CNBlue ordered to compensate Crying Nut
Indie band Crying Nut partially won a lawsuit on Wednesday against K-pop boy group CNBlue (pictured) and their agency, FNC Entertainment.
The Seoul Central District Court ordered CNBlue and FNC Entertainment to pay 1.5 million won ($12,000) in compensation to Crying Nut for using the five-member indie band’s music without consent.
CNBlue appeared on the music show “Mnet Countdown” in 2010 and performed “Offside,” a song composed and written by Lee Sang-hyuk, a member of Crying Nut.
The music show’s credits informed viewers that “Offside” was a creation of CNBlue. The group also appeared to play musical instruments during the performance, but it later turned out they were only pretending to play.
In addition, the K-pop group used a recording of “Offside” that included both the instrumental track and vocal track sung by Crying Nut.
The performance by CNBlue on “Mnet Countdown” was also included on a DVD that was released in Japan about a year later.
Yang Hwang-seung, who was a judge in the case, reportedly said, “[CNBlue] must have known that the act of playing a music file of another musician and pretending it was the group’s own crossed the line and violates the copyright of the other band because [CNBlue] is also performing in the music scene.”
But the judge said CNBlue is not responsible for including the performance on the Japanese DVD because it was a decision made by a Japanese broadcaster.
Crying Nut is an underground music group but has a large fan base thanks to a couple of hit songs such as “Speed Up Losers” and “Oh! What a Shiny Night.”
BY SUNG SO-YOUNG
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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