JYP Entertainment abolishes “slave contracts”

JYP Entertainment, who currently has the Wonder Girls, 2PM, etc artistes under its charge has announced on the 26th, that it will adopt the standard contract protocol set by the Korea Fair Trade Commission. They will thus become the first management agency in Korea to abolish what many has come to know as "slavery contracts".

The term "slavery contracts" are basically contracts signed by artistes where the terms mainly interferes with their personal life, infringing their human rights and weren't really beneficial to them. Despite that, it is quite a normal practice in the industry because it's somewhat a culture that has lasted for many years. Trainees who have hopes of making it big, have to agree to these terms because they have no other choice.

But despite being singled out by the Korea Fair Trade Commission many times since late 2008, many management agencies have persisted with the practice. Although some did modify the contract terms after getting several warnings, it did not really help since the whole "slavery contracts" were still in place.




But JYP Entertainment has now taken the first step to rooting out this unnecessary evil in the industry by adopting the new contact protocol, which will see the contract length shortened, ratio of earnings changing according to market value, artistes able to decide their own schedules, etc terms that will better safeguard artistes rights.

A representative from the Korea Fair Trade Commission expressed that, with the huge influence that JYP Entertainment wields in the industry, they have high hopes it will help to set a good foundation and example for other management agencies to follow in future