Dispatch recently revealed the conversation between “The Givers” CEO Ahn Sung-il, former FIFTY FIFTY members, and their parents.
Dispatch recently revealed a recording of a conversation between “The Givers” CEO Ahn Sung-il, former FIFTY FIFTY members, and their parents, which took place in “The Givers” office on May 13, 2023.
According to the news agency, 10 people were present, including Ahn Sung-il, Jung Se-hyun (Saena), Saena’s father, Saena’s mother, Jung Ji-ho (Sio), Sio’s father, Sio’s mother, Aran’s father, Aran’s mother, and Keena’s father.
The key words from that day’s discussion have been condensed into about 13 categories:
“Warner” (mentioned 93 times), “Jeon Hong-joon” (90 times), “contract” (55 times), “America” (52 times), “Plan B” (40 times), “deal” (37 times), “label” (29 times), “overseas” (28 times), “Plan A” (26 times), “lawsuit” (19 times), “advance” (18 times), “distributor” (17 times), and “termination” (11 times).
An Sung-il slammed CEO Jeon Hong-joon, raising questions about the deal and advances. He presented both Plan A and Plan B, emphasizing Plan B 14 times more than Plan A, which involved accepting the injunction and switching to the Warner label.
Dispatch has obtained evidence of An Sung-il’s tampering. Behind An Sung-il was Warner Music Korea. The real forces behind the FIFTY FIFTY crisis were clearly An Sung-il and Warner.
- Gas lighting
When a member’s mother asked: “Does CEO Jeon have any plans for the children?” Ahn Sung-il replied: “There’s no way he could have plans. He never made any.” adding, “The moment they hit the Billboard charts, he completely changed and the company started going in a weird direction.”
According to Ahn, CEO Jeon rejected Warner’s 20 billion won (about $15 million) offer and instead looked for other distributors, prioritizing money.
“Nobody thought they wouldn’t accept Warner Music’s offer. But he threw away the $20 billion acquisition and now it looks like he wants to become HYBE,” Ahn also claimed that he had made the CEO of the agency FIFTY FIFTY look bad.
- Fear mongering
To induce members and their families to do what he wanted, Ahn spread false news.
In 2022, CEO Jeon received an advance from Interpark, which granted him 9 billion won (about $6.7 million) for the exclusive distribution of albums by artists such as Bobby Kim, Ha Sung-woon, and a new girl group.
However, advances are not debts of the artist. Artists are only responsible for covering direct expenses. Despite this, Ahn Sung-il has fueled fears of debt, causing misunderstandings among members who would have to pay for the advance mentioned above.
However, as of May 2023, FIFTY FIFTY’s direct costs were only 3 billion won (about 2.2 million USD). Once these costs are deducted from sales, members can receive the payment. In fact, Keena, who has decided to return to CEO Jeon, had already entered positive liquidation territory by the end of last year.
- Picking Arguments
Ahn Sung-i said that he planned the future of FIFTY FIFTY, designing its steps and explaining how to cultivate them and approach them to the market, explaining that for this he was supposed to receive 4 billion won, but then never received it.
However, FIFTY FIFTY’s agency, ATTRAKT, laughed when asked about this, saying: “Why should we give 4 billion to An? That money goes to the women’s group, obviously.”
Ahn also criticized the company’s financial difficulties, saying that during the debut period of FIFTY FIFTY the situation was tough.
“The funds were constantly getting tangled up. No matter how we set up the systems, the risk to the owner was too high, so I kept having to manage defensive tasks for the artists,” he said.
In this regard, ATTRAKT responded with amusement, saying: “The company was in trouble then, it’s true. The first album didn’t do well. We shot music videos for all four songs. It cost us a lot. But the producer of the first album was Ahn Sung-il. Why omit him?”
- To exaggerate
Ahn Sung-il said that the success of “Cupid” was due to its precise (Asian) targeting, saying: “People say it’s because of TikTok, but that’s not true. From the beginning, I’ve been targeting Asia.”
However, when verified with ATTRAKT, there was no Asian promotion for “Cupid”. Additionally, Ahn also boasted about connections and projects that could not be verified.
- Conclusion
Ahn Sung-il slammed CEO Jeon, praised himself, criticized ATTRAKT, and praised The Givers. All of this was a plan to bring FIFTY FIFTY to Warner Music.
“I arranged a meeting with Warner Music on May 17, 2023. Warner’s condition was that I would continue to manage the group.“, said Ahn Sung-il.
This is clear evidence of tampering to transfer FIFTY FIFTY to Warner.
In short, Dispatch pointed out that former FIFTY FIFTY members and their parents were manipulated by Ahn Sung-il for his own interests.
Below is the recording published by Dispatch:
Source: Dispatch
