"Can get completely kicked out": Producer DK comments on Ahn Sung-il's stance in the K-pop industry amidst the legal dispute with FIFTY FIFTY

On July 18, 2023, Norazo's producer DK released a YouTube video expressing his thoughts on the ongoing dispute between the K-pop girl group FIFTY FIFTY and its collaborative agencies, ATTRAKT and The Givers. The CEO of The Givers, Ahn Sung-il, has been garnering a lot of criticism for his behavior and actions toward the group.

From signature forgery on Cupid's copyrights to neglect for the members' health, he's been scrutinized by netizens and the K-pop fandom in general. To add to the ongoing debate on what will become of Ahn Sung-il's future, Producer DK stated that he would most likely be expelled from K-pop and even the music industry.

"They can get completely kicked out of the industry because of this, isn't this a stupid act?" Producer DK said in his YouTube video.

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Producer DK shares his thoughts on The Givers' Ahn Sung-il's future amidst his legal dispute with FIFTY FIFTY

DK is popularly known as the producer of South Korea's famous musical duo, Norazo. The band has been known for several iconic songs like Mackerel and Superman, which DK produced, and even the controversial Curry song stands in their discography.

He recently took to his YouTube channel and expressed his thoughts on the newly surfaced copyrights forgery that Ahn Sung-il was accused of, as per Dispatch's statement. On July 17, 2023, Dispatch added to their earlier statement of how Ahn Sung-il bought off Cupid, the famous track by FIFTY FIFTY, from three Swedish composers who are the original artists of the same.

He was already criticized for buying copyrights without his business partner, ATTRAKT's CEO Jeon Hong-joon. Ahn Sung-il manages FIFTY FIFTY along with Jeon Hong-joon to make his profit share pump up 95.5%, which largely affects the other rightful participants of the song.

Dispatch further revealed that Ahn Sung-il forged the Swedish composers' signature when he submitted it to KOMCA. Though the documents were rejected the first time due to lack of originality, he submitted them again, reforging the signatures. This is a criminal act and a violation of the service contract he signed when he decided to house FIFTY FIFTY under his agency.

With Ahn Sung-il continuing to anger fans and netizens with the pile-up of upsetting actions and behavior from his side, Producer DK felt he needed to share his thoughts. In his YouTube video titled, Aftermath of the Fifty Fifty Incident viewed by industry officials, he said:

"I was surprised because it was so typical. It is a sight often seen. There are guys who play tricks in the middle and get into trouble. They get needlessly greedy. The PD made a mistake in the middle of everything. It's not just one or two things that are not strange. Who in the world extorts credit like that these days?"

"Even if publishers register as a publisher for settlement, their name appears next to the writer. There is an artist, and the owner of the right is registered separately. The excuses were also strange. Something about it being replaced within 3 months. Then don't register. There is a separate numbering for those who are not registered with the Copyright Association," he added.

He further talked about how a buyout of a song usually happens in the industry without it standing illegally.

"When someone comes up, people who don’t have much decision-making power come and talk about how much they will take over. But it's all a buzzing noise. The contract has to be stamped and the money deposited to make it happen. Talk of a buyout can happen once in a while.

"However, if it was a normal case, it would be passed on to the CEO, so the CEO would have to worry about it, but this is a case where it was intercepted in the middle and seduced the girls into suing," he explained.

He also shared a few thoughts on the legal dispute between FIFTY FIFTY and ATTRAKT, which doesn't directly involve Ahn Sung-il or The Givers.

"The lawsuit is intended to terminate the contract without paying a penalty. The intention itself is very impure. What if the contract is terminated after winning the lawsuit and the next contract does not work? Then they (singers) are doomed. They're going to be unemployed, but the person who made all the problems in the middle is fine whether it goes well or not. They have nothing to lose,” he stated.

In the end, DK stated that there are a lot of cases where an outsourcing PD betrays the company's trust. But because of the internet, he said, people can "look up anything," which could get them kicked out of the industry.

"If he had instead said, 'I will make the second FIFTY FIFTY', he would have become a great PD," he said.

As the rookie group continues to garner negative attraction with legal disputes and every other controversy that is going on between FIFTY FIFTY, ATTRAKT, and The Givers, fans and other netizens are concerned about the group's future.