenn on October 31, 2009
at 3:56 pm
I know that the above article is quite reliable, but somehow, it sounds too outrageous to be true. I’m not accusing the person who wrote this article being exaggerating, but all I wanna know is that did SM REALLY do something like this? If yes, how in the world did the boys EVER survive all these years? I would have DIED if I were them!
By: babababan on October 31, 2009
at 6:51 pm
Im so upset!
By: Jaechun 1602 on October 31, 2009
at 10:05 pm
I’m just gobsmacked….. I seriouslly dont know what to say.
And it isn’t just them, think what they are doing to the others…. super junior guys, who are on evry single variety show to no end, can’t believe I’ve watched endless shows they made me laugh and they prob get nithing for it…. this is just sick.
By: kyaa on October 31, 2009
at 10:34 pm
O.o that is worse than I thought…
Fight, boys, fight! We’re behind you!
By: silvrrainfell on October 31, 2009
at 10:56 pm
I read that translated version and there was a clause which stated that DBSK has no say in their choice in Music, but SM has the right to take any of DBSK’s own compositions and give it to other singers without DBSK’s consent. .<
By: yotada on October 31, 2009
at 10:59 pm
Is that true?! Cause if it is, then it would surely explain why the boys have more Japanese compositions than Korean.
By: yotada on October 31, 2009
at 11:00 pm
yeah, I’ve also read that info too. It stated that SM can give DBSK’s songs to any other artists as their will whether the boys agree or not, even if DBSK’s self-composed songs.
By: nancy on October 31, 2009
at 11:18 pm
I know business is business but even from an objective point of view this is really unfair.
Thanks for only publishing what you only think is truth, rumours never did anything good.
By: Pin on October 31, 2009
at 11:12 pm
>:O
It is so unfair.We all saw all the hard works they did in these past years…they deserves something better!
It’s truely a good thing they sue SM and win the case.
By: aydashyera on November 1, 2009
at 12:35 am
ah~ too many things to absorb regarding the contract/lawsuit/etc…
don’t know how to react although i’m so disappointed already since the case started…but like i always say, i’m not losing hope…and i pray that this will end soon…and i’m keeping the faith…
SYC, thanks for all the hardwork! i trust this blog when it comes to news about our boys…
thank you so much!
By: enahh on November 1, 2009
at 2:56 am
this is HORRIBLE…..
very very unfair and TVXQ’s rights are not protested….it’s so sad….
i really hope they win and receive justice!!!
thanks for sharing….
By: aislovesdbsk on November 1, 2009
at 3:31 pm
thats wat i think too…in Japan, ppl treat them better:) the company is nice to them:) of course they would stay there:) pooorie Cassies
By: leyunism on November 2, 2009
at 12:14 am
to think that they were paid peanuts and still produced quality work really makes me admire them even more
By: deezcan on November 2, 2009
at 1:14 am