Fifty Fifty agency files police report against producer

Girl group Fifty Fifty [NEWS1]

Fifty Fifty’s agency has reported the girl group’s producer for allegedly deleting company data related to the quartet and acquiring the copyright for hit track “Cupid" instead of the agency.

Attrakt, Fifty Fifty's agency, filed a report with Seoul Gangnam Police Station on Monday against Ahn Sung-il, CEO of production company The Givers, and his three employees, according to a press release.

The Givers is a content management company that manages intellectual property (IP) as well as producing albums and managing groups. The company is an external vendor contracted by Attrakt to do production work for and manage the girl group. Ahn is also known by his pen name SIAHN which he uses for making music.

“The Givers delayed the handover of its data [to Attrakt], deleted the company mail account and other data regarding the project [for Fifty Fifty], which is business obstruction, damaging the company’s digital records, fraud, and malpractice in the workplace,” Attrakt said in a statement.

Attrakt also claimed that The Givers also took the copyright ownership of Fifty Fifty's hit track "Cupid" without informing the agency.

The song, released last February, is registered as having been produced by Ahn, AHIN, and Fifty Fifty member Keena on the Korea Music Copyright Association (Komca) website.

However, AHIN and Keena only participated in writing the lyrics of the song. Ahn took part in producing and arranging the song, but its composers, Swedish producers Adam von Mentzer, Mac Felländer-Tsai, and Louise Udin, also took part in producing and arranging, as stated in the album.

The three composers were omitted from the Komca copyright registration.

“We have found more suspicious actions which may result in further police reports,” Attrakt said.

On Friday, Attrakt released a statement claiming that an “outside party attempted to lure the members of Fifty Fifty” into breaking their exclusive contract with Attrakt and signing a new contract with a third party.

The agency added on Monday that the girl group’s global music distributor, Warner Music Korea, was involved in the case. Warner Music Korea denied this allegation on the same day.

Fifty Fifty debuted in 2022 under Attrakt, a newly-opened agency at the time. “Cupid,” the group’s latest EP released on Feb. 24, has garnered global popularity, landing on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 14 weeks in a row — a record for a K-pop girl group.

The girl group is currently taking a break after one of its members, Aran, underwent surgery in May. The agency said that she was advised to take “at least a month to two months of rest to fully recover” before resuming any activities.

To find out more about Fifty Fifty, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]