Cube and FNC Join YG, SM, JYP and Star Empire to Fight Against Music Chart Manipulation

On August 7 YG, SM, JYP and Star Empire Entertainments filed injunctions against companies that use “music stockpiling” methods to manipulate digital music counts and it has been reported that Cube and FNC have joined in as well.

The four initial entertainment agencies filed an injunction to investigate those who rig the digital music streaming counts. Sources commented, “This manipulation messes up the distribution order of the music industry.”

This “music stockpiling” method is when the digital music counts are manipulated to get the artist’s track on top of the music charts. This is done by the artist’s agency hiring an outside company to raise clicks for the digital music track.

There are about three to give companies that specialize in this deal in Korea at the moment. There are reports that say some of those companies charge up to $500,000 USD to keep a rookie artist in the top 20 of the most profitable music portal site whereas widely recognized artists get charged around $300,000 USD.

The way this method works is to create a new ID for the music portal and to continuously click on the song of choice, especially during the wee hours of the night, which causes the song to quickly rise on the charts, helping it to gain recognition.

“Music stockpiling” became largely in use after recent music programs started to use digital music scores to weigh in on the shows’ ranking systems.

The “music stockpiling” method was first brought to the public’s wide attention last month and the issue was brought to the Korean Entertainment Producer’s Association on July 18. However, action to go against this manipulation was not being made, which led the four entertainment agencies to take charge.

The intent of the major entertainment agencies filing the injunction is to shed light to the fact that the “music stockpiling” method damages the creative work and production of those who release their music the normal way.

YG Entertainment commented, “This is a disadvantage to the agencies that release music the conventional way. This ‘music stockpiling’ method destroys the trust and authenticity of music portals and it must be stopped.”

Cube Entertainment stated, “We are with SM, YG, JYP and Star Empire on this issue, which is a disease to the music industry.”

Stay tuned for more updates on this case.