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This sort of a side story of the current INB100 vs SM battle.
For previous reading, here is Part 1 and Part 2
As of yesterday, Kakao Entertainment is currently under investigation by the Korean Fair Trade Commission for charging higher music distribution fee's to non-kakao music labels.
This investigation was started after both Big Planet Made and INB100 filed complaints against Kakao.
If you remember from the INB100 vs SM battle, SM was saying they only get charged 5.5% for distributing music if CBX wanted to distribute through them, though when CBX went to release music suddenly they got charged 10% and are suing SM because of this, accusing them of lying. SM's response to the price increase was that they can't control what music distributors charge and the fact that it rose from 5.5 to 10% is out of their control.
Along with INB100 being upcharged, News came out of BPM accusing Kakao Ent of upcharging them Back In March because they get charged 20% instead of the 5.5% like SM. The filed the lawsuit back in January and it is only now being investigated in June.
BPM also requested Kakao to end their contract with them when they filed the investigation back in January but Kakao refused since they signed a contract. BPM accused them of not being fare though because apparently Kakao allowed another company to edit their contract after signing but BPM is not allowed to cancel theirs. BPM has since said that they have since switched to a different distribution company.
Article Source
I'm glad Kakao is getting investigated but one thing that confuses me is if Kakao is found guilty, then couldn't SM get a free pass from their lawsuit because technically their claim that the distributors are the ones charging the extra fee and that wasn't their decision would be true?
If the situation was that Kako was charging 5.5% but SM charged an additional 4.5% making it 10 then I can see the point in INB100 suing SM, but if Kakao was the ones upcharging them all along then I don't see why they are suing SM over Kakao's wrongdoings? (i'm not say SM is not a bad guy, i'm just saying in this specific scenario Kakao would be the main bad guy and SM is just kinda there/their minion?
)
Are you surprised about this news? Do you think this investigation is going to impact the current legal battles between SM and CBX?
For previous reading, here is Part 1 and Part 2
As of yesterday, Kakao Entertainment is currently under investigation by the Korean Fair Trade Commission for charging higher music distribution fee's to non-kakao music labels.
This investigation was started after both Big Planet Made and INB100 filed complaints against Kakao.
If you remember from the INB100 vs SM battle, SM was saying they only get charged 5.5% for distributing music if CBX wanted to distribute through them, though when CBX went to release music suddenly they got charged 10% and are suing SM because of this, accusing them of lying. SM's response to the price increase was that they can't control what music distributors charge and the fact that it rose from 5.5 to 10% is out of their control.
Along with INB100 being upcharged, News came out of BPM accusing Kakao Ent of upcharging them Back In March because they get charged 20% instead of the 5.5% like SM. The filed the lawsuit back in January and it is only now being investigated in June.
BPM also requested Kakao to end their contract with them when they filed the investigation back in January but Kakao refused since they signed a contract. BPM accused them of not being fare though because apparently Kakao allowed another company to edit their contract after signing but BPM is not allowed to cancel theirs. BPM has since said that they have since switched to a different distribution company.
Article Source
I'm glad Kakao is getting investigated but one thing that confuses me is if Kakao is found guilty, then couldn't SM get a free pass from their lawsuit because technically their claim that the distributors are the ones charging the extra fee and that wasn't their decision would be true?
If the situation was that Kako was charging 5.5% but SM charged an additional 4.5% making it 10 then I can see the point in INB100 suing SM, but if Kakao was the ones upcharging them all along then I don't see why they are suing SM over Kakao's wrongdoings? (i'm not say SM is not a bad guy, i'm just saying in this specific scenario Kakao would be the main bad guy and SM is just kinda there/their minion?
)Are you surprised about this news? Do you think this investigation is going to impact the current legal battles between SM and CBX?
....when is SM going to f--king learn to stop trying to sabotage people? I am so tired of them doing this crap
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While Kakao now owns SM, SM does not own Kakao.
There are multiple music companies under Kakao such as Starship, IST and Antenna, all of which probably do get charged that 5% rate with SM.
While I’m sure SM probably influenced Kakao to charge them a higher rate, in this case Kakao is technically screwing people over, not specifically SM.
(Also with the legal battles, BPM’s contract with Kakao with the surcharge issues started in 2021, Kakao didn’t officially buy SM until March of last year, and I’m sure this upcharge Kakao is doing has been going on for multiple years before then.)
I was referring also to their history of just trying to cause issues for artists who are tired of being mismanaged but Kakao is also an very EHHHH company as far as morals, so them doing it without any input from SM would not be shocking either
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I’m honestly shocked it took this long for someone to call out their price manipulation, though maybe everyone else was scared of getting blacklisted and INB and BPM were the first people not to be scared?
I hope more companies will speak up, especially since this investigation will definitely dig things up to back up people.
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