SM Entertainment Responds To Chen's Contract Decision, Baekhyun, And Xiumin EXO

JAKARTA - SM Entertainment released a statement in response to the termination of the contract by Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin EXO. Previously they responded that there were allegations that a third party had influenced the three to file for the termination of this contract.

"First of all, EXO is an artist we really appreciate. As a result, we raised the level of artist settlement by double even over the period when their exclusive contract was still in effect. We have made their payments for several years with a system where artists can check settlement reports at any time, and they have not had a problem with this process for years," SM Entertainment said today, Thursday, June 1.

The agency said the three were present during discussions about the new contract before their exclusive contract expired. The new contracts that have been signed are considered mutually beneficial and have no problems.

"However, their legal representatives suddenly claimed that their newly signed exclusive contract was unacceptable, and we heard that there were external parties affecting the artist. We were very surprised, but we are working to sign an agreement to fully respect the opinions of our valuable artist," they said.

Furthermore, SM Entertainment explained that the payment report is carried out every month and can be seen at any time. However, they asked for a copy for a different purpose as a reason for the termination of the contract.

The agency denied that they refused to provide reports of payment transparency. Over time, the agency said Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin had never discussed settlement reports ahead of the exclusive contract change.

"As previously mentioned, we are informed that external parties are approaching our artists, spreading false rumors and inciting them, proposing that it is legally fine to ignore our exclusive contracts and sign exclusive contracts with them," they added.

We have explained several times that artists can see the full settlement report, which they can already see before, along with experts such as their legal representative or an accountant and can review it in detail at any time, continued the agency.

The agency claims the legal party representing the artist did not answer the question of whether the settlement report would be used for a contract with an external party. Instead, they asked for the contract to be terminated because they could not provide a copy of the settlement report.

SM Entertainment gave an example in the case of Girls' Generation and f(x). Three members of Girls' Generation or SNSD who chose to leave SM Entertainment still maintain good relations and even appear in SMTOWN concerts. They also mentioned that TVXQ and Super Junior had signed the contract after a long discussion.

We signed a contract with seven members (EXO) on December 30, 2022 after a lengthy discussion with EXO members for one year and six months from June 2021 to the end of 2022. The contract renewal discussion began at different times as each member had a different military service period," the agency said. "We understand the importance of EXO as a team, we are starting to discuss contract renewal starting with members whose contracts will expire first. During the process of discussing contract extensions, a lawyer from a major law firm appointed by members also joined the discussion from April 2022," they said.

The exclusive contract discussion was completed with the legal representative appointed by EXO. Therefore, they were surprised when the newly signed exclusive contract was terminated due to the demands of the three members.

Our biggest goal is to protect EXO and their fans who show their infinite love and support for EXO and to protect all of our agency artists. For this purpose, we will take a crackdown on external parties trying to deceive artists with unreasonable financial temptation, gossip, and baseless rumors to undermine the team itself. Thank you," concluded SM Entertainment.