Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
A few days ago, Samuel declared he would continue his career as an independent artist, and I didn’t think much of it.
Dear my Garnets [official fan club name], I am writing in response to Garnets who seem to be worrying too much about me. I would like to inform my important fans who have been encouraging me that I started my career as a solo musician. I will continue to communicate and meet with Garnets in various ways, and promise to show up with good music and wonderful performances soon. I will never forget that you believed in me and waited for me. I will be Samuel who Garnets are proud of.
I assumed his contract ended or he was released and was moving on. Cool.
A couple days later it emerged that his former/current company Brave Entertainment didn’t agree with his declaration.
On June 10, a source from Brave Entertainment said, “We did not part ways with Samuel. The independent promotions that Samuel announced were not discussed with the agency. We’ll release an official statement soon and explain the situation.”
Now the company has expressed their official stance on the matter, in which they say their contract with him is still valid.
Hello. This is Brave Entertainment. We’d like to inform you of our official position of Samuel’s independent activities. Samuel’s mother and the company had conflicting opinions because he was a minor, and Samuel’s mother unilaterally informed us of the invalidity of his exclusive contract. Since we signed a management contract with Samuel in 2014, we have been faithfully performing our duties as a management company in all areas with continuous support and have been making generous investments and faithfully working in all aspects for management and artist growth. We currently maintain a legitimate contract with Samuel and have not treated him unfairly. We will proceed with legal action using lawful procedures with Samuel. We are very sorry to have caused concern to fans and the public, and we will try to resolve this problem as soon as possible. Thank you.
Seems like another legal battle is coming unless they can settle something.
I can’t tell if it just seems this way or if a lot of ‘Produce‘ contestants eventually end up having problems with their agencies. Guessing it’s because for the first time in their lives they actually have leverage compared to when they were just anonymous trainees.
Update
The dispute centers around payment issues and event participation, in particular ones involving cryptocurrency. Brave Entertainment has denied these claims.
