Big Planet is having a rough time. Just a few days after being embroiled in rumors of discord with Griffin, the agency of SHINee's Onew, they have now blown away the 100 million streaming record of their artist Im Jin. This is an utterly absurd handling of the situation.
On the 16th, Big Planet Made Entertainment (hereafter Big Planet) addressed the recent issue regarding the reset of Im Jin's YouTube music video views. The views of Im Jin's song "Episode," which was on the verge of reaching 100 million views, were reset to zero, prompting angry fans to stage a truck protest, leading to the agency's explanation.
Big Planet explained in a statement that due to the signing of a content (album/music) distribution contract partnership with YG Plus, they transferred the previously distributed Gu Bo content (a total of 31 albums and 109 tracks) to YG Plus as of January 1 of this year, and that during this process, the views of the art track were reset according to YouTube's service policy.
Big Planet stated, "We sincerely apologize for the occurrence of this situation due to our failure to sufficiently verify the issue in advance. This problem arose from the inadequacy of the preparation procedures between us and YG Plus," and mentioned that they had consulted with the YouTube channel manager to resolve the view reset issue but received a response that recovery was not possible.
Fans have reacted with disbelief to Big Planet's explanation. They expressed criticism, saying, "There are many places that remain the same even after changing distributors, how can they handle it like this?" "Is it reasonable to blow away a 100 million view count?" "Don't they care about the career of their artist?" "This is truly unimaginable."
Before the reset of Im Jin's streaming record, Big Planet was already in the public eye due to negative issues. Another artist from Big Planet, SHINee's Taemin, was embroiled in rumors of discord with Griffin after he did not perform at the SM 30th Anniversary concert held on the 11th and 12th.
Since SHINee debuted in 2008, all members have been active under SM for a long time. Therefore, fans were looking forward to a full group performance at the SM 30th Anniversary concert, but Taemin and Onew did not appear at the event.
In relation to this, Taemin hinted at issues between the agencies on the 13th through a fan communication platform, saying, "I'm sorry that we couldn't show SHINee's presence at SM Town. I wanted to quickly finish discussions with the company and show SHINee, but the back-and-forth took a bit of time."
In response, the representative of Griffin released a statement that seemed to 'target' someone.
The Griffin representative expressed anger on their social media, saying, "Let's at least cooperate minimally. Otherwise, just sort it out. How many times have we received notifications of cancellations? Let's maintain at least a minimum of courtesy."
As speculation arose among fans that this was a jab at SM, the Griffin representative posted again, saying, "It's because the group isn't cooperating that it keeps getting canceled. Why would I criticize SM when I'm doing fine?" indirectly mentioning that the cancellation of SHINee's group activities was due to Big Planet.
As the criticism turned towards Taemin, Big Planet responded on the 15th, stating, "All content recently posted on social media contains clear falsehoods. We will respond strongly to false information," and added, "We are doing our utmost to ensure that our artists receive fair treatment and support."
As both sides reveal their positions regarding the cancellation of SHINee's group activities, it remains to be seen where the root cause lies. However, with issues in handling affairs, Big Planet, which has been targeted by both the Griffin representative and Im Jin's fans, seems to need time to solidify its internal structure.
[Lee Da-kyum, Star Today Reporter]
