"Royalties? Not a single won."—SeeYa and Epik High expose former agency contracts [★FOCUS]

*This content was translated by AI.

To this day, their songs remain in the public's playlists, yet they have received not a single won in royalties.

Female vocalist SeeYa and hip-hop group Epik High have exposed the contract structures of the past K-pop market, which were vastly different from today's.

Last month, Epik High released content on its official YouTube channel, unearthing a secret warehouse that had never been made public before.

On that day, Epik High located a container warehouse where they had stored all their belongings when they left YG Entertainment about 10 years ago. Among the countless treasures, the most eye-catching item was the exclusive contract they had signed at the time of their debut. Epik High debuted in October 2003 after signing a contract with Woorim Entertainment, a newly established agency at the time, and releasing their first full-length album, "Map of the Human Soul."

Tablo, upon seeing the exclusive contract, could not contain his surprise, exclaiming, "Oh my god. This is huge. Woorim (the agency)." He then cursed, saying, "September 23, 2003. Because of this contract..." The reason was that they had not received proper royalty settlements from Woorim Entertainment at the time.

Tablo, who stated, "I created 'Fly,' yet I received not a single won," publicly criticized Woorim Entertainment, saying, "Because of this damn contract, we received not a single won from our music. And yet, they were so angry that we were eating shrimp..."

SeeYa also did not receive royalty settlements.

Appearing on the YouTube content "Honest Mouth" on the 16th, Nam Gyu-ri, Lee Bo-ram, and Kim Yeon-jeong responded to Kim Ji-yu's question, "Which song has the highest royalties?" with, "We have no royalties. We have never received any."

The reason, like Epik High, was a contract issue. SeeYa explained, "It was structured that way. There was no music streaming contract back then like there is today." Nam Gyu-ri added, "Even when people listened to our songs a lot, the structure was not set up for us to receive anything."

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*This content was translated by AI.