Read on Mobile

[ASKKPOP] Soul Shop Entertainment and Megan Lee fight over her entertainment activities

The tension betweenKim Tae Woo'sSoul Shop Entertainmentand former artistMegan Leecontinues.  On March 27, the lawsuit for Soul Shop's request for a ban against entertainment activities and formal objection to Megan Lee's request for an injunction against the preservation of her position at the agency.


It seems that althoughshe won the lawsuitagainst Soul Shop on the grounds that the contract was unfair and therefore void, there is a certain time lapse that occurs before the official nullification during which she does not want to be associated with the company. On the other hand, Soul Shop Entertainment is pushing the point that she is still formally under the label until the nullification officially occurs.


The trial took place at the Seoul Central District Court where Megan Lee's attorney stated,"Putting the injunction in place and the invalidity of the exclusive contract are very valid decisions.  The time period of the exclusive contract was set up to last more than five years, but the start of the contract compared to the time the contract was concluded was not separately decided on, so it is difficult to predict the actual time period of the contract."


Claiming that the management in Soul Shop was excessive when it came to authority, the attorney continued that Soul Shop Entertainment claimed she had a duty to consult the agency when it came to everything from personal affairs and school work to dating, military service, and means of transportation.  The attorney then went into, once again, the alleged unfair distribution of the profit.


The attorney concluded with,"It was judged that the contract was invalid and because it was preceded by the injunction against her position [at the agency], we deem it unnecessary to preserve the injunction against her promotions as an entertainer."




On the contrary, Soul Shop's side said that the contract was done on July, 2012 and her debut was on May, 2014 and that the standard agreement was seven years, so it was hard to say the contract was void just because of the time period.  The rep stated,"An agency continues to invest in advance into the celebrity that the agency wants to invest in.  Once this is accepted, the so-called eat-and-run celebrities can be mass produced. In this case, through the agency's investment in advance, another agency could easy scout and give an offer, so there comes a case of getting a free ride.  There must be a cancellation fee no matter what,"insisting that the agency invested in the artist and suggesting she took advantage of them with their "eat-and-run" and "free ride" choice of words.  Soul Shop said they provided her with many opportunities and even gave her mother receipts for confirmation.


In addition, the contract is claimed to have a statement regarding the freedom of her private life as they could not coerce her in any matter outside of her entertainment promotions and Soul Shop insisted they followed the standard contract regarding repayment of the investment and distribution.


For the next two weeks until April 10, the Justice Department will receive additional writing and materials for explanation from both sides before releasing their decision on the matter.