KARA wishes you a Happy Valentine's Day in court

[anomiee.livejournal.com]

The contract termination dispute between KARA’s Seungyeon, Nicole, and Jiyoung against DSP Media has escalated into a legal battle.

On February 14th, representatives of the three members filed a lawsuit against DSP Media, asking the Seoul Central District Court to confirm that their three exclusive contracts were invalid. They also claimed that their incomes were not distributed fairly.

Through their head representative, the three members of KARA stated, “Without prior compromise, the agency deducted promotional fees from our income without our consent, which is classified under embezzlement. From January through June of 2010, we brought in $410,000 USD in income, while the promotional expenses amounted to $390,000 USD. The expenses are abnormally excessive.”

They continued, “Even when ‘Lupin‘ was at its highest point in popularity, DSP Media only paid $860 USD per member for a total of six months. The $140 USD that we were paid a month is unfair compared to the income that we brought in.”

Landmark previously sent notice to DSP Media regarding the termination of the three contracts on January 19th. Although the members resumed their scheduled activities, the two parties were not able to come to an agreement during their repeated attempts at reconciliation over the course of 25 days.

The dispute’s escalation into a legal battle has caught both fans and industry representatives off guard, and many are speculating about what this could mean for KARA as a unit of five.

A representative of DSP Media spoke through Sports Today and stated, “We’re shocked. We met several times, but it is true that the dispute went back to first base with each discussion. But because of their ‘URAKARA‘ filming in Japan, we agreed to speak with their parents upon their return. Now that we found out that they filed a lawsuit, we’re just shocked. First of all, we will be having a meeting within our company first before releasing further statements.”

The representative also told Star News, “Their head representative claimed that the girls only received $860 USD per member for six months of their ‘Lupin’ promotions, but that is truly ridiculous. We deducted six months worth of their entire promotional expenses from the profits made off of their album sales. Thus, we did not deduct anything from their promotions in other areas such as CFs. Unlike what the three are claiming, we paid them a larger sum, but they’re claiming as if we’ve embezzled.

Nate + Star News 1, 2, 3 + allkpop

well shit.

Comments

[kissuxrabu.livejournal.com]

dammit. when will this ever going to end?

[jlie-ly.livejournal.com]

it's not even the beginning, look at JYJ lawsuit =.="

[blindmuffins.livejournal.com]

Oh no. So the URAKARA filming was the calm before the storm. ;~;
How's Seungyeon supposed to 'protect' KARA at this rate.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Let's do this.

[aya-sama3000.livejournal.com]

do i spy ashley in your icon?

[rosetta16.livejournal.com]

I knew i shouldnt belive the "we wont disban" line again

[rosamajalis.livejournal.com]

Good luck to these three ladies. May your future careers not be disastrous.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

This is a prime example why when signing a contract as an entertainer always ask a piece of sales (like a certain percentage of sales price of each album sold) instead of profit as Hollywood bookkeeping is almost always impossible to prove. Anyhow Kara members and their parents have been fucking stupid when signing their contract as this is such a well known fact which they could have confirmed from almost anyone in entertainment business.

[loveholic198.livejournal.com]

Did the moms do some BTS work when Kara were in Japan?

[notyourgeisha.livejournal.com]

as two of the dads went with them, claro que si

[seidy.livejournal.com]

Feel like it's deja vu all over again D:

Anyway, DSP needs to show their bank statement NOW.

[mntsuklaa.livejournal.com]

Unlike what the three are claiming, we paid them a larger sum, but they’re claiming as if we’ve embezzled.

And the only thing you're doing is deny it in a statement...
They need to show more proof than that... :/

[orenji13.livejournal.com]

I won't wait for it..
They will never show any number till the end of the lawsuit

[swallowedkey.livejournal.com]

Lmao these idiots. I knew this thing wasn't just settled "calmly" like they tried to make it out to be the first time. Hopefully this time they stick to their lawsuit otherwise they look more stupid jumping back and forth.

[muffincrash.livejournal.com]

I thought this was over =/
Well, good luck to all of them, I hope this'll end well...

[canttakeabreath.livejournal.com]

i wasn't following this at all...but what!? didn't they all go back and smile and say they were bffaes and all and smile and continue performing? did i miss something?

[http://users.livejournal.com/reminisce__/]

From the past few articles I read, they resumed URAKARA activities as a buffer and a type of "calm before the storm" while these charges were being filed.

[xshina.livejournal.com]

??? i thought this was over?

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Like the boomerang, it's coming back, full speed :/.

[rabu-parade.livejournal.com]

Here we go again...

[nandexdame.livejournal.com]

So what are they doing? I hope they realize that this doesn't look good for them either.

[kellygreen.livejournal.com]

Wait. What the. I thought....what's going on??

[ayumikoshiro.livejournal.com]

I understand that they want their fair pay and I'm not mad at them for it. Korea needs to fix their entertainment system or else this will continue to happen over and over. SS501 lasted for 5 years but almost all of them went to another company which says alot about how DSP treats their artists. If your most successful boyband doesn't even want to continue with you something is wrong. Whether it be management or salary breakdown DSP is messing up. Plus with the trainee system KARA is paying for anyone else that DSP has in training RN seeing as they are the biggest act so the 99-1 split might be what DSP needs to keep their head above water.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

OMG WAEE, I THOGUHT THIS WAS OVER?!

SHIIIIRRRRRLEEEEEEYYYYYY!

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

nice move. smartasses.

[toomanysides.livejournal.com]

At the end of the day no matter what happens it's the kids that will suffer from all this. ;_;

[gyuri.livejournal.com]

…wtf???

[eotfofyl.livejournal.com]

Scott Boras amateur hour (potential new band name?).

[gyuri.livejournal.com]

Shirely Lee*

[fallingstarryuu.livejournal.com]

mte. I mean how the fuck would Nicole be able to buy her mum a restaurant and how would Hara be able to afford to look for a house?

hell I'd probably save even less than $140 per month if I had pay for housing, clothes, food & the managers/bodyguards whatever else with my salary. Not to mention constant plane trips back and forth two countries.

I think the parents just want more money/greedy.

[notyourgeisha.livejournal.com]

Wow. Fuck. Again.