The agency uses portrait rights indefinitely due to the ban on dating... New Jeans secret contract revealed

The New York Times (NYT) obtained and reported… “Underage members practice until dawn and repay plastic surgery costs”

(Los Angeles = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Kyung-yoon = The American daily New York Times (NYT) reported that the contract between the members of the girl group New Jeans and their agency was unprecedentedly restrictive.

On the 5th (local time), NYT said that it had obtained a secret contract signed by a New Genes member when he was a teenage trainee, and pointed out that the contract was far from the standard contract created by the Korean government.

This contract omitted clauses that stipulate that the rights to study, sleep, and rest of minor pop culture artists must be guaranteed, and that youth performers must not provide services for excessive amounts of time.

New Genes members often practiced until 2 a.m., and the training space was recorded with a video camera, the NYT reported, citing a group official. Four out of five members dropped out of school.

According to the standard contract, the label's rights to the name, image, and voice of the pop culture artist should have expired when the contract ends, but this clause was not included in the New Genes contract.

For this reason, the NYT pointed out that the agency can continue to use New Genes' likeness and voice rights, and that it will even be possible to create voice replicas or chatbots with artificial intelligence (AI) that has learned this.

It was also revealed that numerous restrictions were added to the New Genes contract.

For example, it was specified that members should not engage in acts prohibited by law, as well as have a disloyal attitude, neglect self-management, engage in inappropriate relationships, make discriminatory remarks, or encourage division with the company. In particular, it also states that facts or false information that could damage the company's reputation should not be disclosed.

The NYT also took issue with the clause that required a large penalty to be paid even if the contract was terminated by the company's doctor, and the fact that procedures for cosmetic purposes were also recommended.

According to multiple officials, the members were photographed from various angles before their debut, and the agency Adore reportedly offered cosmetic procedures to several of the members.

The contract also states that the members must repay a significant portion of the money the agency spent on plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures during their trainee period.

One of the parents of New Genes members requested changes to some provisions before signing the contract, but Vice President Adore said, "If you do not agree with the draft, it would be best to reexamine the contract itself," and effectively refused to negotiate.

Attorney Noh Jong-eon, who reviewed the contract, commented, "It restricts the artist's freedom to a level rarely seen in recent major label contracts."