Before all you JYJ fans start sending me death threats, hear me out.
Recently, JYJ’s documentary film “The Day“, which was scheduled to screen at CGV Cinemas in a little over a week, was abruptly cancelled by the company.
JYJ‘s documentary movie ‘The Day‘ has suddenly been canceled just 10 days before it’s official debut.
JYJ’s CJES Entertainment stated that it is due to CJ CGV breaching the contract which they are now appealing, and the fans who heard the news were also outraged.
On the 30th, CJES Entertainment reported through an official press release that JYJ’s ‘The Day’ movie debut has unfortunately been canceled, and are arguing that it is due to CGV breaching the contract due to unknown reasons.
As fans will point out, it’s not exactly a mystery regarding who’s probably behind it, even if officials will never explicitly say so themselves.
Needless to say, JYJ fans weren’t happy.
On the portal site Daum, thousands of fans at the community called “Agora” posted an online petition requesting CGV’s explanation of the issue. The petition, which is aiming for 100,000 supporters, encourage more participation of all JYJ fans by saying, “JYJ is being ostracized by a group of people. We should stop it now.” Also, some of the netizens are organizing a group boycott of all CGV theaters, which is one of the largest movie theater chains in the country.
Honestly? That’s mild for what JYJ fans usually organize and it got me thinking as to whether or not SM Entertainment is actually hurting JYJ at all.
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Admittedly, help is a hard word to prove. For JYJ, in this context, it’s impossible. Both because part of the interference is not being able to gauge fan response on music shows and sales in both Korea and Japan. Certainly though, they aren’t starving because of it.
Don’t get me wrong, they deserve to be compensated for their work, but it made me wonder if SME’s actions didn’t actually facilitate their wealth. I understand that their raw sales may not be as high (they may be higher, I don’t know), and while I get that acting and endorsement opportunities may be limited, they no longer have to share 99% of their profits (or whatever the figure was) with SME, as they are now effectively operating as independents.
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It’s my position that SM Entertainment’s constant screwing of JYJ at every turn has not only emboldened their existing fan base, but also garnered them fans sympathetic to their cause, and has turned them into the default symbol for standing up against corporate evils in the Korean entertainment industry.
While it’s standard practice in Japan for fans to support their artists by organizing sales of albums through purchases, fans in Korea usually focus on achieving wins in meaningless things like popularity polls and music shows. In the case of JYJ though, what I’ve noticed is that because fans can’t support them publicly anymore, they band together in gigantic groups and support them through album sales, merchandise sales, and concert sales.
To an extent, all fans do this, but the level of dedication that JYJ fans put forth to support them financially is unlike any other I’ve seen from fans of a Korean group. Remember when JYJ couldn’t get their work licenses in America and were forced to perform for free? Fans were gathering in droves asking where they could donate money to the trio. It’s insane. I’ve never seen that before from fans of an idol group and I can’t help but wonder if any of this would have ever happened if SM Entertainment never tried to blacklist them to begin with.
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Make no mistake, JYJ’s members were once part of a pop idol group that was mass produced by a company to generate profit. Yet through their actions, SM Entertainment has somehow turned JYJ’s public image into that of a sympathetic indie artist, ironically netting them more loyalty (definitely), more support (likely), and more money (probably).
Oops.
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Well whenever things like this happen to them, fans swarm and buy their work. Every dedicated fan must be buying at least 3 cds.
Seriously. As much as I kinda sorta pity them for the trouble with SMe… they’re still fucking rich but they go around practically begging people to buy their shit.
If that movie really gets cancelled and somehow they release it on dvd or some sort fans are gonna buy that like there’s no tomorrow.
Right and none of that would be possible without SME’s idiocy.
I never thought about it like that but I know they are making way more money now.
Of course it is helping them. I was never a DBSK fan at all…but after the last 2 years and seeing all the bullshit JYJ has to put up with…now all of a sudden I find myself on their side.Even if at the beginning I did not care much either way of the outcome. Now..I’m enraged for them. I hate bullies and SME is nothing but a bully in this situation. So I was bound to take JYJ’s side after a while.
SME is full of idiots.
By acting like they have and continuing to…yes…they just make the diehard fans more diehard, and won JYJ new fans because people admire them for keeping on despite everything.
If they had let those boys go their way after the court said they should, and they, SME gone their way….all of this would have died down and JYJ probably would not be a popular as they are now. But they can’t let anything go…they have to prove how big and bad they are.
Thanks for your contribution.
I see a lot of fans who are like you, which is partially what motivated me to write this.
