The Givers is reportedly under investigation for the suspicion of secretly purchasing the copyright of the hit song 'Cupid' by the group FIFTY FIFTY. Amid this, The Givers draws attention with its new assertion regarding the OST 'Barbie' of FIFTY FIFTY.
On July 17, Dispatch reported that An Seong-il, the representative of The Givers, had secretly paid the three Swedish composers (Adam von Mentzer, Mac Fellander, Louise Udin) who created 'Cupid' without the knowledge of Jeon Hong-joon, the representative of FIFTY FIFTY's agency Attract, and purchased the copyright, raising suspicion of forgery of personal signatures.
According to the report, An Seong-il increased his share of 'Cupid' to 95.5% through a stake change confirmation, which transferred 74.5% of the stakes of the three Swedish composers to him and his company in March. The Swedish composers' stake was reduced to 0%, and member Kina's (Song Ja-kyung) lyrics share was reduced from 6.5% to 0.5%.
The Givers, which needs to go through a prior consultation process with Attrakt when conducting related tasks to FIFTY FIFTY, this is a breach of the service contract. The report also stated that An Seong-il forged the signatures of the Swedish composers during the copyright transfer process and filled the signature space on the share change confirmation with a fake signature.
Upon suspicion that the original author, the Swedish composer's handwritten signature was forged, The Givers told XSportsNews on the day, "We have just come across the report and are determining the facts."
In the afternoon of the same day, The Givers conveyed its position on the situation from the shooting of FIFTY FIFTY's 'Barbie' OST music video to the cancellation, instead of explaining the situation.
According to The Givers, "President Jeon Hong-joon of Attrakt claimed that President An Seong-il unilaterally proceeded with and cancelled the 'Barbie Dreams' MV project without his approval. However, President Jeon personally approved the filming of 'Barbie Dreams' and directed the sudden cancellation during the project progress, claiming false facts."
According to The Givers, on June 19, President Jeon, who received a content certification from FIFTY FIFTY, asked to persuade the members to proceed with the 'Barbie MV' and 'advertisement' during the meeting with President An Seong-il.
However, the next day, Jeon said, "We must find the main culprit of this incident and hold them responsible," and "There is no compromise," and stopped filming the 'Barbie Dreams' MV.
The Givers said, "We were aware that if the filming of 'Barbie Dreams' MV was canceled, everyone would be hit hard and the economic damage would be severe, so we did our best to maintain the shooting schedule," and emphasized, "We ask Attrakt and President Jeon Hong-joon to stop shifting responsibility and making unfounded allegations that harm The Giveus, its employees, and all related parties."
Moreover, The Givers stated, "We sincerely hope that the conflict between the agency Attrakt and FIFTY FIFTY will be resolved soon, and we request not to connect The Givers to the dispute between the two parties anymore," and defended its previous position, "We will legally clarify false facts and distorted truths, and clearly state our position."
Meanwhile, recently, President Jeon claimed that An Seong-il, the representative of The Givers, tried to sell FIFTY FIFTY to Warner Music Korea. Amid this, FIFTY FIFTY members filed for a suspension of the exclusive contract with the agency due to a broken trust relationship caused by opaque calculations.
Amidst various noises, The Givers stated in a lengthy statement that Attrakt, the agency of FIFTY FIFTY, is "blinding the public with distorted facts." It also reiterated its stance that "We will legally clarify and clearly state our position."
