The former head from the A&R department of SM Entertainment was recently caught adding his wife’s name to the credits of song in a scheme to collect royalties.
According to an exclusive report from Dailyan, a former head of SM Entertainment’s A&R department was caught adding his wife’s name as a lyricist to EXO, EXO-CBX, Baekhyun, and BoA’s songs. He added his wife’s name to a total of 15 songs. After discovering this, SM Entertainment has suspended the employee, and he is now subject to sever disciplinary action. The A&R (artists and repertoire) team is responsible for discovering artists, drawing up contracts, and developing artists. They are also in charge of the overall work that the agency does on a day to day basis, such as planning, production, and artist promotion. Since part of the A&R team’s responsibilities is to oversee production of the song, they will sometimes collect lyrics from lyricists and compile the credits. However, the SM Entertainment employee abused his power to collect royalties that weren’t his. The SM Entertainment employee used three false names to try to avoid suspicion, however he was still caught and is currently facing disciplinary measures within the company.
While this is obviously illegal and all that, I imagine it’s kinda hard for SME to get too riled up about stuff like this. After all, employees reflect the employer.
Regardless, Han Sung Soo paved the way.