Funny thing is that I think they know they fucked up but it’s like they are beyond the point of no return so they keep going.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, SME, as a large corporation responsible to shareholders, has been acting like a rabid dog, out of control, consistently making moves that only further embarrass and shame themselves in this to-the-death revenge scenario they have running against JYJ. And I think it’s true that their actions have unwittingly created an iron-clad fan-base for JYJ who will stick with them no matter what. There is a principle of simple fairness involved here that anyone can understand: to be young, go after your dreams and when you are successful, be paid commensurate with that success. SM treats all its young artists unfairly by this standard and my theory as to why they have gone after JYJ so cruelly is because if all of their other artists get they idea that perhaps they too would like to see some of the money they are making for SM and walk out as well, then their much-touted business model for cranking out cookie cutter idol groups is in the crapper. If forced to deal fairly and ethically with its artists there’s no telling what would become of SME. But by every indication we’ve seen so far, SME is scared stiff of allowing JYJ to have an even playing field on which to compete, that’s the bottom line.
I was indifferent to the situation at first, maybe even annoyed at the constant back and forth and complaining.
Over time though, it just got ridiculous to me on SM Entertainment’s side.
The way i see it, half of the money they’re getting are what SM refused to give them in the first place, just like what they did to Hangeng.
In JYJ’s case, each of them has huge successes for their individual career. Yoochun earned like $10M last year from CFs and endorsements alone, Junsu’s selling out expensive tickets for his musicals and Jaejoong wrote most of the songs in their album.That’s where they got the other half from.
The thing is, they were cock-blocked from the music scene, where they came from, and where most of their fans came from.
Yeah, you could argue that they are suffering in the sense that they can’t meet their fans on mainstream stages.
Did they really make that much in endorsements? Holy fuck.
:o
i am de lurking for this
they definitely dont earn that much through endorsements
3 million would be closer to the mark i think (for total income)
their price per CF is 750k-ish($) for one
The bulk of their money was from the “world tour”+CF’s i think
huge fanbase=massive ticketing power
American leg could have been way better but asian and european leg =sold out
its ironic that SM has been trying to crack the acting industry forever and the only ones who manage to legit. crack it are their ex-talent (Eric, Eugene, Yoochun)
i think it was estimated that Junsu and jaejoong earned around 3 million net in one year (each)
and yoochun would be 4 million-ish (individual CF’s plus dramas)
Their cash donation to World Vision+ japanese charity concert donation alone would be more than $1 million in one year so i’m guessing they arent hurting in the $$$$ department
The craziest thing about this is that this may be a low earning potential
They earned like more than a 100 million dollars in Japan in their last year active as TVXQ for Avex
SM should have negotiated with them when JYJ were willing
Dont let go of the golden goose
I wouldnt worry about Hangeng
He’s ballin’ and has the added bonus of being a foreigner whose countrymen who would easily back him against a foreign company
and @KPOPflash
about CCM CEO ; it pains me a lot especially the way T-ara has been speaking out lately
makes me worried
:(
Yeah, obviously they would be earning more if they were free to do whatever they wanted, but out of that 100 million, SME would have kept a gigantic chunk of it, whereas I figure they get to keep a greater percentage of whatever they make now.
Would be interesting to see how much they can bank if they are given free rein.
Korean company percentages are like the opposite of the west.
In American management gets about 20-25% of profit. The talent get’s the rest. Since technically..they higher management to work for them.
In Korea..with the excuse of the trainee system and the fact that the company plays every role…the company takes about 80% of the top. The talent gets the rest and most cases has to split it with the group. Most only keep the money they earn individually for CF’s and dramas for themselves. But some companies..even that get split according to contract (I think 2pm is like this). So one popular member could be making bank for everyone.
Plus they get a stipend like a salaried worker. In Korea..you work for the company. You are their employee. Not the other way around.
Yeah and American artists complain about even that.
i’m a jyj fan, but have to agree with this one. there are always good and bad sides
SME doesn’t care whether their actions help JYJ. They will continue to punish JYJ as a warning to all idol gorup members that rebelling against the parent company is not acceptable. If they fight against the parent company, they will be blacklisted. IIRC, even CCM’s CEO said Kara should be blacklisted.
Is that effective if both groups continue to be increasingly successful after their controversies though?
Hangeng won his suit as well.
SM is probably grinding their teeth about the fact that they can’t touch Han Geng. He is chillin in China riding the wave of his popularity, he is everywhere in China. He aint even bothering with them. Last I heard..after they both dropped suit..he signed with a Chinese Company.
He was in the top 20 earners this year!
I’ve only known about Kpop for about a year now, but it didn’t take me long to decide that none of my money will go to SM if I can help it. I like several songs from their groups, but I refuse to buy their tracks or albums (no, I don’t pirate them either!) and I try to not watch anything from their official Youtube channels. I’m not a JYJ fan (I honestly don’t have an opinion of them at all), but I can’t stand how SM appears to do business. Yes, their actions against JYJ have caused me to choose a side. I guess that makes me an SM anti. I politely accept that.