South Korean media outlet Oh My Star, reported exclusively that Korean idol group B.A.P is not the only group who are having payment and finance transparency complaints against artist management label TS Entertainment.
According to allkpop, the report claimed that another group (referred to as Group A) hardly received payments from the agency and another group (referred to as Group B) also has problems with profit distribution, similar to B.A.P's case.
"Not only B.A.P, but group A under the agency TS Entertainment has attended multiple events and released their album, but they have hardly received any of the profits from it. Despite doing a considerable amount of activities including university festivals and more, they are currently receiving a monthly income of around 700,000 KRW (~633 USD) and are helping out with composing and music production internally... They hardly received any revenue details and financial statements... Popular group B also had issues with income distribution, and every time the members complained, the agency temporarily resolved things by giving them gifts."
Rumors suggest that Group A started to receive their financial statements only this year. The group also allegedly stated TS Entertainment was never transparent in their finances for the past eight years.
A source who seems to be affiliated with the label told the media outlet, "Since there is a separate finance team, they probably know the exact details better, but it is true that the contract period, income distribution, and other issues were not transparent to the agency artists... There have been a lot of complaints among the agency artists that their financial statements were not properly shown."
A rep from the company, meanwhile, denied these claims. Allkpop added in its article that the rep said, "It is not true... Group A didn't participate in many events... Although there might have been cases when we personally gifted them, that does not factor into the matter of income distribution."
Allkpop noted that whether or not the insiders were referring to the agency's other groups, SECRET or Untouchable, it seems that financial transparency is a common issue among the artists of the agency.
Meanwhile, the agency has made no official statement yet after its initial response to B.A.P's lawsuit filing.
According to Koreaboo, TS Entertainment was founded in 2008 by Kim Tae Song, and is one of the fast rising companies in the cutthroat idol industry in Korea.
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