K-pop contract disputes: Fifty Fifty and TVXQ
South Korea, 2009 and 2023
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In 2023, a few months after a worldwide hit, the members of the group Fifty Fifty asked a court to annul their contract with the agency Attrakt. The agency accused an outside producer of poaching the group to pull them away. The court rejected the singers' request; three left the group and one stayed.
The case followed a familiar script in the industry: in 2009, three members of TVXQ sued SM Entertainment over thirteen-year contracts considered abusive, in a dispute that changed the rules for Korean agencies.
Sources
In the game
Blackout on Stage
Starlight Entertainment, Gangnam, Seoul, 9:40 pm. During Aurora7's dress rehearsal, the tour's sound console crackled, gave off smoke and killed the sound in the whole hall.
The game borrows the attempt to pull a K-pop group away from its agency through a breach of contract. The onstage sabotage, the characters and the outcome are fiction.
